lO BEAN CULTURE 



beans are apt to cook with difficulty on account of the 

 cold and moisture in the spring as a result of which, 

 they are not furnished with sufficient nitrates by the 

 action of nitric ferments. He recommends that 

 some nitrate of soda be applied to both peas and 

 beans at the time of planting to insure a product 

 which will be easy to cook and which should, there- 

 fore, bring a higher price in special trade. 



Reproductive powers. — So far as the practical bean 

 grower is concerned, beans reproduce themselves by 

 means of seeds. However, it is interesting to note 

 the work of Arbel W. Clark* in the regeneration of 

 the epicotyl in beans. Cotyledons were planted with 

 a small piece of epicotyl left attached, and it was 

 found that the whole plant was regenerated. This 

 took place with a whole cotyledon and only a piece 

 of the cotyledon was left intact, indicating that re- 

 generation is not wholly dependent on the food 

 supply. The author concludes that regeneration of 

 epicotyl of beans and peas is dependent more on the 

 age of the tissue than on the amount of food supply 

 at hand. Dr. B. D. Halsted** reports experiments 

 along the same line. In his work with bush beans a 

 portion of the cotyledons was removed. Such seeds 

 germinated more quickly than normal beans, but the 

 plants from the whole seeds made much the better 

 growth. The experiments indicate, according to the 

 author, a method of producing dwarf varieties. 



Beans self fertile. — Experiments by Doctor Hal- 

 sted*** show conclusively that bush beans are self 

 fertile. Prof. R. E. Emerson**** reports that Kidney 

 beans are perfectly self fertile. Various crosses 



*MIch Rpt Acad Sci. 1, 1904, p 80. 



•*E S R. Vol 14, p 578. ""E S R, Vol 14, p 548. 



-"Neb Sta Rpt, 1901, pp 30-49. 



