572 



ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PRACTICAL HORTICULTURE 



Jiajy Bean 



The navy bean is a small white bean 

 generally sown in drills about 18 inches 

 apart between the drills, and about two to 

 four inches apart in the row. This give3 

 room for cultivation with a small plow. 

 Sometimes they are sown broadcast, gath- 

 ered in the autumn and threshed like 

 wheat or oats. Sometimes the thresh- 

 ing is done with a flail, or by treading 

 with horses. 



Bnnch Beans or Bush Beans 



Bunch beans are planted in the garden, 

 generally for home use, or for sale while 

 green in the form known as "string 

 beans." Included in the varieties of 

 bush beans are White Marrow. Burling- 

 hame. Medium and Snow Flake. 



Lima Beans 



Among the varieties of Lima beans, 

 are the dwarf Lima and the pole Limas. 

 The dwarf varieties are growing into fav- 

 or, because they require less work than 

 the pole Limas. If the pole varieties 

 are planted, as soon as the beans be- 

 gin to vine, poles six to eight feet lon.g 

 should be set, one for each hill of beans, 

 and the vines allowed to entwine about 

 them. 



The Soil 



Unlike most other vegetables, the bean 

 does not require a rich soil. If the soil 

 is rich, it produces heavy vines, and not 

 a heavy crop of beans. It is possible 

 therefore, to grow beans successfully on 

 soil too poor for ordinary crops. The 

 bean is also a leguminous vegetable, gath- 

 ering nitrogen and improving the soil 

 conditions. 



Varieties 



Improved Prolific Black Wax, Extra 

 Early Refugee, Bismark Black Wax Pro- 

 lific, Dwarf Horticultural, Stringless 

 Green Pod, Early Warwick. 



GR.\NVir,LE LOWTHEB 



Bean Growing in Eastern Wasliington and 

 Oregon, and Northern Idaho 



Lee W. FLun.iRTT. 



Assistant Ag-riciMurist, 



Office of Farm, Management 



The arable land of Eastern Washington, 



Eastern Oregon, and Northern Idaho has 



been devoted almost exclusively to the 

 production of wheat, oats, and barley for 

 more than 30 years. 



While wheat, oats, and barley are the 

 crops most universally grown, a small 

 portion of the wheat belt of Washington, 

 Oregon, and Idaho is well adapted to the 

 production of beans. The area best suit- 

 ed to this crop lies along the foothills 

 of the Blue mountains in Umatilla coun- 

 ty, Oregon, Walla Walla, Columbia, Gar- 

 field, and Asotin counties, Washington, 

 and along the foothills of the Craig moun- 

 tains and adjacent to the canyons of the 

 Clearwater and Potlatch rivers in Nez 

 Perce, Lewis, and Latah counties, Idaho. 

 A few districts are in Whitman, Spokane 

 and Stevens counties, Washington, where 

 the climatic conditions are favorable for 

 bean culture. While it is true that only 

 a limited area is adapted to this crop a 

 careful study of all the details of its 

 production shows that thousands of acres 

 now lying idle each year as summer fal- 

 low may be used for growing beans as an 

 intertilled crop. This crop has been 

 grown in parts of Nez Perce and Latah 

 counties. Idaho, for the past 15 years, 

 and the bean hullers make their regular 

 fall runs the same as the grain thrashers. 

 The crop has also been grown in a more 

 limited way near Weston, Oregon, for 15 

 years. The production of field beans in 

 this territory is therefore past the ex- 

 perimental stage. A few days spent in 

 the vicinity of Kendrick, Idaho, visit- 

 ing bean growers during the months of 

 July and August will convince the 

 skeptical of this fact. 



Limiting Factors of Bean Production 



Two factors largely determine whether 

 beans may be grown successfully: (1) 

 The annual precipitation must be suffi- 

 cient to produce a crop each year and (2) 

 the growing season from May 10 to Sep- 

 tember 15 must be approximately free 

 from frosts. Owing to their proximity 

 to the mountains the districts previous- 

 ly mentioned receive sufficient precipita- 

 tion for growing beans when proper cul- 

 tural methods are employed. 



The deep ravines leading down from 

 the mountains in these regions give pro- 



