162 RURAL CALIFORNIA 



all have given good yields when properly planted. 

 The varieties of beans are so numerous that almost 

 any one of the large produce stores in San Francisco 

 has for sale more kinds of beans than can be found 

 in most of the cities of the United States. Con- 

 siderable quantities of beans are exported, but the 

 greater demand is from the mining districts." 



California's greatest single achievement with beans 

 was the large field growth of the lima. It was not 

 only a fortunate demonstration of exceptional nat- 

 ural adaptation in some parts to this fastidious va- 

 riety which was content to run at will over the dry 

 soil surface without poles or strings, but it was also 

 a most fortunate commercial hit and lifted California 

 bean exports to great opportunity and distinctive 

 character. The earliest official record of this variety 

 declares that John Cook of Santa Clara was awarded 

 a prize at the State Fair of 1856 for the best lima 

 beans. In early times, however, limas were grown 

 for green vegetables chiefly and the development of the 

 dry product, which was first achieved in Santa Bar- 

 bara County in 1867, was a real discovery of great im- 

 portance, for it led to the selection of new local va- 

 rieties and to so great a product that for the last 

 thirty years the lima bean has regularly constituted 

 about one-half of California's total annual output 

 of beans. It has also been the chief incentive to the 

 development of unique cultural methods and ma- 

 chinery for planting, cultivating and harvesting which 

 have been of great importance and influence in bean- 

 growing in other parts of the world. 



