BEAN 



BEAN 



461 



from an affected field should not be used, nor should 

 beans be planted again on a field for several years after 

 having been affected. For bean anthracnose, also called 

 bean rust (erroneously) and pod-spot, which is easily 

 recognized by the dark or brownish spots on the pods 

 and occurs both on field and garden beans, there is one 

 sure preventive. Plant clean seed and grow a practically 

 clean crop. It is advisable for the grower to select his 

 own seed beans, carefully rejecting every pod that 

 shows the least sign of the disease. The true bean rust 

 is not so often met with, therefore not so serious. 



T. GREINER. 



Lima beans in California. 



Lima beans are grown in California very extensively 

 as a field crop, supplying the markets of the country 

 with the bulk of the dry shelled product. The figures 

 for the lima bean crop of 1910 in California are as 

 follows: 



Sacks 



Ventura County 800.000 



Orange County 150,000 



Santa Barbara County 75,000 



Los Angeles County 75,000 



San Diego County 60,000 



Total 1,160,000 



The above represents a total of about 82,850 acres 

 devoted to this crop. 



Lima beans delight in warm, summer weather, but 

 if the relative humidity is low, they suffer in conse- 

 quence. Along the California coast, which is the heavi- 

 est producing section, the fogs are remarkably constant 

 in the night and early morning, and when for a week or 

 ten days these fogs are lacking, the bean crop suffers 

 markedly. The small pods that are just forming dry 

 up and fall off without making seed. The heavy fogs 

 which roll in may add a little moisture to the surface 

 soil for a time, but not enough to reach the roots and 

 aid the plants directly. The great benefit of the fog is 

 in lessening evaporation and tempering the atmosphere, 

 less water passing from the plant into moist atmosphere 

 than would pass into dry atmosphere. 



The profitable production of lima beans is limited to 

 some extent by soil, though not so much as by climate. 

 They are grown on soil ranging all the way from sandy 

 to adobe. The lima bean plant does not grow well on 

 an acid soil; neither does it thrive on an alkali soil. 

 California soils, being mostly arid or semi-arid, are not 



badly leached, and 

 therefore lime is 

 usually abundant, 

 insuring freedom 

 from acidity. But 

 the same aridity 

 and consequent lack 

 of leaching is re- 

 sponsible for the ac- 

 cumulation in some 

 lands of consider- 

 able amounts of 

 alkali salts, enough 

 to limit the area 

 and the production 

 in the counties 

 where the bulk of 

 the limas is grown. 

 The amount of 

 alkali which this 

 bean can endure 

 and still produce 

 paying crops has 

 not been definitely 

 determined, but it 

 is not high. How- 

 ever, experience has 

 483. Soy bean. Glycine hispida. ( X M shown that the lima 



484. Phaseolus multiflorus. 



(XH) 



will bear more alkali than the Blackeye, Lady Washing- 

 ton, or other beans of the common kidney type. 



The difference in time of maturity is very great 

 between sandy and clayey soils, and still greater be- 

 tween dry and moist soils. A difference of a Week may 

 be observed in the same field, due to physical variations 

 in the soil, and much more 

 than this difference in time 

 has been frequently observed 

 within the distance of a few 

 miles. It seems that the 

 water-supply of the soil more 

 than the texture is respon- 

 sible for this difference in 

 time of ripening, as irrigation 

 on light soils causes the same 

 lateness in maturity. Thus, 

 a tendency is found toward 

 the perennial habit which the 

 plant maintains under the 

 humid conditions of the 

 tropics. 



Soils with much nitrogen 

 tend to produce late matu- 

 rity; hence the limas ripen 

 later on land which has been 

 recently manured. On the 

 other hand, the mineral ele- 

 ments tend toward early 

 maturity. Limas require a 

 richer soil than do the white 

 kidney beans; the pole varie- 

 ties require a richer soil than 

 the bush varieties. 



The standard preparation 

 of land for a bean crop is 

 practised. Growers have 

 learned by experience that 

 good preparation pays; in fact, very much more culti- 

 vation is given the soil before seeding than after. 



Planting is from May 1 to May 25, at the rate of 

 forty-five to sixty-five pounds per acre, according to 

 the moisture condition and fertility of the soil. The 

 beans are planted in rows 30 to 36 inches apart, 8 to 12 

 inches apart in the row, a single seed being dropped in a 

 place. On the heavier and more moist soils, where the 

 growth of vines is rank, the wider distances are given 

 between rows. Two inches in the moist soil is considered 

 the best depth of planting. 



The beans are tilled while young, one, two or three 

 times, the average number of cultivations being two or a 

 little more. The fields are ordinarily kept free from 

 weeds from the time of working in the winter till the 

 vines cover the ground. Cultivation must cease when 

 the vines get large, as, not being provided with supports, 

 they spread across the row and would be badly injured 

 by the passage of the cultivator. After the vines have 

 made such a growth as practically to cover the 

 ground, the mulch is not so much needed to prevent 

 evaporation. 



Irrigation in California. 



As there is normally no rain on the bean crop in 

 California from planting till harvest, the ground, of 

 course, becomes very dry. Hence irrigation has been 

 found profitable, the production in many fields being 

 doubled by the use of water. The most common 

 method of irrigation is by the row system. Furrows are 

 made between all the rows with an implement carrying 

 four broad shovels, furrowing between four rows at a 

 time. Water is run in these furrows for the desired 

 time, after which the land is leveled by a shallow 

 cultivation. This prevents excessive evaporation which 

 would take place if the furrows were allowed to bake in 

 the sun. Usually only one irrigation is given, and that 

 about July 1st, just before cultivation ceases. Two and 



