18 



THE VEGETABLES OF NEW YORK 



It is here that our judgment will be subject to argument 

 and further trials will be necessary to settle the contended 

 point. It is our belief that within the thousand or more 

 variety names of beans there is particular chaos of name 

 duplication and, what is more evident, an all too free 

 use of descriptive adjectives that have little true mean- 

 ing when the varieties are brought together in com- 

 parative trials. 



In a publication of this type in which an attempt 

 has been made to write an account of all varieties, not 

 only in New York, as the title would indicate, but those 

 of North America as well, it would neither be possible 

 nor appropriate to attempt a specific classification and 

 key to the varieties used. At best, it would fail to do 

 justice to many of the varieties classified under certain 

 groups, inasmuch as they would have been grown under 

 unfavorable conditions. It is evident, therefore, that 

 because of size, and perhaps color changes that might 

 be incurred, some varieties would be classified improp- 

 erly. As several attempts have been made at classifying 

 this crop and since it is almost impossible to develop 

 one adaptable to all sections that would be a distinct 

 contribution, it has been considered best to discuss 

 briefly each of the present classifications and keys and 

 to refer the reader to the originals for further use. 



It was not until 1860 that the first attempt was 

 made to write a monograph on Phaseolus vulgaris. 

 At that time George Von Martens published his book, 

 Die Gartenhohen. He separated the varieties of the 

 common garden beans into seven species. Phaseolus 

 Imiat'is and P. coccincus (P. multiflorus) were also 

 listed. These were sub-divided again according to the 

 color and shape of the seed, together with a designation 

 of plant type as either dwarf or climbing, to act as an 

 additional separating feature of varieties. 



The next attempt of this type was made in 1892- 

 93 by Henry H. Wing, at that time Assistant Director 

 of the New York Agricultural Experiment Station at 

 Geneva. He followed to some extent the same horti- 

 cultural classification as did Von Martens, i. e., the color 

 and shape of the mature seeds and the presence or ab- 

 sence of the dwarf and climbing habit. In addition, 

 however, he added color of edible pod, inserting this 

 characteristic in the same heading with color of the seed. 

 He apparently thought of including leaf characters as 

 an index in separating varieties, but later suggested 

 that, although considerable variation existed in size, 

 shape, and color of leaves among varieties, such differ- 

 ences occurred almost as frequently on the same or 

 separate plants of the same variety. 



Wing used what might be termed a combination 

 key. The first portion was purely technical, based 

 entirely upon abstract terms, and used to designate the 

 type rather than the complete list of varieties that would 

 come under the classification. The first division was 

 based on general size, followed by one based upon the 

 shape of the mature seed. In addition to these a still 

 smaller group was fixed according to the color of the 

 seed coats and the edible pods. This portion set forth 

 the variation of color, viz., white, black, solid color 



neither white nor black, or variegated. In the same 

 heading appeared the color of the edible pod, whether 

 green, greenish yellow, or yellow. The terms climbing 

 and dwarf were also used to serve as added varietal 

 divisions. 



In 1898, H. C. Irish of the Missouri Botanical 

 Garden completed his monograph entitled " Garden 

 Beans Cultivated as Esculents," Mo. Bot. Gard. 12th 

 Report. 81-165. 1901. He began his classification 

 with a key to three species of Phaseolus, based on 

 size of seed, shape, markings, and size and color of 

 flowers. This was followed by a complete description 

 of each species and a key to the horticultural varieties 

 treated. This key was based on the following character- 

 istics in order of their importance as segregating char- 

 acters: Size and shape of seeds and pods, followed by 

 seed color, size, plant growth habit, pod length, and, for 

 P. lunatus, the additional characteristics of leaf shape 

 and season of utility. 



The next publication on this crop, "American 

 Varieties of Garden Beans " by W. W. Tracy, Jr. was 

 issued in 1907 as United States Department of Agri- 

 culture Bureau of Plant Industry Bulletin No. 109. 

 It was the result of a careful variety study carried out 

 at the vegetable testing grounds at Washington, D. C, 

 and cooperatively at several of the state experiment 

 stations throughout the country. 



Tracy developed one key based on the taxonomic 

 characters of the five species of garden beans and 

 another of the artificial type based on horticultural 

 characters. This was the first attempt by an investi- 

 gator to suggest for bean varieties a key that contained 

 several plant characteristics other than those of seed and 

 pod. An honest endeavor was made to enable the 

 student to identify a variety regardless of the stage of 

 development. The artificial key suggested by Tracy 

 was unique in its application to bean variety studies. 



This was followed a year later by Cornell Bulletin 

 260 " American Varieties of Beans " written by C. D. 

 Jarvis of the Cornell University Agricultural Experiment 

 Station. This paper represented the compilation of data 

 over a period of ten years or more, since it included 

 previous work of L. H. Bailey, cooperative work of N. B. 

 Keeney & Son at Le Roy, N. Y., as well as the trials 

 conducted by Mr. Jarvis at Connecticut and Ithaca. 



Jarvis began his classification by citing one for 

 field beans suggested by J. W. Gilmore of that Station. 

 This was based on the shape, the length, and the ratio 

 of length to width and thickness of seed. This was 

 followed by what he termed " The Key to Economic 

 Ivarieties] of the Genus Phaseolus." This was based 

 entirely upon the characteristics of the dry seed the 

 season harvested. The following characters were used: 

 presence or absence of conspicuous converging or radi- 

 ating lines extending from the hilum to the dorsal 

 margin: width of seed; shape; solid or variegated color; 

 color of markings; hilar markings; length, shape of cross- 

 section; ratio of length to width; shape of ends; type of 

 demarkation between colored and white portion; solid 

 colored areas; stripes; prominent, non-prominent, or 



