FIELD BEANS 127 



displacement of the wheat crop by the bean crop in the rotation 

 would be an advantage. Of late years, however, the growing of 

 beans has proved more remunerative than that of wheat, which is 

 an additional reason for cultivating this crop at the expense of 

 the other. 



While the distribution of field beans is, to a considerable extent, 

 determined by soil and climate, the production of garden beans is 

 not so much influenced by these factors. The quick growth of 

 garden beans enables the truck farmer or the market gardener to 

 take advantage of the season that, in his locality, is most favorable 

 to the production of the crop ; for this reason the demands of the 

 market and the location of the grower largely determine the area 

 to be devoted to garden beans in any particular locality. Shipping 

 facilities, of course, have as much influence on the distribution of 

 garden beans for early market as on any other truck crop. 



From what has just been said, it is evident that there are two 

 important divisions of the bean industry in the United States 

 the production of field or dry beans and the production of garden 

 beans. The latter involves two industries: (i) the growing of beans 

 for early market and (2) the raising of string or snap beans for 

 use by the canning factories. The regions in which fresh beans 

 are produced for canning purposes correspond more exactly to the 

 areas in which field beans are grown than to those which produce 

 garden beans for the early market. 



FIELD BEANS 



The map (figure 40) indicates the areas in which beans are 

 cultivated for commercial purposes. The regions in which this 

 cultivation is most intensive lie chiefly within the area covered by 

 the glacial drift of the great ice age. The soils of the area are, 

 as a rule, strong and retentive, carrying large quantities of lime 

 and considerable potash, phosphoric acid, and organic materials. 

 It is not strange, therefore, that a crop which is able to gather 

 nitrogen from the air should thrive well upon soils having an 

 abundant store of phosphoric acid and potash. 



While beans produce abundantly upon strong clayey soils, yet 

 the clayey loams, shales, and gravelly soils of the drift region are 



