76 PHILIPPINE AGRICULTURE 



acle, ipil, and tindalo. We have already learned (see 

 page 29) that the plants of this family have nodules, or 

 tubercles, on their roots, and that in these nodules the 

 nitrogen of the air is fixed. The legumes are especially 

 useful crops, because instead of making the soil poorer, 

 they leave it richer in this valuable plant food. All of 

 these plants grow well in soil rich in lime. 



.Kinds of Garden Legumes. The cultivated legumes are 

 the cincomas, pea, the various beans, the indigo, and the 

 peanut. Peas have been harvested from the Philippine 

 Normal School garden 29 days after planting ; but it was 

 a small crop and the plants were already dying with the 

 first fruit. Neither the American pea nor the Spanish 

 garbanzo has been found suited to general cultivation 

 here. 



Beans. There are several valuable garden plants which 

 can be grouped as beans. All of these are valuable foods, 

 because they are rich in proteids, the substance for which 

 lean meat is eaten. For this reason they are especially 

 valuable to people who do not often eat meat. A person 

 who eats enough beans need never eat meat or eggs for 

 their proteid. 



Different Kinds of Beans. Some of these beans are 

 climbing vines ; others are bushy plants. The patani is 

 the most important climbing bean. Among the bushy 

 ones are the American bush beans, which are natives of 

 South America, and the mungo or balatong, which is a 

 native of India or Malaya. The mungo is a very pro- 

 ductive and easily cultivated plant, which will grow on 



