STURTEVANTS NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS 423 



the New England coast had not seen kidney beans previously.' In 1605, Champlain, 

 writing of the Indians of the Kennebec region, says: " With this com they put in each 

 hill three or four Brazilian beans {Febues du Br^sil), which are of different colors. When 

 they grow up they interlace with the com, which reaches to the height of from five to six 

 feet; and they keep the ground very free from weeds." ^ In 1614, Capt. John Smith men- 

 tions beans among the New England Indians,' and when the Pilgrims first landed, Novem- 

 ber 19, 1620, Miles Standish unearthed from a pit not only com but " a bag of beans." 

 Wood also mentions " Indian's beans " as among the foods of the Massachusetts Indians, 

 1629-33.^ Lescarbot ^ says that the Indians of Maine, 1608, like those of Virginia and 

 Florida, plant their com in hills, " and between the kernels of com they plant beans marked 

 with various colors, which are very delicate: these, because they are not so high as the 

 com, grow very well among it." ' The most complete enumeration of varieties is, however, 

 given in Josselyn, before 1670: "French beans: or rather, American beans. The her- 

 balists call them kidney-beans from their shape and effects: for they strengthen the kid- 

 neys. They are variegated much, some being bigger, a great deal, than others; some 

 white, black, red, yellow, blue, spotted: besides your Bonivis and Calavances, .and the 

 kidney-bean that is proper to Roanoke. But these are brought into the country; the 

 others are natural to the climate." ' In 1535, Cartier, at the mouth of the St. Lawrence, 

 foimd beans of every color, yet differing from ours. 



In 1609, Hudson, exploring the river which now bears his name, found, within the 

 limits of what is now Rensselaer County, New York, " beans of the last year's growth." ' 

 In 1653, Von der Donck, in his Description oj the Netherlands, says: " Before the arrival 

 of the Netherlanders (16 14) the Indians raised beans of various kinds and colors but gen- 

 erally too coarse to be eaten green, or to be pickled, except the blue sort, which are abtm- 

 dant." ' In 1633, DeVries " proceeded in the yacht up the (Delaware) river, to procure 

 beans from the Indians." '" 



" Beans " were seen by Newport, 1607, in ascending the James River," but Heriot, 

 1586, describes the okindgier of Virginia, " called by us beans, because in greatness and 

 partly in shape they are like to the beans in England, saving that they are flatter, of more 

 divers colours, and some pied. The leaf also of the stem is much different." '^ In 1 700-08, 

 Lawson '' says: " The kidney-beans were here before the English came, being very plenti- 

 ful in Indian corn-fields. The bushel-bean, a spontaneous growth, very flat, white and 



Hakluyt, R. Divers Voy. Amer. Hakl. Soc. Ed. 61. 1840. 



' C3iamplam Voy. Prince Soc. Ed. 2:64. 1878. 



Smith, J. Disc. New Eng. 16. 1616. Force Coll. Tracts 2: No. i. 1838. 



'Wood, W. New Eng. Prosp. 75. 1865. 



Lescarbot i/ji^. Nouv. France 825. 1612. 



Gray and Trumbull Amer. Journ. Set. Arts 132. Aug. 1883. 



'Josselyn, J. Foy. 59. 1865. 



N. Y. Hist. Soc. Coll. 2nd ser. 1:300. 1841. 



Gray and Trumbull Amer. Journ. Sci. Arts 134. 1883. 



"Hazard, S. Annals Pa. 31. 1850. 



" Pickering, C. Chron. Hist. Pis. 575. 1879. 



" Pinkerton Co//. Voy. 12:595. 181 2. 



" Lawson, J. Hist. Car. 130. i860. 



