LIMA BEAN. 483 



and wrinkled while young, yellowish when ripe, and con- 

 tain three or four beans. 



The Lima is one of the latest, as well as one of the most 

 tender, of all garden-beans, and seldom, if ever, entirely 

 perfects its crop in the Northern States. Little will be 

 gained by very early planting, as the seeds are not only 

 liable to decay before vegetating, but the plants suffer greatly 

 from cold, damp weather. In the Northern and Eastern 

 States, the seeds should not be planted in the open ground 

 before the beginning of May ; nor should the planting be 

 delayed beyond the tenth or middle of the month. In ordi- 

 nary seasons, the Lima Bean will blossom in eight or nine 

 weeks, and pods may be plucked for use the last of August, 

 or beginning of September. Only a small proportion of the 

 pods attain a sufficient size for use ; a large part of the crop 

 being prematurely destroyed by frost. 



The ripe seeds are dull white or greenish-white, with veins 

 radiating from the eye ; broad-kidney-shaped, much flattened, 

 seven eighths of an inch long, and two thirds of an inch 

 in width. A quart contains about seven hundred seeds, and 

 will plant eighty hills. 



The pods are tough and parchment-like in all stages of 

 their growth, and are never eaten. The seeds, green or ripe, 

 are universally esteemed for their peculiar flavor and excel- 

 lence, and by most persons are considered the finest of all 

 the garden varieties. If gathered when suitable for use in 

 their green state, and dried in the pods in a cool and shaded 

 situation, they may be preserved during the winter. "When 

 required for use, they are shelled, soaked a short time in 

 clear water, and cooked as green beans ; thus treated, they 

 will be nearly as tender and well flavored as when freshly 

 plucked from the plants. 



The seeds are sometimes started on a hot-bed, in thumb- 

 pots, or on inverted turf, or sods, cut in convenient pieces, 



