I03 BEAN CULTURE 



year 2,500,000 to 3,000,000 bushels beans and up- 

 ward. New York 1,500,000 bushels and better, Cal- 

 ifornia 1,000,000 to 1,800,000 bushels. Other states 

 are scattering, but in the aggregate produce a good 

 many beans. The area given over to field beans on 

 the occasion of the federal census of 1900 was 

 453,867 acres, and the yield returned at 11.2 bushels 

 to the acre, having an average farm value at that 

 time of $1.51 a bushel, or an equivalent of $16.82 

 to the cultivated area. 



Up to 20 years ago New York led in the produc- 

 tion of beans, the state yielding 42 per cent of the 

 entire production of the United States in 1879. But 

 ten years later its product was only 35 per cent of 

 the total crop. Meanwhile Michigan has forged to 

 the front, and now produces fully a third of all the 

 beans grown in the United States, with New York 

 turning off about 27 per cent. In Michigan the 

 producing area is located chiefly in the four south- 

 ern tiers of counties. 



Figures taken from the United States census of 

 1900, covering the crop of the previous year, show 

 that in a great many bean producing counties, the 

 rate of yield is scarcely 10 bushels to the acre, while 

 what may be considered a reasonable yield is 14 to 

 20 bushels, and big yields run 30 to 35 bushels. 

 Phenomenal yields under particularly favorable 

 conditions occasionally run higher, but are no cri- 

 terion of what the average farmer, particularly east 

 of the Rocky mountains, may expect. The federal 

 census returns of an average of $16.82 an acre for 

 the bean crop shows reasonably well when placed 

 beside some other special crops. There is more 



