2 BEAN CULTURE 



in hills and between the kernels of the corn the} 

 planted beans which were marked with various col- 

 ors. 



M. De Candolle is not free from doubt as to the 

 origin of Phaseolus vulgaris. He finds, (i) that this 

 species was not cultivated in ancient times in the 

 East Indies, the southwest of Asia, or Egypt; (2) 

 that we are not absolutely certain it was known in 

 Europe before the discovery of America ; (3) that 

 at that epoch the number of varieties suddenly in- 

 creased in the gardens of Europe and all authors be- 

 gan to speak of it; (4) that the majority of species of 

 this genus are found in South America ; (5) that seeds 

 which ordinarily belong to this species have been 

 found in Peruvian tombs at Ancon on a date some- 

 what uncertain, mixed with other species, all of 

 which are American. It seems conclusive that 

 almost innumerable varieties of Phaseolus vulgaris 

 were cultivated by the natives of America before 

 the coming of Europeans. For still further notes 

 on the origin of the bean plant consult De Candolle, 

 Nativity of the Bean; Gray and Trumbull, Origin 

 of Cultivated Plants and American Journal of Science, 

 (Vol. 26, p 130). 



Commercial field beans were probably first grown 

 in Orleans county, N. Y. This was in comparatively 

 recent time. It is said* that in 1836 Stephen Coe 

 brought from the eastern part of the state into the 

 town of Yates, Orleans county, a single pint of 

 beans. He planted them and from the successive 

 products of three years his son T. H. Coe, in 1839 

 raised a small crop of beans and sold a load of 33 



♦History of the Bean Industry by S. C. Bowen. 



