63 



'China in color, and has the good characteristic of being thus 

 far very pure. The Black Dwarf is much mixed up Avith the 

 common bean, and I find that all of the wax family require to 

 be cultivated with exceeding care with special reference to iso- 

 lation to keep them pure. There is a whited warf wax that 

 promises to be quite an acquisition, the pods being equally ten- 

 der with the pole varieties, the other bush sorts being some- 

 what inferior in this respect. 



Of the common bush beans I have found none equal either 

 :an earliness or hardiness to the Fegee, which I Avould recom- 

 mend as a string bean, the pods not filling out as Avell as most 

 kinds. For a bean that combines earliness with good qual- 

 ities, both as a snap and shell bean I know none superior 

 to the Dun Cranberry. The Early Valentine is a very round 

 j)odded pulpy bean, excellent as a string bean, but Ijctter 

 Icnown in the ^Middle States than in the North. 



The past season has been remarkal)ly favorable for the ma- 

 ituringof the large Lima, which with its fellow, the small Lima 

 or Sieva, and known in some sections as Frost bean, is tlie 

 ■bean for cookiuix : shelled in a "recn state. In ordinary seasons 

 the Sieva can be successfully raised in Avarm locations as far 

 JVoi-th as latitude 43 or 44. 



These and all beans that are somewhat tender in their habits 

 take better to strings than to poles, and where poles are used 

 let them be of as small diameter as can be consistent with the 

 aiecessary strength. Of the early pole varieties among the 

 most desirable, we have the London Horticultural, the Con- 

 'conl, one or two varieties of the pole Cranl^erry, and the 

 Mottled Cranberry which surpasses the common sorts in pro- 

 •ductiveness. 



The climate of England does not supply the intense heat 

 necessary for the development of our beans, hence they are 

 hartlly known to English housewives. The beans of England 

 'differ remarkably from ours, are very much alike, diffe ring- 

 mostly in size of the bean and the color of blossom. They 

 juake a tall, stift", straight stalk with few or no laterals. 



