BEANS 221 



corolla, ten stamens, nine of which are generally grown 

 together. The fruit is known as a legume and is a pod 

 that opens like the pea or bean pods. The leaves are 

 alternate, chiefly compound, and have stipules. Besides 

 the beans ana peas, whose cultural directions are here 

 given, the following are members of this family: clovers, 

 vetch, alfalfa, and lupine, among farm crops, and the 

 common locust, Kentucky coffee tree, honey locust, and 

 yellowwood, among trees. 



BEANS (Phaseolus) 



Description. An annual. The common beans in this 

 country are natives of the warmer parts of South America. 

 They are sometimes referred to as kidney or French 

 beans (P. vulgaris). Besides these, the Lima beans (P. 

 lunatus) are cultivated to a limited extent. The common 

 broad bean of Europe is an entirely different vegetable 

 from the kinds generally grown here and is not sufficiently 

 prolific in the North to make it worthy of cultivation. 

 There are many varieties of beans, and the varieties of 

 each species readily cross together, the flowers being 

 especially adapted to crossing. They vary from one 

 another in many particulars; some are low, bushy, and 

 erect, while others are twining and have stems that grow 

 ten or more feet in a season. 



There are many gradations between these extremes, 

 as well as in size, color, and shape of seed and plant. The 

 twining-stem kinds always twine from right to left around 

 any support they can lay hold of. Horticulturally, beans 

 are divided into the bush and the pole varieties. Under 

 the first class are included all the field varieties that are 

 grown to be used as shelled beans and some snap and 

 string beans. They have stout, erect or slightly running 



