BEAN 



BEAN 



459 



480. Common or Kidney bean. 



Phaseolus vulgaris. 



Jarvis American Varieties of Beans, Cornell Bull. 260 

 (190X); Freeman. An/. Bull. 68 (1912). 



The sea beans of the Florida coast are seeds of various 

 tropical leguminous plants, and are transported by 

 ocean currents (see Coe, in G.F. 7:503). 



For botanical treatment, see Dolichos, Glycine, 

 Phaseolus, Vicin, Vigna. L. H. B. 



Culture of the bean. 



For the purposes of the practical gardener, the various 

 types and numerous varieties of the bean may be classi- 

 fied in two groups, in two different ways, namely, 



either as "field 

 beans" and "gar- 

 den beans," or as 

 "bush beans" and 

 "pole beans." 

 Field beans are 

 grown on a large 

 commercial scale 

 for the dry-shelled 

 seeds, either as a 

 farm crop in regu- 

 lar rotation, as 

 corn and potatoes 

 are grown, or at 

 times as a sub- 

 sidiary or chance 

 crop, or side line, 

 in young orchards, 

 and so on, but are 

 not usually found 

 in the home- or 

 market- garden, 

 where highly ma- 

 nured soil would 

 tend to stimulate 

 growth of foliage at the expense of seed-production. 

 Field beans belong mostly or entirely in the class of 

 bush beans. The garden beans are more commonly 

 grown for their succulent pods and immature seeds, 

 and include both bush and pole or "running" sorts. 

 The latter come almost exclusively under the head of 

 "garden" beans. 



The great economic value of the bean is generally 

 recognized, not alone in respect to its high place as a 

 farm and garden crop, but also as the most suitable 

 material, next to animal products, in compounding a 

 balanced ration for man, and to some extent for beast, 

 and as a substitute for dear meats. 



Beans are easily forced under glass, in a temperature 

 suitable for tomatoes. They may be grown cither in 

 pots or beds. The bush varieties, as Sion House, are 

 preferred. Keep them growing, and look out for red 

 spider. 



Field beans. 



Ordinary field beans like a fairly good warm farm 

 soil, such us will suit corn or potatoes. They do not 

 draw very heavily on the fertility of the land. Belong- 

 ing to the legumes, they are able to make use to a large 

 extent of atmospheric nitrogen, and if given a good 

 start will not only look out for their own needs in that 

 respect, but may leave the land better supplied with 

 nitrogen than it was found at planting-time. They will 

 not thrive on wet or badly drained land; otherwise 

 good strong loams, or soils resting on limestone, are 

 considered most desirable, with sandy loams and 

 gravelly loams next in order. They should have a fair 

 but not excessive amount of humus. A few loads of fine 

 old stable manure spread evenly on the surface after 

 plowing, if possible supplemented with fifty or a hun- 

 dred pounds of muriate of potash and a few hundred 

 pounds of dissolved rock (acid phosphate) or other 

 phosphatic manure, may be expected to give good re- 



turns. Or, in the absence of these chemicals, 200 

 pounds or so of a commercial fertilizer such as is usually 

 applied foi grain crops, and which analyzes about 2 or 

 3 per cent of nitrogen, 8 of phosphoric acid and 3 or 4 of 

 potash, may be applied broadcast after plowing. Al- 

 though the planting should not be done until after the 

 soil has become warm, in the northern states not before 

 June, the customary planting-time in the great beau- 

 producing sections extends from June 1 to June 25; it 

 is, nevertheless, of great importance to plow the land 

 early and keep it worked with disk or other harrows 

 until planting-time; this for the purpose of preserving 

 moisture and getting ahead of the weeds. Important 

 also is the use of good hand-picked seed beans, not over 

 one year old, and free from weevils and disease infection. 

 The rows are to be made 28 to 36 inches apart, and for 

 small areas, planting by hand or with a corn-planter 

 will do. For planting on a larger scale, a regular bean- 

 planter or a grain-drill with part of the tubes stopped up 

 so as to bring the rows the correct distance apart should 

 be used. If fertilizer is to be applied with the drill at 

 the same time, it may be allowed to run from the hoe 

 or tube on each side of each tube that discharges the 

 seed beans. 



Among the varieties generally grown in field culture 

 are the Pea or Navy, the Medium, Red and White 

 Kidney. The Pea bean is small but early and prolific, 

 and considered to be about as profitable as any other 

 under ordinary circumstances. It is particularly recom- 

 mended for the small or home grower. 



The harvesting comes when the pods have ripened 

 and the leaves have dropped off, and is to be done 

 with a bean-puller or harvester, taking two rows at a 

 time, or in a small way by hand-pulling. The vines are 

 put in small heaps, allowed to cure, and promptly stored 

 out of the way of moisture, afterwards threshed with 

 a bean thresher, or in a small way with the flail, cleaned, 

 sorted by hand (in a large commercial way with the help 

 of a bean-sorting device), and marketed. 



Garden beans. 



The warm and fertile soil of the average home- or 

 market-garden suits the requirements of the "garden" 

 beans, as they are mostly grown for their tender and 

 succulent pods and not for their seeds, or, as in the 

 case of the lima and several others, for their seeds in 

 an immature or half -developed state. The pods of all 

 these garden beans should 

 be picked promptly and 

 clean in order to prolong ' 

 the bearing period as 

 much as possible. If the 

 beans are allowed to ripen 

 on the vines, the latter 

 will soon give out. Only 

 when these garden beans 

 are grown for seed pur- 

 poses is early and even 

 ripening desirable, and in 

 that case the pods, per- 

 haps with the exception 

 of the first setting if 

 light, must all be left on. 

 A good string bean has a 

 thick, meaty pod which 

 snaps off clean when 



broken leaving no string white Lima bean 



along the back. (XH) 



Many varieties which 



answer this description are offered in the various seeds- 

 men's lists, both green-podded and yellow-podded. 

 Early Valentine, with its many strains (Red, Black, 

 Earliest Improved, and so on), is still in favor with 

 growers for a green-podded variety. A newer good 

 one is Stringless Green-Pod. Quite numerous are 

 the yellow-podded sorts. Among them are Black Wax, 



