ORIGINATING NEW VARIETIES. 109 



Webber, dwelling on the improvement in earliness 

 that has been accomplished with plants by selection, 

 says: "The decided shortening of the period required 

 for Sea Island cotton to mature, has fitted it for culti- 

 vation in certain portions of the United States, in which 

 it is now an important crop/' 



The several varieties of bush lima beans now in gen- 

 eral cultivation were discovered by accident, their origin 

 being due to sport. Burpee's bush lima was found as 

 a single plant by Asa Palmer, of Kennett Square, Pa., 

 growing in a field of large white pole limas. It was 

 about ten inches high, and bore three pods, each con- 

 taining one seed. Saving these seeds, he planted them 

 the following year. Two of the seedlings were dwarf 

 like their parent, the other had a tendency to climb. 

 By destroying all plants in succeeding crops for several 

 years which manifested the climbing habit, he finally 

 obtained a fixed type of bush lima. It was then 

 brought to the attention of Burpee, the seedsman, who, 

 recognizing its great merit, was the first to introduce it 

 to the public. 



Henderson's bush lima was found by a colored man 

 not long after the close of the Civil War growing along 

 a roadside in Virginia. Its seed was saved, and seed 

 also saved from subsequent plants so that in time its 

 cultivation spread and it became generally planted in 

 Virginia private gardens. Henderson, the seedsman, 

 had his attention called to it, and in 1889 it was intro- 

 duced by him to the country at large. 



Dreer's or Thorburn's bush lima was originally a 

 single plant, discovered by J. W. Kumerle, of Newark, 

 New Jersej^, growing in his garden in a patch of Chal- 

 lenger pole lima. He saved the seed and cultivated 

 the variety until it became fixed. 



