l62 MAINE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. I915. 



it will be seen that when he lights on the lower petals of the 

 flower the long pistil is forced out until it touches his body. 

 This pistil is covered with pollen from its own flower and some 

 of this is rubbed onto the bee's body. When he visits the next 

 flower the operation is repeated and some of the pollen from 

 the first flower may be left on the pistil of the second. Where 

 more than one kind of beans are grown in the same or adjoin- 

 ing fields they are almost certain to be mixed. The mixing is 

 all done by the large bumble-bees since the honey bees are too 

 small to trip the petals and force out the pistil. 



For this reason it has been necessary to carry on the bean 

 breeding under other conditions. In 191 3 there was built at 

 Highmoor Farm a bean cage 25 x 50 feet which was enclosed 

 on both top and sides with screen wire. This effectually ex- 

 cludes all insects which might cross-pollinate the bean flowers. 



By this means it will be possible to secure strains which will 

 breed true to all their characters. However, this matter has 

 greatly delayed the bean breeding work of the Station. It is 

 now necessary to test each strain several years inside this cage 

 to find whether it is breeding true or not. When this has been 

 ascertained the most promising strains will be multiplied in 

 isolated plots and the seed oft'ered to the growers of the State. 

 In order to maintain such a strain pure it will be necessary 

 for the grower to plant only one kind of bean or at least to 

 have the different kinds so separated that there will be no 

 danger of crossing by the bumble-bees. 



One of the first difficulties which arose in connection with 

 this breeding work was the absence of any standard for the 

 different classes of yellow eye beans. Inquiries among several 

 of the large bean growers of the State showed that in the 

 majority of cases each man had a different idea of the correct 

 type for the Old Fashioned or the Improved Yellow Eye bean. 

 Further inquiry among the dealers, both in and out of the 

 State, showed that not only were these men not united on the 

 question of type, but that often their ideas were quite dift'erent 

 from those of the growers. 



Obviously such a condition of affairs is not conducive to the 

 best interests of the bean growers. For this reason it seemed 

 that the first thing to do was to attempt to establish standard 

 types for these classes of beans. If these types are accepted 



