171 PULSE 



'^ CROPS 



other crops — ^give them what they want and they 

 will give you what you want in return. That 

 is nothing more than a fair bargain, and the 

 love of a bargain is ingrained in the American 

 nature. 



Commercial bean growing is a comparatively 

 recent business, dating back only to 1839, al- 

 though beans have been used for human food 

 for many centuries. This branch of farming in 

 New York State alone means the annual pro- 

 duction of several millions of bushels of dried 

 beans for commercial distribution. 



The Northern States, Canada and California, 

 are the chief bean-growing sections; in warmer 

 sections the crop suffers severely from pests, so 

 that it is not profitable to raise it. Southern 

 bean growers use northern-grown seed to avoid 

 the ravages of the weevil. Even in New York 

 State some sections suffer more from this pest 

 than others; beans grown in the northern coun- 

 ties being practically free from attacks. If 

 you mean to grow beans by the acre, you will 

 do weU to read up more fully in Department 

 of Agriculture Bulletins and in Bailey's " Cyclo- 

 pedia of American Agriculture," Vol. II. 



The chief disease from which beans suffer is 

 anthracnose, which even the beginner may 

 recognize when it has reached the stage where 



