BEANS 

 H. E. Cox, Geneseo, N. Y. 



I have stated on previous occasions, 

 when this subject has been given me to 

 discuss, that, although I was raised and 

 have always lived in the bean belt and 

 have all my life raised more or less beans, 

 still I can truthfully say that, " I do not 

 know beans." And I think this is true, 

 also, of bean growers generally. 



In all our farming operations there is 

 an element of chance, because of condi- 

 tions over which we have no control. Bean 

 growing is a gamble, but if we have land suitable for growing beans 

 it is " good business " to take the gamble. 



In beans we have one of the most nutritious and highly con- 

 centrated food products offered by the vegetable kingdom. Their 

 value when cooked as a means of supplying protein in cattle ra- 

 tions is justly recognized, but their value as human food is too 

 great to allow of economical stock feeding excepting where, from 

 weather damage at harvest time or other cause, they have become 

 unfit for food simply by their appearance. Even these beans, 

 when boiled in an arch kettle for the cows and pigs, appear appetiz- 

 ing enough so that a real hungry man would not be injured either 

 mentally or physically by making a meal from that same stew. 

 They were used last winter on our Orchard Ridge Farm, cooked 

 and fed with the ensilage, with excellent results. 



A SECTIONAL CROP 



"Wheat, potatoes, hay, corn and alfalfa are grown quite gen- 

 erally over the whole country. It is interesting to notice how 

 readily conditions can be changed to suit the requirements of al- 

 falfa. On the other hand, cotton, tobacco, sweet potatoes, beans, 

 etc., are sectional crops ; that is, they flourish to greatest perfec- 

 tion under certain soil and climatic conditions supplied only 

 by particular sections of the country. 



[1504] 



