VARIETIES OF BEANS 143 



There is also a dark red bean which was brought from Chile, and 

 usually named from its color. 



The Pink Bean. This variety is sufficiently described by its 

 name. It has been in California so long that its origin is unknown, 

 and our best bean merchants have never seen it from any other 

 source than this state. It is a first-class bean, and the citizens of 

 Spanish descent prefer it to all other varieties, and it is largely 

 grown for their use in San Luis Obispo county. It is grown to a 

 considerable extent in Sacramento river lands and is perhaps the 

 most successful variety at points in the San Joaquin valley. It holds 

 place also in the southern coast district. 



Mexican Red. Like the Pink, but darker colored, and like it, 

 hardy and productive under different conditions. 



Cranberry. Another pink and red bean which is gaining some 

 standing as a dry bean. 



Red Kidney. An old garden variety chiefly in demand by 

 canners. The largest colored bean but not largely grown. 



Tepary. A small, white bean from Arizona, believed to be of 

 ancient origin and fully discussed in the publications of the Arizona 

 Experiment Station. It recently became widely popular in Cali- 

 fornia because of its heat resistance and heavy bearing in interior 

 valley situations, which distress most of the widely known varieties. 

 Its commercial standing is not fully determined. 



The Butter Bean. This is the local name for what is known 

 as the "Flageolet" in France, whence the seed was brought to this 

 state. It is large, white and flattish. It is going out of production 

 here, as the seed is apparently running out, the size being only half 

 that of thirty-five or forty years ago. 



The Black-eye Bean. It is thought that this variety came from 

 Virginia. It is grown in all the leading bean districts. This and 

 other of the "cow pea" group are grown to some extent, as a cover 

 crop for plowing under, in the citrus orchards, and a seed crop is 

 also sometimes harvested in the citrus districts. 



The Soy Bean. This Asiatic species, which has many varieties, 

 is grown to a limited amount by Chinese and Japanese on river 

 bottom and reclaimed lands, both for forage and food. 



The Horse Bean. A broad bean, chiefly grown by Portuguese 

 in the San Francisco Bay region; hardy and prolific, making free 

 winter growth where freezing is quite sharp. The beans are very 

 subject to weevils and, therefore, are in bad commercial repute. 

 They are now being widely grown for green manuring as they use 

 surplus rainfall moisture. They are upright growers and ordinary 

 bean harvesting methods are not generally used. The stalks may 

 be cut with hand sickles but a combined self-raking reaper is some- 

 times used. The dry crop is used for stock- feeding. 



The Castor Bean. Though the Castor bean is inedible, some 

 reader may expect its name to carry it into this connection. As a 

 profitable crop the Castor bean has been a disappointment. There 



