136 



BEAN 



grown as "field Beans" for the dry-shelled seeds, as also 

 both the green-podded and the yellow-podded garden, 

 string, or snap Beans. The pole or running sorts are 

 usually grown for garden purposes, and rarely for the 

 dry-shelled Bean. The ordinary bush Beans make no 

 great demands for soil fertility. They do well on ordi- 

 narily good, warm farm loam. If the soil contains a 

 fair proportion of humus, the plants will secure much 

 of their nitrogen from the air ; and if additional fer- 

 tilizers are needed, they may be given in potash and 

 phosphoric acid alone. Plant only after danger from 



late frosts is past. 

 The work may be 

 done by hand, or 

 with any of the 

 various tools de- 

 vised for the pur- 

 pose. The rows 

 are to be from 2-3 

 feet apart, with 

 plants standing 

 singly every 3-6 in., or in 

 bunches of 3 or 4 every 

 12-18 in. A quart of seed 

 will plani about 150 ft. of 

 row. Keep the soil be- 

 tween the rows well stirred 

 fine-toothed, nar- 

 row cultivator. 

 Hand hoe 

 when needed. 

 The pods of 

 = the garden 

 Beans are 

 picked and 

 used as snap 

 or string Beans 

 as soon as well 

 formed, and 

 must be picked 

 clean if the plant is 

 wanted to remain 

 long in bearing. Pods 

 left to ripen seed stop 

 the growth and de- 

 velopment of others. 

 In growing field 

 Beans, early and even 

 _ ripening is desirable 

 ^ above almost every- 

 thing else. For har- 



191. Types of Beans. Natural size. 



a Vieia Faba. b, Phaseolus vulgaris, c, Phaseolus lunatus. 

 d, Dolichos sesquipedalis. e, Glycine hispida. f, Phaseolus 

 multillorus. 



vesting the crop, special tools have been devised and 

 are in use by those who make a business of Bean-grow- 

 ing ; but when a regular Bean-puller is not available, 

 or when band labor is cheap, the plants may be pulled 

 by hand and placed in rows on the ground, bottom- 

 side up, and when sufficiently cured put in stooks or 

 taken to the barn, and, in due time, threshed with the 

 flail or with aregular Bean-thresher. After being cleaned 

 by running through a fanning mill, picking over by 

 hand will also be required in most cases. 



Among the leading sorts of field Beans are White Mar- 

 rowfat, Navy or Pea Bean, Medium, and the Kidneys. 

 For string Beans, Early Valentine, which has various 

 strains, probably stands first in popular favor as a 

 green-podded variety for the market-garden at the 

 present time. Other good current sorts are Stringless 

 Green Pod, Early Mohawk, Refugee, etc. The best 



BEAN 



among yellow-podded sorts are Black Wax or German 

 Wax, Golden Wax, Kidney Wax and White Wax. The 

 Wax or Yellow-podded sorts need a richer soil than the 

 other kinds. A good string Bean has a thick, meaty 



192. Common or Kidney Bean — Phaseolus vulgaris. 



pod, which snaps off completely when broken, leaving 

 no string along the back. Fig. 198 shows ideal pods. 



Pole or running varieties of Beans require fertile soil; 

 and for that king of table Beans, the Lima of all forms, 

 too much can hardly be done in the way of enriching 

 the ground. Warm soil is one of the first essentials of 

 success in growing pole Beans. When poles are to be 

 used for support, they should be set not less than 4 ft. 

 apart each way, before the Beans are planted. Four or 

 five Beans are to be placed around each pole, 1 to 1% in. 

 deep. While it is a safe rule to put the seed eye down- 

 ward, it is not a necessary condition of prompt and 

 uniform germination. In case of absence or scarcity of 

 poles, a serviceable, cheap and ornamental trellis may 

 be constructed by setting posts firmly at proper dis- 

 tances along the row, connecting them with two wires, 

 one a few inches and the other 5 or 6 ft. from the ground, 

 and finally winding cheap twine zigzag fashion around 

 the two wires. Cultivate and hoe frequently. A top- 

 dressing of good fertilizer, or of old poultry or sheep 

 manure, hoed in around 

 the plants, may be of 

 great help in keeping up 

 the productiveness of 

 the plants to the end of 

 the season. To have a 

 continuous supply dur- 

 ing the entire season, the 

 pods, when large enough, 

 must be gathered fre- 

 quently and clean. 

 Among the varieties 

 used both for string and 

 shell Beans, "we have the 

 Green - podded Crease- 

 back, several wax varie- 

 ties. Golden Cluster, and 

 the popular Horticultural 

 or Speckled Cranberry 

 Bean, besides any num- 

 ber of others. A very 

 fine Bean is the Dutch 

 Eunner ( Pig. 196) , which 

 approaches the Lima in 

 quality and resembles it 



193. 



Large White Lima Bean 



(XVs). 

 in habit of growth. The seed is of largest size and 

 clear white in color. Highly ornamental is the closely 

 related Scarlet Runner, with its abundance of showy 

 scarlet blossoms. This Beau is grown in Europe for 

 eating, but is rarely used for that purpose here. 



