130 TRUCK-FARMIKG AT THE SOUTH. 



CHAPTEK XIII. 



BEAN BUSH OR SNAP. (Phaseolus vulgaris.) 



Haricot, French ; Schminkbohne, German ; Eeere Boon, Dutch ; ftoffionlo, 

 Italian Fasdes, Spanish. 



The Bean is a tender annual, a native of India, and 

 was introduced into England about 1590. 



Owing to the ease with which it can be grown, the 

 short period between seed-time and harvest (about six 

 weeks), and its extensive consumption at the North, the 

 bean is one of the principal vegetables grown by the 

 truck-farmer. Its cultivation is most profitable where 

 labor is plentiful for picking the crop, as in the neighbor- 

 hood of cities. 



VARIETIES. 



There are two distinct forms, the Pole or Climbing 

 Bean, and the Dwarf. The latter, Phaseolus vulgaris, 

 is a low bush and produces its pods during a shorter time 

 than the other. The Dwarf beans are a little more 

 hardy, and the pods are smaller, but of better flavor and 

 greater delicacy. As the running kinds require poles, 

 the "Bush, "in consequence of readier cultivation, is the 

 bean of the market-gardener. 



The varieties of Bush-beans are numerous. The flat- 

 podded " Early Mohawk," is the earliest, and hardiest. 

 It sells well, until the later, more tender and less stringy 

 round beans come in, and command a higher price. 



The "Valentine " is now the most popular round bean, 

 it having superseded the "Refugee "or "1000 to 1." 

 The several varieties of German " Wax-beans " are very 

 fine, and, when in good order, sell well; but they become 

 spotted more readily, and are not as extensively planted 



