AMERICAN GARDEN-BEAN. 467 



practice is to plant in hills three feet or three and a half 

 apart ; though the lower growing sorts are sometimes planted 

 in drills fourteen or fifteen inches apart, and bushed in the 

 manner of the taller descriptions of peas. 



If planted in hills, they should be slightly raised, and the 

 stake, or pole, set before the planting of the seeds. The 

 maturity of some of the later sorts will be somewhat facili- 

 tated by cutting or nipping off the leading runners when they 

 have attained a height of four or five feet. 



Plant of healthy, vigorous habit, attaining a California, 

 height of six feet and upwards. The flowers are white ; 

 the pods are long, comparatively broad and flat, green at 

 first, cream-yellow at maturity, and contain from six to 

 eight seeds. 



Planted May 20th, the variety blossomed July 12th, green 

 pods were plucked for use July 24th, and the crop ripened 

 the middle of August. 



The ripe seeds are of a clear ochre-yellow color, broadly 

 kidney-shaped, five eighths of an inch long, and three eighths 

 of an inch in width. If well grown, one thousand will meas- 

 ure a quart ; and this amount of seed will be sufficient for a 

 hundred hills. 



The California Bean is hardy and productive, yielding its 

 long and broad pods in great abundance till destroyed by 

 frost. Though much used as a string-bean, it is principally 

 valued for the excellent quality of the seeds in their green 

 state. 



From reliable authority, the variety is grown to a con- 

 siderable' extent on the Pacific coast of South America, in 

 some parts of California, and also in the Sandwich Islands. 



The true name appears to be wanting. Though it is pop- 

 ularly known in this section of the country as the " Cali- 

 fornia," the name seems to have been given in accordance 



