PULSE 
171 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 well to read up more fully in Department 
of Agriculture Bulletins and in Bailey’s “ Cyclo- 
pedia of American Agriculture,” Vol. IT. 
The chief disease from which beans suffer is 
anthracnose, which even the beginner may 
recognize when it has reached the stage where 
