48 BEAN CULTURE 



not in the more fundamental characters of the race. 

 Undoubtedly much can be done in the matter of 

 race improvement by selection of productive indi- 

 vidual plants. In fact this is a method in common 

 use. Here, too, again Prof. Emerson* gives interest- 

 ing deductions. He discusses bean hybrids in the 

 light of Mendel's discoveries. This relates to habits 

 of plants, stringiness of pods, toughness and color 

 of pods, colors of flowers and seed. Stringiness in 

 plants appears to be a dominant character in certain 

 cases while in other cases intermediates occur in the 

 first generation. In the majority of cases, stringi- 

 ness has been dominant when the pistilate parent is 

 stringless, and intermediates have occurred where 

 the pistilate parent is stringy. In hybridizing beans 

 it is necessary to remove the anthers before the flower 

 buds begin to open, otherwise the seeds will be 

 self fertilized. 



Seed growing a specialty. — Few people realize 

 the magnitude of the American seed industry. It 

 is claimed by persons in a position to know, that 

 fully 100,000 acres are now annually devoted to peas 

 alone, and one-half as much more to beans for the ex- 

 press purpose of growing seed. Repeated tests have 

 shown that seeds of many plants germinate more 

 quickly when grown in relatively northern latitudes, 

 if the samples which are compared are of equal age 

 and strength. The bean, according to Bailey,** is not 

 an exception to this rule. This fact has made a 

 specialty for many seedsmen to grow seed for south- 

 ern truck growers. The process is nothing out of 

 the ordinary and really involves the same methods 

 as though grown for commercial purposes. In many 



•Neb Sta Rpt, 1905. pp 33-68. 

 "Survival of the Unlike, p 29. 



