102 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



April 



CULTIVATION OF LIMA BEANS. 



Mr. Editor : — I hand you for publication in the 

 Horticultural Department of your paper, a commu- 

 nication from one of our citizens in relation to the 

 cultivation of Lima Beans, presented to the Horti- 

 cultural Society of the Valley of the Genesee. 

 Should the experiments qf others prove as successful 

 as have those of Mr. Seward, we may hope soon to 

 see our market well supplied with this most excellent 

 and valuable table vegetable. L. A. Ward. 



By the request of the President of your Society, 

 I submit the following details of my experience in 

 cultivating this plant for some time past. It is now 

 about eight years since my attention was called to 

 the article by Mr. Bateham, at that time of the 

 Rochester Seed Store. I purchased a single hand- 

 ful for a shilling, and have succeeded in perfecting a 

 sufficient quantity for use and for seed since that 

 time, not exceeding fifteen or twenty hills in a season. 

 In the mean time, having had an opportunity for 

 observing the peculiar habits and necessities of the 

 plant, I prepared last spring a strip of ground equal 

 to two square rods, on which were planted about sixty 

 hills, with four seeds to a hill, which averaged, after 

 the common catastrophies of germinating, and the 

 depredations of the cut-worm, two and a half matured 

 plants to the hill. They grew as usual in the months 

 of July and August with great vigor, some of the 

 vines attaining a length of more than twenty feet. 

 The bean was sufficiently matured for cooking about 

 the 15th or 20th of August, and from that time to the 

 last of October they were gathered freely for the use 

 of a small family. A half peck was submitted at the 

 exhibition of your Society about the 20th of Septem- 

 ber, to which was awarded a premium of two dollars. 



Mr. Fogg, of the Seed Store, desiring to obtain 

 for seed what might mature at the rate of seven dol- 

 lars the bushel, I had them carefully gathered about 

 the 10th of November, amounting to a full half 

 bushel of plump dry seed, in addition to which there 

 was nearly a peck of dry beans not considered suf- 

 ficiently ripe for seed, which we find to be as great a 

 luxury for the table in winter as they were in the fall. 

 Under all these circumstances, the crop cannot be 

 considered less than one bushel, at $7. (It is said, 

 by the way, that the article is considered in the 

 Philadelphia market as good as lawful tender for $10 

 the bushel.) ' One acre of ground at this rate would 

 produce eighty bushels, and at $7 a bushel, $560 

 — enough one would think to satisfy the rapacity of 

 a California gold digger. The inferences to be 

 deduced from the foregoing statements are, first, that 

 there is no good reason why our vegetable market 

 should not be as well supplied with this real luxury 

 as are the markets of New York and Philadelphia ; 

 and second, that they can be produced for market, in 

 quantities and at prices that would place them in 

 reach of all our citizens. 



The Lima Bean, as its name indicates, is a native 

 of Lima, in South America, introduced into the 

 United States probably within the last thirty years. 

 It is consequently a little out of its latitude in Roch- 

 ester. It will be necessary, therefore, to secure the 

 greatest success in cultivating it, that you select a 

 warm, sandy rich soil, if possible a little elevated 

 from the plain, as such elevations will often escape 

 a frost in spring which would destroy the plant a 

 hundred yards distant on a plain ten feet below, and 



it will be apt to be too late to plant this bean a sec- 

 ond time. The same will be true of the frost in the 

 fall, when every day will be needed to perfect the 

 crop. They should be planted between the 1st and 

 15th of May, immediately after a warm rain, so as 

 to get them up if possible before it rains again — a 

 few cold wet days, or a hard crust on the surface, 

 may dvstroy a large part of your plants after they 

 have sprouted and before they are up. The vines, 

 after they commence running, will need a little 

 assistance in attaching themselves to the poles ; the 

 cultivation after this need not vary from that of other 

 beans. The roots may be pulled up in the fall or 

 cut off near the ground, and the beans left to dry on 

 the poles. 



To those who are entirely unacquainted with this 

 vegetable it may be proper to state, that the Lima 

 Bean is to all other beans what the Marrowfat Pea 

 is to the common Field Pea. It is a large white bean, 

 growing three in a capsule or pod, rich and buttery, 

 having the starchy or beany taste peculiar to the 

 family scarcely perceptible. J. W. S. 



A WORD ABOUT PEARS. 

 BY H. P. NORTON. 



In the spring of 1846 I gave a neighbor scions of the Bart- 

 lett: which he inserted on bearing trees, and in September, 

 1848 delivered me a specimen of large and excellent fruit 

 gathered from those scions. 



In August, 1847, I budded several varieties upon stocks 

 of the apple or orange quince. This day I have measured 

 the growth, and thinking the results may be interesting and 

 perhaps useful, furnish them: 



HEIGHT. DIAMETER AT BASE. 



Bartlett, 4 feet 9 inches, £ inch. 



Beurre d' Aremberg. 4 " 2 " I " 



Summer Bon Chretin, 5 " I " 



Jargonelle, 4 " 8 " 1 " 



Rousselet de Rheims, 2 " 9 " i " 



White Doyenne, 2 " 4 " i " 



Gray Doyenne, 2 " 1 " h " 



Golden Beurre. of Bilboa, grafted April, 1844, shows the 

 following height of main stem, 2 feet 10 inches; 6 side shoots, 

 21, 11,9, 9, 8, 4 inches, making, making the entire growth 

 8 feet. Diameter f inch. 



I am surprised that Beurre Diel on quince is not more fre- 

 quently and more highly recommended by cultivator's of fruit 

 and conductors of pomological publications. The rapid ad- 

 vance, hardiness, productiveness of the tree, and the large 

 size and excellence of the fruit render this, in my poor opin- 

 ion, a desirable variety. Indeed, I do not know its superior. 

 You will have observed that Mr. Downing has recently in 

 the Horticulturist, uttered strong animadversions upon the 

 practice of giving long and deceptive lists of pears in Nurse- 

 rymen's Catalogues, and affirms there are not over twenty 

 va, eties really worthy of cultivation. If this be true, a 

 vei., obvious inquiry suggested is, Why has he in his Fruits 

 and Fruit Trees described 233 varieties ? If not worth cul- 

 tivating, why 1111 the book with their description? The 

 book was designed to be. and has become a standard work, 

 for the information and guidance of those who desire to 

 grow good fruit At least 80 to 100 of these varieties are 

 expressly pronounced to be ''first rate," " excellent," " de- 

 licious," " worthy of cultivation," &c., so that no reader can 

 doubt the author intended to recommend them as desirable, 

 and entitled to a place in fruit gardens. If those who raise 

 trees to sell are censurable *» putting before the public 

 extended lists with an indiscriminate recommendation of the 

 varieties, is not the writer of a standard work justly obnox- 

 ious to severe rebuke for misleading the uninitiated in a simi- 

 lar manner] In the one case purchasers are likely to 

 suspect the representations and are on their guard ; in the 

 other, discovering no motive for over-wrought descriptions, 

 they are more liable to be injured. Brockport, March, 1849. 

 The idea of reducing the list of pears to about a dozen 

 of the best varieties is rather Utopian, while so many tastes 

 exist and so many climates and localities to be suited. 

 Nurserymen are compelled to grow a great variety, but peo- 

 ple are by no means compelled to buy thorn. — Ed. 



