produce a variety in which the ma- 

 ture pod would be of a size to can 

 whole. 



As white seed beans give a clearer 

 juice than colored beans in a canned 

 product the aim was to work for a 

 variety with white seeds. Harm 

 Drewes of the Ferry-Morse Seed 

 Company procured from Holland 

 seed of a variety called Perfect 

 Stringless to be used as breeding 

 stock. This variety was green, and 

 had white seed, and was small 

 podded; but despite its name it was 

 anything but stringless. It was 

 crossed with Refugee. After several 

 years of intensive selfing and selec- 

 tion in the field and in the green- 

 house, a variety resulted which has 

 white seeds; the mature pods, which 

 are about four inches long, are 

 round, green, and stringless. This 

 bean, which seedsmen list as Tiny 

 Green, makes an excellent canned 

 product. 



OTHER SNAP BEAN BREEDING 



In 1947 work began on the de- 

 velopment of a green snap bean 

 which would have good color, would 

 be a good producer, would be easy to 

 harvest, and possibly might be har- 

 vested by mechanical means. Crosses 

 were made between several promis- 

 ing varieties, including Tiny Green, 

 Streamliner, Bountiful, Tendergreen, 

 Refugee, and an unnamed variety 

 from Australia. One generation was 

 raised in the greenhouse and a sec- 

 ond in the field in 1948. From this 

 population, 158 plants have been se- 

 lected for continued trials. These 

 have several characteristics in com- 

 mon: they are white-seeded; they are 

 bush varieties; they are green pod- 

 ded. Selections made from them in 

 coming years should result in an im- 

 proved variety as was planned. 



Among the plants grown in 1948, 

 more than 100 were tested for can- 

 ning by using part of the product of 



the plant in a miniature jar. One of 

 the observations made from this test 

 was that any plant which had color 

 in the flowers also had colored seed 

 and when processed at 15 pounds 

 steam pressure for an hour (as is 

 customarily done in canning) the 

 seeds turned a dark brown color and 

 gave a darkened appearance to the 

 canned product. If the seeds were 

 white, as indicated by white blos- 

 soms, discoloration of the product 

 did not result. White flowers, white 

 seed, and good color in the canned 

 product are associated in our crosses. 

 More observations will be made on 

 this point in the future. Color in the 

 stems, when the plants emerge from 

 the soil, has also indicated colored 

 seed on the resulting plants. An ex- 

 ception has been noted in a white- 

 seeded green snap bean obtained 

 from Dr. R. A. Emerson of Cornell. 

 This variety has colored flowers. It 

 makes a well-colored, green canned 

 product, as has been noted with 

 other white seed beans. 



An ordinary variety of snap beans 



(left) compared witii Tiny Green in 



the usable stage (right). 



22 



