198 CALIFORNIA VEGETABLES. 



were high the quality and condition of the beans did not 

 materially interfere with the sales, but in times of plenty, 

 the best is hardly good enough, and the most scrupulous 

 attention is given as to the quality. To insure the most 

 ready sale at best prices, every grower should have the 

 reputation of putting his beans in the sack for sale in 

 thoroughly sound and clean condition, even by hand- 

 picking if necessary. A dirty lot of beans from any 

 locality injures not the grower alone, but casts suspicion 

 on all the product of that place. In preventing this, 

 associated effort of growers has accomplished much. 



Rotation of Crops. It has been the experience of bean 

 growers hitherto that many crops of beans can be grown 

 successfully on the same soil without great difference in 

 the yield that is, the land does not clearly show wear. On 

 the other hand, however, a bean crop improves barley, 

 potatoes or other succeeding crop. This might be expected 

 from what is now known of the power of the legumes to 

 fix atmospheric nitrogen by means of their roots. Our 

 best bean soils are so rich naturally that they are able to 

 endure a long cropping period and growers are apt to 

 look upon the soil as a constant factor and wish that the 

 weather could be placed in the same category. 



VARIETY FOR FIELD CULTURE. 



The Lima Bean. The Lima is the great bean of Cali- 

 fornia so far as the outside world is concerned, because 

 though other beans are grown everywhere, five southern 

 coast counties seem especially adapted by favoring local 

 climate to the growth of this rather exacting variety, and 

 the product of Limas in this region is nearly one-half of 

 the total bean production of California. The variety 

 grown is the old "Large Lima," well known to the trade 

 and well adapted to the region, and however popular the 

 dwarf Limas may become as garden varieties they do not 

 promise to supplant the old sort in its stronghold. Though 

 the Lima is a running bean, no support is given it in field 

 culture. It is safe and comfortable reclining on the drv. 



