BEAN 



BEAUMONTIA 



463 



While growing, the tepary may easily be distinguished 

 from the common garden bean by its more slender 

 vines and smaller leaves. The leaves are also thinner, 

 smoother, narrower and more pointed at the apex than 

 those of the bean. The pods are smaller than those of 

 the bean, averaging about 3 inches long and f inch 

 wide. Being somewhat flattened and having thin, 

 rather tough walls, the pods might resemble rather 

 closely a small variety of the lima. Teparies, however, 

 differ markedly from either the bean or the lima in the 

 length of the steins bearing the first pair of aerial 

 leaves. For teparies these measure only about I inch, 

 whereas for beans and limas they will average an inch 

 or more. The seeds of the tepary are smaller than those 

 of the other sorts mentioned and there are a number of 

 minor differences which suffice to give them a distinctive 

 appearance at least to those who are familiar with the 

 group. The seeds of the white variety 

 are very similar to those of the navy 

 bean, with which they would in all 

 probability be classed on the general 

 market. A convenient test for shelled 

 tepary beans is to immerse them in 

 water. They will wrinkle in five to 

 ten minutes; while other cultivated 

 species commonly require forty-five 

 minutes to one hour. 



The tepary as a food. 



There is considerable difference of 

 opinion as to the relative palat ability 

 of beans and teparies. Among the 

 Indians and Mexicans, the commer- 

 cial pink bean is preferred to the 

 tepary, as they say it has a better 

 flavor. These people, however, make 

 the same difference between the pink 

 bean and the white navy which is 

 shipped in from the East. Teparies 

 should be soaked twelve hours before 

 cooking, during which time they swell 

 to at least twice their original volume 

 and more than double in weight. In 

 this respect they markedly surpass 

 other beans. Well-cooked teparies 

 are light and mealy and have a rich 

 bean-like aroma. Boiled and baked 

 with bacon or mashed and added to 

 soups, they form most acceptable 

 dishes. To such as are fond of the 

 onion, a small amount of this vegetable finely chopped 

 and stirred in during boiling makes a pleasing 

 addition. 



Yields and culture. 



The superiority of the tepary over other beans for 

 planting in the Southwest is exhibited in its greater 

 productivity when grown under similar conditions. 

 This statement is not only true in irrigated sections, 

 but even more marked in regions devoted to dry-farm- 

 ing. In nine experiments in Arizona covering almost 

 every condition of soil, culture and water-supply, and 

 extending over three years, the average yield of the 

 teparies has been slightly more than four times the 

 average for varieties of the kidney bean. These greater 

 yields are due to the ability of the tepary to germinate 

 quickly in the presence of a low moisture-content of 

 the soil, with the resulting better stands on dry lands. 

 The tepary is also able to withstand protracted seasons 

 of drought without permanent injury, returning to full 

 vigor immediately when the rains come. Other beans 

 do not possess this ability to a marked degree. The 

 tepary is also inured to the greatest extremes of sum- 

 mer temperatures and will bloom and set seed any 

 month from May to November. On the other hand, 

 when the blooming period of common beans happens to 



486. Typical Snap, 

 or String beans. 



(XH) 



487. Bedding. Arundinaria 



Veitchii. 



fall within a season of extreme heat, the buds will for 

 the most part drop without setting pods. For these 

 reasons the tepary is a more sure and dependable crop, 

 often giving fair returns when beans are a total failure. 

 With an ample supply of water, good soil and other 

 conditions favorable, 

 teparies should yield 700 

 to 1,200 pounds per acre. 

 However, 1,500 pounds 

 per acre have been re- 

 ported from the Colo- 

 rado Valley near Yuma. 

 Under dry-farm condi- 

 tions, yields of 450 to 

 700 pounds have been 

 reported. On irrigated 

 lands, teparies may be 

 planted in southern Arizona any time from the early 

 spring when danger of frost is past until August 10. 

 The best crops however, are secured by early planting, 

 March 20 to April 1, or by midsummer planting, July 

 12 to 25. In dry-farming, they are planted any time 

 from the 10th to the 15th or 20th of July. 



GEO. F. FREEMAN. 



BEARBERRY: Arctostaphylos. 

 BEAR'S BREECH: Acanthus. 

 BEAUCARNEA: Nolina. 



BEAUFORTIA (Duchess of Beaufort, patron of 

 botany). Myrtacex. Greenhouse red-flowered shrubs, 

 blooming in spring. 



Stiff, more or less heath-like shrubs: Ivs. commonly 

 opposite, small and rigid, often only 1-nerved: fls. in 

 heads or short spikes, sessile; calyx 5-lobed; petals 5, 

 spreading; stamens many, longer than the petals, in 

 bundles opposite each of the petals; ovary 3-celled: fr. 

 a loculicidal caps, borne in the hardened calyx-tube. 

 Twelve or 13 species in W. Austral. Requires the treat- 

 ment of coolhouse Australian things, with peaty soil. 

 Prop, by maturing shoots under glass. 



purp&rea, Lindl. Small free-flowering shrub, with 

 virgate branches: Ivs. ovate-lanceolate or narrower, 

 becoming linear on the small branches: fls. small, pur- 

 plish red, the petals shorter than the erect subulate 

 calyx-lobes. L. u_ jj. 



BEAUMONTIA (after Mrs. Beaumont, of Bretton 

 Hal!,Yorkshire, England). Apocyndcex. Hothouse white- 

 flowered twiner. 



Corolla funnelform, short-tubed, without scales in 

 the throat, with 5 broad lobes; stamens 5, included, 

 attached to corolla; disk 5-lobed -or of 5 scales. The 

 genus is more nearly allied to the familiar greenhouse 

 shrub Trachelospermum jasminoides than to the splen- 

 did tropical climbers in Allamanda and Dipladema. 

 Four or 5 Indian or 

 Javanese trees or tall 

 climbers, with very 

 large, white, fra- 

 grant, bell-shaped fls. 

 in terminal cymes. 



B. grandiflora has 

 been neglected of 

 late, presumably be- 

 cause it needs so 

 much room. It 

 should be planted 

 out in strong, fibrous, 

 loamy soil of a warm- 

 house, as it rarely succeeds in pots. It is best trained 

 to the roof, as full light is necessary for flowering, if 

 not for growth. The shoots may be thinned if the large 

 leaves cast too much shade on the plants beneath. The 

 wood should be well ripened to produce an abundance 

 of winter bloom. The flowers are produced on the 



488. Bedding. Bambusa palmata. 



