460 



BEAN 



BEAN 



Golden Wax, Davis Kidney Wax, Wardwell Wax, 



1 imlson. and others. 



Pole beans. 



Pole or running varieties of beans require especially 

 fertile soil; and for that king of table beans, the lima of 

 all forms, too much can hardly be done in the way of 

 enriching the ground. Warm soil is one of the first 

 essentials of success in growing pole beans. When poles 

 are to be used for support, they should be set not less 

 than 4 feet apart each way, before the beans are planted. 

 Four or five beans are to be placed around each pole, 

 1 to 13^ inches deep. While it is a safe rule to put the 

 seed eye downward, it is not a necessary condition of 

 prompt and uniform germination. In case of absence or 

 scarcity of poles, a serviceable, cheap and ornamental 

 trellis may be constructed by setting posts firmly at 

 proper distances along the row, connecting them with 

 two wires, one a few inches and the other 5 or 6 feet 

 from the ground, and finally winding cheap twine zig- 

 zag fashion around the two wires. Cultivate and hoe 

 frequently. A top-dressing of good fertilizer, or of old 

 poultry- or sheep-manure, hoed in around the plants, 

 may be of great help in keeping up the productiveness 

 of the plants to the end of the season. To have a con- 

 tinuous supply during the entire season, the pods, 

 when large enough, must be gathered frequently and 

 clean. Among the varieties used both for string 

 and shell beans, are the Green-podded Creaseback, 



482. Yard-long Bean. A species of Vigna. 



several wax varieties, Golden Cluster, and the popular 

 Horticultural or Speckled Cranberry bean, besides any 

 number of others. A very fine bean is the Dutch 

 Runner (Fig. 484), which approaches the lima in 

 quality and resembles it in habit of growth. The seed 

 is of the largest size and clear white in color. Highly 

 ornamental is the closely related Scarlet Runner, with 

 its abundance of showy scarlet blossoms. This latter 

 bean is grown in Europe for eating, but is rarely used 

 for that purpose here. 



Lima beans. 



Of all pole beans, the limas have undoubtedly the 

 greatest economic value. They enjoy a deserved popu- 

 larity, and are usually grown with profit by the market- 

 gardener. The varieties might be classed in three types, 

 that of the Large Lima, the Dreer Lima, and the 

 Small Lima or Sieva. Each of them has a number of 

 sub-varieties or strains, and appears in both pole and 

 bush form. The old Large Lima (Fig. 481) is a very 

 large, flat bean, and yet largely grown for main crop. 

 To the same type belong Extra-Early Jersey, King- 

 of-the-Garden, and others. The pods of these are very 

 large, and the beans in them somewhat flattened. 



There are dwarf forms of both sieva and the regular 

 lima. The Burpee Bush Lima is a form of the Targe 

 lima type. The Dreer Lima of both forms is appreciated 

 especially for its high quality. The seeds are more 

 roundish and crowded close together in the pods, the 

 latter being much smaller than those of the Large Lima. 

 The seeds of these two types are light-colored, with a 



greenish tinge, but the Large Lima is also represented 

 by red and speckled (red-and-white) sports. The Small 

 Lima or Sieva, with its dwarf form, Henderson Bush 

 Lima, seems to be hardier and earlier than the two 

 larger types, but pod and bean are quite small. The 

 color of this bean is nearly clear white, but there is also 

 a speckled sub-variety of it. Wherever there is a place 

 for the Sieva, its bush form will be appreciated. The 

 bush forms of the two larger types, however, are not 

 uniformly productive enough to take the place of the 

 pole forms entirely. The latter will often be preferable 

 when a season of continuous bearing is desired. 



Lima beans require a long season, and therefore are 

 not much grown along the northern borders and in 

 Canada. They must be given warm and "quick" soil 

 and kept constantly growing. 



Other beans. 



Three other members of the bean tribe might be men- 

 tioned in this connection; namely, the Black bean or 

 cowpea of the South, the Japanese Soy bean, and the 

 English or Broad bean. The cowpea takes, in some 

 measure, the same place in the southern states that red 

 clover takes at the North, being used both as stock food 

 and as a green-manure crop. There are many varieti<-M 

 of it, early and late, some of strictly bush habit 

 and some producing long runners. See Cowpea. ( )f 

 greater value for the same purposes, north of New Jer- 

 sey, seems to be the Japanese Soy bean, which is early 

 enough to come to maturity almost anywhere in the 

 United States. Its foliage is rather thin or open, how- 

 ever, which impairs its value for green-manuring. The 

 dry bean constitutes one of the richest vegetable foods 

 known, and its flavor seems unobjectionable to all kinds 

 of stock. Sow one bushel to the acre. Similar to this in 

 value is the English Broad bean, several varieties of 

 which, as the Broad Windsor, the Horse bean, and others, 

 are grown and are popular in England and in some parts 

 of the European continent. In most parts of the United 

 States they are scarcely known, and in none generally 

 cultivated. Only a few of our seedsmen list them in 

 their otherwise complete catalogues. Yet they are a 

 decidedly interesting group of plants, and worthy of 

 greater attention in the cooler parts of the country. 

 Being about as hardy as peas, they may be planted 

 much earlier than would be safe for ordinary beans. 

 The Windsor is used in England in much the same way as 

 lima beans are used in America; but the latter are so 

 much better that in the United States there is no need 

 of planting the former as a table vegetable. The varie- 

 ties with smallish seeds are sometimes grown and used 

 in parts of Europe for feeding pigeons and chickens, 

 and under certain conditions might have some value 

 here for the same purpose on account of the high 

 protein content. 



Insects and diseases. 



The foliage of the various beans is rarely attacked by 

 insects. A somewhat serious pest, however, which 

 attacks the seeds both in the pod and dry, after being 

 shelled, is the bean-weevil, a smaller brother of the JM a- 

 weevil, and having nearly the same general habits of 

 development. If only beans free from live weevils are 

 used for seed in a given locality, the product will be 

 free from them also. For that reason, all beans to be 

 used for seed, or for food, if suspected of being weevil- 

 infested, should be subjected to the carbon-bisulfid 

 treatment in the fall. It is simple, but care should be 

 taken to keep the highly inflammable drug away from 

 an open fire or light. Place the beans in a tight recep- 

 tacle. Pour a quantity (half pint to barrel) of the 

 bisulfid into a saucer or other flat dish, which place on 

 top of the beans, and cover the receptacle tightly, 

 leaving it thus for twenty-four hours or more. 



Difficult to control is the bean blight, a disease which 

 frequently affects field, garden and lima beans. Seed 



