288 LEGUMINOUS PLANTS. 



gained by very early planting, as the seeds are not only 

 liable to decay before vegetating, but the plants suffer 

 greatly from cold, damp weather. In the Northern and 

 Eastern States, the seeds should not be planted in the open 

 ground before the beginning of May ; nor should the plant- 

 ing be delayed beyond the 10th or middle of the month. v ln 

 ordinary seasons, the Lima Bean will blossom in eight or 

 nine weeks, and pods maybe plucked for use the last of Au- 

 gust, or beginning of September. 



The ripe seeds are dull white or greenish-white, with 

 veins radiating from the eye ; broad kidney-shaped, much 

 flattened, seven-eighths of an inch long, and two-thirds of 

 an inch in width. A quart contains seven hundred seeds, 

 and will plant eighty hills. 



The pods are tough and parchment-like in all stages of 

 their growth, and are never eaten. The seeds, green or 

 ripe, are universally esteemed for their peculiar flavor and 

 excellence, and by most persons are considered the finest of 

 all the garden varieties. If gathered when suitable for use 

 in their green state, and dried in the pods in a cool and 

 shaded situation, they may be preserved during the winter. 

 When required for use, they are shelled, soaked a short 

 time in clear water, and cooked as green beans ; thus treated, 

 they will be nearly as tender and well flavored as when 

 freshly plucked from the plants. 



The seeds are sometimes started on a hot-bed, in thumb- 

 pots, or on inverted turf, or sods, cut in convenient pieces, 

 and about the last of May, if the weather is warm and 

 pleasant, transplanted to hills in the open ground. 



When cultivated in the vicinity of the Sieva, the varieties 

 readily intermix, or hybridize ; and, unless a fresh supply of 

 seed is procured every year or two, the Lima rapidly degen- 

 erates. If raised for a succession of years, in Northern 

 latitudes, from seeds of Northern growth, the variety grad- 

 ually becomes earlier ; but the plants decline in stockiness 

 and vigor, and the pods and seeds yearly decrease in size, 



