FLASH HORTICULTURAL BEAN 



The Flash Horticultural bean re- 

 sulted from the same cross from 

 which Brilliant came. Flash was se- 

 lected and purified as a true bush 

 type. It is somewhat earlier than 

 Brilliant. Both earliness and bush 

 habit are desirable characteristics, 

 especially for some areas of New 

 Hampshire. Flash is equally attrac- 

 tive and in some localities is more 

 productive than Brilliant. When the 

 soil conditions are not good, unde- 

 sirably short pods are sometimes pro- 

 duced. 



OTHER HORTICULTURAL BEAN 

 BREEDING 



In some extensive variety and 

 strain testing, two unusually good 

 horticultural beans were noted. One 

 was a dwarf horticultural bean which 

 is extremely early, has very long, 

 bright-colored pods, but with light- 

 color; the seeds are very large but 

 marked with an unattractive purple. 



Breeding work with horticultural 

 beans has been continued through 

 the crossing of these Littleton and 

 Pittsfield beans with Flash. Select- 

 tions have been made for bush 

 plants, earliness, long pods, bright- 

 colored seeds, large size, and good 

 production. Some of these selections 

 appear to be much superior to either 

 Flash or Brilliant and may shortly 

 be introduced. These strains will al- 

 so be sent to bean-producing areas 

 before final selections are chosen so 

 that it will be possible to get an ade- 

 quate production of desirable seed. 

 Such a seed supply seems to be a 

 requisite in the successful introduc- 

 tion of good horticultural bean varie- 

 ties. 



WHITE MOUNTAIN BUSH LIMA BEAN 



In some seasons, lima beans do 

 well in southern New Hampshire; in 

 other years they fail either to pro- 



duce pods or to mature them before 

 frost. Failure to germinate, if cool 

 weather comes after planting, is a 

 common fault of lima beans. 



The United States Department of 

 Agriculture at Beltsville, Maryland, 

 has been doing lima-bean breeding 

 for many years with the objective of 

 getting varieties adapted to hot sum- 

 mer weather. Selections were made 

 there that would stand such condi- 

 tions. Therefore, it was thought 

 that the beans which they discarded 

 at Beltsville might have the ability 

 to withstand cool weather. A num- 

 ber of such discarded lines were se- 

 cured by W. D. Holley from Dr. 

 Roy Magruder and planted here. 

 Most of them proved to be entirely 

 unadapted to local conditions, but 

 germinated under our comparatively 

 unfavorable conditions. Selections 

 made from them were self pollinated 

 in the greenhouse and planted again 

 in the field the following year. 



In 1946. the soil was unusually 

 cold at planting time, and as a re- 

 sult, in a one-acre plot of lima beans 

 only eight plants grew and matured 

 a crop. These plants, as the fore- 

 runners of new lines, were increased 

 in the greenhouse during the winter 

 of 1946 and the spring of 1947 and 

 planted in the field in 1947 beside a 

 test planting of 20 choice strains 

 from the United States Department 

 of Agriculture and some commercial 

 varieties. 



Many of the imported strains and 

 varieties failed to germinate at all in 

 our cold soil. However, three of the 

 New Hampshire lines matured a 

 good crop. The one designated as 

 A'o. 51 was outstanding in pod and 

 seed size, production, and early ma- 

 turity. Seed from this selection was 

 saved and again planted in the field 

 where it matured a large crop in 

 1948. Its production was equal to 

 the best of the small-seeded varieties. 

 Because of its large pods and large 

 seeds, its bush habit, and its ability 



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