BEAN 



so-called "-trim:" beans whether gn -. n-podd. d 



of which the entire poil with 



ten. To tlu- kidney 



beans, too, belongs the na 'he l>:isis of 



the famous >ns" which, with 



iriable BOM on brown bread, come to the 

 table of so many New Knglanders every Sat- 

 urday evening. 



The lima, introduced from Peru, as the name 



indicates, is another important bean, distin- 



-lender vine-like growth and its 



large pods with their broad. Hat seeds. These 



i.oth when green and when dry. 



GOLDEN WAX BEAN 



In Mexico there is a little dark-colored bean, 

 called the jrijolc, which may almost be said -to 

 constitute the national dish. From the tables 

 of the poor especially, these beans, highly sea- 

 soiu-d with red peppers, are rarely absent. 



But America is not the only country which 

 produces important beans; from China and 



634 BEAR 



Japan have been introduced the soy bean, 

 which is in those countries a staple food 

 article. In America this bean is grown, how- 

 ever, chiefly as forage and as a restorer of 

 nitrogen to the soil; for it has in even greater 

 measure than most members of the pulse fam- 

 ily that peculiar ability to take nitrogen from 

 the air and store it in little tubercles on its 

 roots (see AGHRTLTI-HE, subtitle Agricultural 

 Educntion. page 100; NITROGEN; FERTILIZERS). 



Enemies. The bean has one very dangerous 

 insect enemy the bean weevil, a little dark- 

 gray beetle which lays its eggs on the growing 

 pods. The damage done by the grubs to the 

 green plants, however, is small compared with 

 that which they do to the dried seeds, and it 

 is always safest, before storing these, to im- 

 merse them for a short time in water at' 

 140 F. This does not harm the beans and it 

 destroys the pests. 



Another enemy of the bean is the fungus 

 disease called anthracnosc, which causes con- 

 siderable damage to growing beans by shrivel- 

 ing the pods and discoloring the seeds. Inves- 

 tigation has shown no very satisfactory method 

 of dealing with this pest, and the greatest care 

 should be exercised in selecting seed for plant- 

 ing, as the disease is transmitted from genera- 

 tion to generation. 



World Production. Italy is the most im- 

 portant bean-producing country of Europe, 

 with an annual yield of about 16,600,000 

 bushels. Spain, producing nearly 11,800,000 

 bushels, Austria, about 8,725,000, and the 

 United Kingdom, about 7,842,000, are next in 

 order. The annual yield of the United States 

 is over 11,145,000 bushels; Canada produces 

 about 827,000 bushels, on 46,300 acres. The 

 largest crop, by far, is harvested in the prov- 

 ince of Ontario. Chile is the most important 

 South American country in the production of 

 beans, raising each year about 1,550,000 

 bushels. A.MC c. 



EAR, to dwellers in North America, 

 probably the most interesting and certainly 

 the best-known of all the larger wild animals, 

 There are three reasons for this. First, bears 



have always been plentiful in all parts of the 

 continent where civilization has not pressed 

 too closely; second, they remain well and 

 strong in confinement and are thus to be seen 



