AMERICAN GARDEN-BEAN. 255 



in the green state, and farinaceous and mild flavored when 

 ripe. 



A half-dwarf variety, growing from two to Blue Pod. 

 three feet high. The pods are five inches long, 

 pale green while young, cream-white when fully ripe, and 

 contain five or six seejls. 



Its season is intermediate. The plants blossomed in 

 seven weeks, afforded pods for stringing in eight weeks, 

 green beans in ten or eleven weeks, and ripened in ninety- 

 seven days from the time of sowing. It is a week earlier 

 than the White Marrow, and ten days in advance of the 

 Pea-bean. Plantings may be made as late as the last week 

 in June, which will yield pods for the table in seven weeks, 

 and ripen the middle of September, or in about twelve 

 weeks. 



The ripe seed is white, oblong, flattened, rounded on the 

 back, often squarely or angularly shortened at the ends, half 

 an inch long, and a fourth of an inch thick. Twenty- 

 seven hundred will measure a quart. 



It is a field rather than a garden variety, though the 

 green pods are tender and well flavored. If planted in 

 drills two feet apart, five pecks of seed will be required 

 for an acre ; or four pecks for the same quantity of ground, 

 if the rows are two feet and a half apart. If planted in 

 hills, six or eight seeds should be put in each ; and, if the 

 hills are three feet apart, twelve quarts of seed will plant an 

 acre. 



The Blue Pod is the earliest of the field varieties ; more 

 prolific, more generally cultivated, and more abundant in 

 the market, than either the Pea-bean or the White Marrow. 

 It is, however, much less esteemed, and, even in its greatest 

 perfection, is generally sold at a lower price. 



On account of its precocity, it is well suited for planting 

 in fields of corn, when the crop may have been partially 

 destroyed by birds or insects, and the season has too far ad- 



