PLANTING BEANS. 191 



grower is apt to be caught with his work unfinished and 

 his beans stained or sprouting. However, these troubles 

 are not serious enough to cause the forsaking of the crop, 

 and in an occasional year of drought, when the southern 

 coast counties do not get rainfall enough to make their full 

 crop, the grower on the interior lowlands records a good 

 profit. 



The extension of the bean area of California during the 

 last decade and the relative production of the different 

 regions of the several leading commercial beans are seen 

 in the following, condensed from the bean report for 1909 

 of Mr. J. B. Meloche of San Francisco : 



Sacramento San Joa- Central Southern 



Totals 490,000 520,000 220,000 1,300,000 2,530,200 



The foregoing is the product in standard sacks of each 

 kind, the weight of the sacks in each case being as fol- 

 lows : Large White, 92 Ibs. ; Small White, 90 Ibs. ; Pink, 87 

 Ibs. ; Bayo, 85 Ibs. ; Blackeye, 80 Ibs ; Lima, 75 Ibs. The 

 total acreage in 1909 was estimated at 130,000 acres, which 

 would give an average acre-yield of about twenty sacks. 



Soil for Beans. A rich sandy soil, if it can be kept 

 moist enough, is best suited to the growth of beans, and 

 dry, hot, sandy soil is the worst, but even on sand near 

 the beach, fair crops are sometimes made by the help of 

 aerial moisture and coolness. The plant does not require 

 a very great amount of moisture, if heat and atmospheric 

 aridity are not too great, but insists upon a certain 

 amount. Crops have been lost by choosing land that was 

 too wet. But though a light soil seems to best suit the 

 plant, it can be successfully grown on any good garden 

 soil, providing good cultivation is given and the land 

 kept from baking and drying out. With adequate care in 



THE 

 UNIVERSITY 



