SOILS AND FERTILIZERS 1 5 



tion of the farms of New York state, the small white 

 varieties will outyield the larger beans in a majority 

 of cases. 



So far as the practical bean grower is concerned 

 with these experiments of adaptation of variety to 

 soil, the important facts to bear in mind are, first, 

 that there is a great difference in the productiveness 

 of the different varieties of beans on a given soil; 

 second, that the results obtained in a variety test in 

 another locality cannot be taken as a specific appli- 

 cation on one's own farm, and this even though the 

 farms are adjoining. It costs in labor $i to $3 ac- 

 cording to circumstances to make a careful test of 

 six to eight varieties of beans, harvesting them 

 separately so as to get definite results. The differ- 

 ence in yield of one variety over another on a single 

 acre will often pay this expense several times over. 

 There are many farmers who, in the beginning, were 

 positive they were growing the best variety of beans, 

 but after the co-operative test at the Cornell station 

 changed to another variety much to their profit. 



Fertilizers to use. — The best fertilizer to use will 

 depend greatly upon such conditions as nature of 

 soil, previous treatment, season, etc. Beans which 

 do not ripen as they ought, may be lacking in phos- 

 phoric acid. If the land is already rich in nitrogen, 

 nothing but the mineral elements had best be used. 

 Broadly speaking, clay soils will need less potash 

 than sandy soils. It is a general custom among 

 successful bean growers to supply very little nitrog- 

 enous fertilizers to the bean crop, taking it for 

 granted that beans, being a leguminous crop, will 

 appropriate a large part of the necessary nitrogen 

 from the air. From some reliable experiments it 



