13G 



BEAN 



grown as "field Beans" forthe dry-shelled seeds, as also 

 both the green-podded and the yellow-podded garden, 

 string, or snap Beans. The pole or running sorts are 

 usually grown for garden purposes, and rarely for the 

 dry-shelled Bean. The ordinary bush Beans make no 

 great demands for soil fertility. They do well on ordi- 

 narily good, wai-m farm loam. If the soil contains a 

 fair proportion of humus, the plants will secure much 

 of their nitrogen from the air ; and if additional fer- 

 tilizers are needed, they may be given in potash and 

 phosphoric acid alone. Plant only after danger fr 



late frosts is past. 

 The work may be 

 done by band, or 



various 

 vised foi 



191. Types of Beans. Natural size. 

 a Vicia Faba. b. Phaseolus vulgaris, c, Phaseolus lunatus. 

 d, Dolichos sesquipedalis. e. Glycine hispida. f. Phaseolus 

 multiflorus. 



vestlns the crop, special tools have been devised and 

 are in U'^e by those who make a business of Bean-grow- 

 ing : but when a regular Bean-puller is not available, 

 or when hand labor is cheap, the plants may be pulled 

 by hand and placed in rows on the ground, bottom- 

 side lip, and when sufliciently cured put in stooks or 

 taki'ii tu the barn, and, in due time, threshed with the 

 flail or with aregular Bean-thresher. After beingcleaned 

 by running through a fanning mill, picking over by 

 hand will also be required in most cases. 



Among the leading sorts of field Beans are White Mar- 

 rowfat, Navy or Pea Bean, Medium, and the Kidnevs. 

 For string Beans, Early Valentine, which has various 

 strains, probably stands first in popular favor as a 

 green-podded variety for the market-garden at the 

 present time. Other good current sorts are Stringless 

 Green Pod, Early Mohawk, Refugee, etc. The best 



among yellow-podded sorts are Black Wax or German 

 Wax, Golden Wax, Kidney Wax and White Wax. The 

 Wax or Yellow-podded sorts need a richer soil than the 

 other kinds. A good string Beau has a thick, meaty 



-^m- 



192 Common or Kidney Bean — Phaseolus vulgaris. 



pod which snaps off completely when broken, leaving 

 no string along the back. Fig. 198 shows ideal pods. 



Pole or running varieties of Beans require fertile soil; 

 and for that king of table Beans, the Lima of all forms, 

 luch can hardly be done in the way of enriching 

 round Warm soil is one of the first essentials of 

 ■sv in trOWing pole Beans. When poles are to be 

 I I u| iiort they should be set not less than 4 ft. 

 w H\ , before the Beans are planted. Four or 

 111 to be placed around each pole, 1 to IK in. 

 \\ I ill It 13 a safe rule to put the seed eye down- 

 it IS not a necessary condition of prompt and 

 uniform germination. In case of absence or scarcity of 

 poles a serviceable, cheap and ornamental trellis may 

 be constructed by setting posts firmly at proper dis- 

 tances along the row, connecting them with two wires, 

 one a few inches and the other 5 or 6 ft. fi-uni the ground, 

 and finally winding cheap twine zigzag fashion around 

 the two wires. Cultivate and hoe frequently. A top- 

 dressing of good fertilizer, or of old poultry or sheep 

 manure, hoed in around 

 the plants, may be 

 great help in keeping 

 the productiveness 

 tin- plants tn the end of 



l-^'-'f^t---^-. 



Ill;,' the i-ntire season, the 

 pods, when large enoui-'li. 

 must be gathered fn 

 quently and clean 

 Among the varietiis 

 used both for string and 

 shell Beans, we have the 

 Green - podded Crease- 

 back, several wax varie- 

 ties, Golden Cluster, and 

 the popular Horticultural 

 or Speckled Cranberry 

 Bean, besides any num- 

 ber of others. A very 

 fine Bean is the Dutch 

 Runner ( Fig. 196 ) , which 

 approaches the Lima in 

 quality and resembles it 

 in habit of growth. The seed is of largest size s 

 clear white in color. Highly ornamental is the clos 

 related .Scarlet Runner, with its abundance of sho 

 scarlet blossoms. This Bean is grown in Europe 

 eating, but is rarely used for that purpose here. 



