146 GARDEN FARMING 



to gather 200 bushels of string beans from an acre, the price rang- 

 ing in a given locality from $2.50 to 50 cents per half -bushel 

 basket from early in the season until its close. 



LIMA BEANS 



Under the name " Lima " two distinct types of beans are now 

 recognized : pole Limas and dwarf, or bush, Limas. These types 

 are made up from two distinct species, known to botanists as 

 Phase olus lunatus, which includes the Sieva, or Carolina, type of 

 Lima beans, and Phaseolus lunatus, var. macrocarpus, the true 

 Limas of the American garden, which includes the flat, or large- 

 seeded, Lima (figure 53, c) and the potato Lima (figure 53, #). 

 The pole Lima beans consist of the Sieva, or Carolina, Limas 

 (figure 53, /;), the flat, large-seeded Limas, and the potato Limas. 

 The dwarf Limas are represented in the Sieva type by Hender- 

 son's Dwarf Lima, in the potato Limas by the Kumerle and Dreer's 

 Dwarf Lima, and in the large-seeded Limas by Burpee's Dwarf 

 Lima. It will be seen, therefore, that botanically the pole Lima 

 and the dwarf Lima cannot be separated that varietal differences 

 alone make the distinctions which characterize these two groups. 



Lima beans are of great commercial value, but are not suffi- 

 ciently appreciated as a table food because it is not generally 

 known that in a dry state they can be used in practically the same 

 manner as are the common beans. In reality they are richer 

 and more delicate in flavor than the common beans and can be 

 used in as many different ways. The excellence of these types 

 as green beans requires only a passing mention, and their value 

 as an accompaniment of corn in succotash is well known to every 

 consumer of canned goods. 



Planting Lima beans. The common method of handling Lima 

 beans in the northern tier of states, outside of the irrigated belt, is 

 to plant from 3 to 5 beans in hills from 1 8 to 36 inches apart, with 

 the rows from 3J- to 4 feet apart. After all danger from cold and 

 insect enemies is past, the beans are thinned to about 3 plants 

 to the hill. As the Lima beans are exceedingly tender, it is nec- 

 essary to delay planting in the open until about a week or ten days 

 after the time for planting the common garden beans. After the 



