BEANS. 477 



mown. The harvesting should be done in dry weather, as exposure to wet will cause many of 

 the pods to mould and rot. 



If the vines are nearly dry at the time of gathering, two or three days exposure to the 

 warm sun will dry them sufficiently for storing in the barn. When drying, it is a good plan 

 to turn them over occasionally, that the curing process may be uniform. As beans heat and 

 mould very readily, it is important that they be thoroughly dried before storing. When the 

 vines are rather green, they are sometimes stacked in the field, around stakes, with the roots 

 in the center, and secured at the top with a cord or a wisp of straw. In two or three weeks 

 of good weather, they will be sufficiently dry to take to the barn, after being spread out 

 with a few hours exposure to the sun. 



If not threshed at once, it is well to spread the vines on the floor or scaffolds as thinly 

 as the storage room will admit, to avoid all danger of moulding. They should be threshed 

 out from the pods, and winnowed by a fanning-mill, after which they should be spread thinly 

 in a cool, dry place until thoroughly dry. It is well to cull out imperfect specimens, as a 

 few discolored beans will injure the appearance of the whole quantity, however good it may 

 be, and will be liable to reduce the selling-price. 



Castor Beans. The castor bean is a tropical plant, hence, cannot be successfully cul 

 tivated at the North. It is frequently seen growing there, however, as an ornamental plant, 

 its stately appearance and large, broad leaves of a purplish hue rendering it very attractive. 

 It is a perennial in warm climates, and sometimes attains the height of thirty feet, and will 

 live for several years. In regions subject to a frost it becomes an annual, and grows to the 

 height of from three to ten feet. It is a native of Southern Asia and Northern Africa, and 

 has been naturalized in Southern Europe and other warm climates. In the West Indies it 

 grows with great luxuriance. It has been cultivated to a limited extent as a field crop as far 

 north as 40; but the climate of the Southern States is best adapted to it. 



In Texas and Southern Florida it strongly shows its perennial tendency. A castor- 

 plant is said to have been grown in a garden in Galveston, the stem of which attained seven 

 inches in diameter. This plant continued to yield seven or eight years. A hundred bushels 

 of beans have been raised per acre in localities adapted to its culture in Texas. In the 

 southern portion of the Middle States, and States bordering on the Ohio river, it grows to the 

 height of five or six feet, and yields from twenty to thirty bushels per acre. The seeds or 

 beans are oval and quite large. Their value consists in the oil which they yield. When 

 bruised and subjected to a great pressure, the yield will be nearly a gallon per bushel of cold- 

 pressed oil) which is much superior to that obtained by boiling, the latter being of dark color. 



When pure, the oil is of a light yellow color, but when inferior in quality it has a 

 greenish and sometimes a dark-yellowish tinge. Exposure to the sun s rays bleaches it to a 

 certain extent. It is used in medicine as a cathartic. It is also much used in lubricating 

 machinery, carriage wheels, leather, etc. In Hindoostan, it is quite extensively employed for 

 burning in lamps. 



Cultivation. The cultivation of the castor bean can only be made profitable where 

 the climate and soil are adapted to it, and also in localities near a mill for extracting the oil. 



The very best seed should always be obtained for the crop. That of the large variety 

 grown in the West Indies, should be planted, and not the small, light-colored bean that has 

 been grown in some of the Northern sections. The soil best adapted to the castor-plant is a 

 rich, sandy loam, although any dry, fertile soil will answer the purpose. The surface should 

 be well-pulverized, and the seed planted in hills, in rows five or six feet apart. Three or 

 four seeds are deposited in a hill, to make allowance for those that may not germinate, and 

 for such of the young plants as may be destroyed by the cut- worm, which is sometimes very 

 troublesome. When the plants are six or seven inches high, they are thinned to one plant. 

 The cultivation afterward given should be similar to that for Indian corn. 

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