1889 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUttE. 



183 



amount of stores, and be in excellent trim 

 for business in the spring. Notwithstand- 

 ing this, however, I would rather have a 

 colony of bees that weighed 3 lbs., even if it 

 cost 15 lbs. to winter them, than a nucleus of 

 one pound that could be wintered on 5 lbs. of 

 stores. And this starts another question : 

 About how many pounds of stores would be 

 required to winter a pound of bees, on an 

 average? I would suggest 5 lbs. Now, if 

 some of our bee-hives contain 1 lb. of live 

 bees, and others contain 5 lbs., we can read- 

 ily see how it will take five pounds of stores 

 for one, and 25 for the other. Dadant, Doo- 

 little, and others have hinted at this thing, 

 as you will notice. 



SPECIAL DEPARTMENT FOR A. I. ROOT, AND HIS 

 FRIENDS WHO LOVE TO RAISE CROPS. 



THE BUSH LIMA BEAK— FURTHER DEVELOPMENTS. 



«FTER receiving a sample of Dwarf 

 Carolina beans from Landreth, men- 

 tioned on page 119 of our last issue, 

 I wrote at once, asking how low they 

 could sell us a quantity, also asking 

 them if these beans were not exactly the 

 same thing as Henderson's Bush lima bean. 

 Below is their reply : 



A. I. Root— Dear Sir:— Henderson's Bush lima 

 bean is not a lima bean at all, but a Carolina bean. 

 We have had it for five years, and never considered 

 it worth more than a three-line paragraph. We 

 never propagated in quantity. Next year, if peo- 

 ple want it, we shall be able to supply it. 



David Landreth & Sons. 



Bristol, Penn., Feb. 14, 1889. 



Now, it seems to me no more than just 

 and right that the public should have the 

 benefit of the above opinion, from so great a 

 seedsman as Landreth. It is also just and 

 right that Henderson be allowed to reply. 

 I accordingly submitted to him a copy of 

 Landreth's letter, to which he replies: 



Mr. Root:— If any of our contemporaries in the 

 trade have said that our " New Bush lima bean " 

 is " not a lima bean at all," then allow me to say 

 that any one making such a statement is either ig- 

 norant of botany and of knowledge of the bean 

 tribe, or that he is actuated by motives unworthy 

 of an honorable contemporary. 



The "New Bush lima" is simply a dwarf " sport " 

 from the Sieva (sometimes called Sewee), or Caro- 

 lina lima, which, though smaller, of course, than 

 the large white lima, is just as truly a lima as the 

 large white lima, which is known in botany as 

 Phaseolus lunatus, while the variety known as the 

 Sieva, or Carolina lima, is Phaseolus lunatus "mi- 

 nor" (smaller). 



My knowledge of this vegetable was from a cor- 

 respondent in Virginia, two years ago, who wrote 

 me that he had a Held of three acres, growing for 

 seed. I could hardly credit his description of it, 

 because such a story seemed too good to be true; 

 but 1 at once started to examine it, and I found on 

 arrival that it was all he claimed for it— a lima, 

 pure and simple, dwarf as the ordinary bush bean, 

 in no way differing in pod or bean from the large 

 White Pole lima, except in size. When I tell you 

 that we are retailing 500 packets a day of the Bush 

 lima bean, and that our sales, wholesale and re- 

 tail, will probably reach 250,000 packets before the 



1st of June, you can well understand what a seri- 

 ous matter it would be to us if "Henderson's new 

 Bush lima bean " were not all we claim it to be. 



Peter Henderson. 

 Jersey City Heights, N. J., Feb. 19, 1886. 



Although it seems hard to reconcile these 

 two statements from two of the greatest 

 seedsmen in the world, I think perhaps 

 I can help the matter. In Landreth's cata- 

 logue, 1889, first page, he gives a photograph 

 of the bean ; and I presume that, when he 

 wrote the above letter, he had forgotten 

 that, light under that photograph, it is call- 

 ed " Dwarf Carolina, or Small Lima." From 

 the above it is evident that Landreth de- 

 cided to call it a small lima bean. Besides, 

 the picture shows a stalk literally loaded 

 down with pods. It is not a picture gotten 

 up for catalogue show, mind you, but it is 

 an absolute photograph of a stalk of beans 

 pulled up by the roots. This photograph 

 shows that the bean in question is certainly 

 enormously productive, just as Peter Hen- 

 derson says. Now, then, if the flavor is as 

 good as that of the large lima bean, it is 

 certainly worth all the advertising that 

 friend Henderson has given it, even if it is 

 small. My impression is, that Landreth's 

 folks had not given the bean the attention 

 it really deserves. One thing is certain, al- 

 so, that they have not any amount of seed 

 on hand, for they say, at the close of their 

 letter, that they will" be prepared to supply 

 it next year. Up to the present date of 

 writing it seems that Peter Henderson bas 

 the only stock to be had, on the face of the 

 earth. Again, on page 24 of Landreth's cat- 

 alogue, right under mention of the Large 

 Jersey lima, we read : 



Carolina, or Sewee.— A small variety of lima, more 

 easy of vegetation, more vigorous in growth, earli- 

 er in season, more profitable in pod than the above. 

 Price $9.00 per bushel; 45 cts. per quart. 



Now, observe that the above refers to the 

 Large Jersey lima. Well, if this new Dwarf 

 lima bean has all the qualities of the lima, 

 as quoted, and is dwarf besides, it is cer- 

 tainly an acquisition. 



I want to call the attention of our read- 

 ers to the little incident that comes out in 

 the above, where Henderson went at once 

 to see that three-acre field of bush limas. 

 The act is characteristic of the man ; and 1 

 presume, although he does not tell us about 

 it, that he bought every bean on that three- 

 acre field. Almost if not all were planted 

 last season, and now Peter Henderson is 

 boss of the Bush Lima bean for the world, 

 for all we know, and he ought to be. He 

 deserves it for his energy and enterprise. 



Later.— Since writing the above I have 

 had my wife cook three samples of lima 

 beans. The first was California lima beans, 

 such as we sell at 10 cents a quart — dry 

 beans, of course. The second was some 

 King of the Garden limas that were saved 

 last summer because they were too ripe to 

 shell for the market-wagon. The third 

 batch consisted of three 25-cent packages of 

 Henderson's Bush lima beans. The whole- 

 family tasted them and their decision agrees 

 with mine : The California lima beans were 

 very good ; King of the Garden limas, ex- 

 cellent—almost as good as green limas ; 



