14 BEAN CULTURE 



and sandy soils are less desirable. Lands that will 

 produce both good corn and wheat will produce beans, 

 though the beans will not thrive on as heavy soil as 

 wheat, nor on as light soil as corn. The crops suc- 

 ceed wonderfully well on inverted clover sod. 



According to experiments of Doctor Halsted,* 

 beans yielded on the whole better on old land than 

 on new, though they were slightly more susceptible 

 to disease when grown on old land. More and 

 larger tubercles are usually found on beans grown 

 on old bean lands than where grown on new. 



Soil as adapted to variety. — Most interesting data 

 on this subject are furnished by Cornell** in the com- 

 pilation of results obtained by different farmers on 

 various soils and with varieties. The varying re- 

 sults obtained in the several sections throughout 

 New York, suggest at once the question of adapta- 

 tion of varieties to classes of soils. Further mention 

 of this detailed report will be found in the chapter 

 on varieties. 



In these experiments the lighter grades of soil 

 seemed to be productive of larger yields than the 

 heavier grades both in a dry season like 1900 as well 

 as in a more normal season like 1901, but it seemed 

 to make little difference in the relative yield of the 

 varieties whether the soil was light or heavy. The 

 deductions from these experiments are not entirely 

 satisfactory, though Professor Stone gives it as his 

 opinion, based on general observation, that the 

 White Marrow, Yellow Eye and Kidney beans re- 

 quire stronger and more fertile soil to produce a 

 satisfactory crop, than do the pea or medium varie- 

 ties. He says it is evident that in the present condi- 



*Soc for promotion of agr. "Science, 1900, pp 119-129. 



