LEGUMES FOR SEED 223 



Variations in measured weight per bushel ranged from 57 to 

 65.7 pounds; while 12 out of 13 varieties gave upwards of 62 

 pounds per measured bushel in the average of eight years' ex- 

 periments. 1 The result of one season's test of four varieties 

 on one-fortieth-acre plats on a loam soil of good quality in Ot- 

 tawa indicated an average yield of 32.2 bushels per acre, with 

 an average weight of 63 pounds per measured bushel after 

 cleaning/ 



The producers generally sell to dealers by sample on the 

 basis of the percentage of perfect seeds. The dealers sort the 

 seeds partly by machinery and partly by hand, before placing 

 them on the general market. 



266. Adaptation. Field beans do best in cool, moist cli- 

 mates. East of the Rocky Mountains the climate south of the 

 forty-first parallel is unsuited to their growth. While influ- 

 enced more by climate than by soil, yet field beans succeed best 

 on loam and especially on calcareous soils. Neither very heavy 

 clays nor light sands are adapted to their growth. Nor are 

 soils which are made light by a superabundance of organic mat- 

 ter desirable, since such soils produce a rank growth of vine, 

 which is subject to disease, and whose seeds ripen unevenly. 

 Land which will produce good maize and good wheat is suited to 

 beans; but heavy clays, which are good for wheat but not for 

 maize, and light soils that are good for maize but not for 

 wheat, are not desirable for beans. 



While beans will grow on relatively poor soil, yet for profit- 

 able production, they require one that is fairly fertile. It is be- 

 lieved that the larger beans, kidney and marrow, require a 

 richer soil for profitable production than the smaller medium 

 and pea beans. The rotation usually practised is beans, wheat, 

 clover, each one year; or maize or potatoes, beans, wheat, and 



1 Ontario Agricultural College Bui. No. 140 (1905), p. 26. 

 - F.xperimental Farms Rpts. 1905, p. 226. 



