VI PREFACE 



aim has been primarily to make the book practical 

 for the man who wishes to grow a maximum crop at 

 a minimum expense, and second, to make the vol- 

 ume scientifically accurate for the student and 

 teacher — in brief, a volume which will prove inval- 

 uable to the everyday bean grower and one which 

 will go on the desks or in the libraries of students 

 and teachers as a valuable reference book. 



The author brings personal knowledge into the 

 work, for he was born and reared in the heart of the 

 commercial bean growing district of Michigan. His 

 father grew annually lo to 30 acres of beans and the 

 first real hard back-aching work he ever did was 

 done in the bean field at harvest. During his sen- 

 ior year in the "IVIichigan Agricultural College, he 

 gave special attention to the subject and worked out 

 d few experiments along the line of accumulation of 

 nitrogen from the soil air by the bean plant. Fi- 

 nally before starting the volume in question, he 

 again visited Michigan and the large commercial 

 sections of New York and has since gone very 

 thoroughly into the bibliography of the bean plant. 



The very interesting chapter entitled "Markets 

 and Marketing," or the commercial side of bean 

 growing was prepared by Mr. A. W. Fulton, manag- 

 ing editor of the Orange Judd weeklies. The 

 writer also wishes to acknowledge the aid of such 

 works as Prof. J. L. Stone of the Cornell University 

 experiment station in his bulletin on "Commercial 

 Bean Growing in New York;" Prof. H. C. Irish of 

 Missouri, Dr. F. H. Chittenden of the United States 

 Department of Agriculture and Prof. R. A. Emerson 

 of Nebraska. Deductions and remarks made by 

 these authorities are quoted freely in the book, as 



