DESCRIPTIONS OF VARIETIES 



75 



MacMillan Company) says, " The number (of varie- 

 ties which is well known to the trade probably does not 

 exceed fifty." 



Because field beans have been grown for centuries 

 it would seem as though the varieties or types had been 

 rather well tried out and that a selective process con- 

 tinued for so long would leave only perfect varieties 

 for the farmer of today. However, changes in varieties 

 and strains of field beans are in evidence today just as 

 in other types of beans. A variety to continue in 

 existence over any length of time must measure up to 

 certain requirements. In field beans these requirements 

 are rather exacting. They may be stated as dwarfness: 

 disease resistance; hardiness; development of a large, 

 deep root system; erectness of plant to hold pods off 

 the ground; and the ability to shed leaves readily in 

 the fall, to ripen pods uniformly in a season sufficiently 

 short to escape killing frosts, and to produce pods that 

 are non-shattering when handled before and during the 

 curing process. The seed must show a color such as 

 the trade requires, resist splitting during threshing, and 

 possess the quality necessary for its use either as a 

 soup bean, a stewed bean, a home baked bean, or as a 

 commercial baked bean. 



The seeds of field beans are for the most part solid 

 colored, white, red, brown, yellow, or black. There are 

 a few exceptions, such as Yellow Eye, Soldier Bean, 

 China Red Eye, and Jacobs Cattle. The white-seeded 

 varieties are preferred in the northern regions or where 

 rainfall is abundant during the fall or curing season. 

 The colored or mottled types prevail in the more 

 temperate or dry land regions. On the markets the 

 white-seeded varieties of this group are divided into 

 pea. medium, marrow, and kidney beans. This classi- 

 fication is based on size and shape of the seeds. Other 

 varieties which are grown in large quantities are quoted 

 according to the variety name, as Red Kidney and 

 Yellow Eye. 



Arikara Yellow. Long before the white man 

 visited North Dakota the Mandan, Hidatsa, and 

 Arikara Indians had a highly developed type of agricul- 

 ture along the Missouri River. Beans, corn, and squash 

 formed the foundation of their food crops and were 

 grown in abundance, carefully nurtured during the short 

 dry summers and dried and stored for use in winter. 

 Oscar H. Will came to North Dakota in 1881 where he 

 devoted himself to the improvement of horticulture 

 and agriculture in the Northwest. He began his seed 

 business in 1882 and from the start saw the need to 

 search out varieties that were suitable to growing 

 conditions in the new country. Two varieties of beans 

 had proved their value to the Indians. These were first 

 listed in an early catalog of Will's as Yellow Indian and 

 Red Indian. Later they were named Arikara and 

 Hidatsa, after two of the leading Indian tribes of the 

 Ft. Berthold region. 



Arikara is exceedingly like Marten's oblongus 

 lutens. is hardy, drought resistant, and an excellent 

 baking bean. The pods are much like those of Burbank 

 Navy but larger; also somewhat like pods of White 



Marrow, but slightly narrower, less constricted, and with 

 margin not wavy. 



Plant dwarf, 18 inches tall, very erect and narrow with side- 

 wheelers (runners). Foliage very scanty, medium green; leaf 

 surface crumpled, rough, heavy veined and thick. Flowers white 

 to cream. 



Pods borne mostly below foliage; also to some extent in the 

 lower leaf axils of runners; light brownish yellow in color. Quality 

 poor; tough, stringy, fibrous and coarse in texture. Size medium 

 short, quite broad and rather slender (4-^1' 2 x J2 x ?8 " n ")' con " 

 taining 4—5 seeds per pod. Shape flat, oval in cross-section, mod- 

 erately curved, slightly creasebacked, placental surface somewhat 

 constricted, not crowded, moderately smooth, filled to the tip and 

 edge, and rounded at the end. Spur short, slender and curved. 

 Suture, placental is slightly indented and carpellary, moderately 

 acute. 



Seeds medium, 1.4 x .75 x .45 cm. (75 per oz.), medium short, 

 broad reniform, long oval thru cross-section, rather flattened; ends 

 rounded to occasionally truncate. Hilum medium, flat to slightly 

 indented. Color golden brown (yellow ocher to ochraceous-tawny) 

 over the entire surface and marked with a darker vein-like under 

 pattern; narrow, reddish-brown eye-ring present in all instances. 



Aroostook. Refs. 48, 84, 85, 89, 91. Geo. W. P. 

 Jerrard introduced this variety in 1885. In the trials 

 at Geneva in 1885 and 1891 it was found to be early 

 with good yield. In many ways plant and pods resemble 

 those of Yellow Six Weeks, but with darker foliage, 

 smaller pods, and whiter seeds. 



Plant of medium size, generally without runners, erect ; stocky, 

 with rather heavy green stems; leaflets of medium size, medium 

 green, roughened. Flowers white. Pods 5 1 2 inches long, rather 

 slender, light green, flat, slightly curved, moderately constricted, 

 with long curved tip. Seeds usually 6, small, oblong, truncate, or 

 rounded at ends, white. 



Australian Tree. Samuel Wilson Seed Company 

 of Mechanicsville, Pa., offered this variety in 1894. The 

 seeds were white and intermediate in size and shape 

 between Prolific Tree and White Marrowfat, also resem- 

 bling in shape seed of Boston Goddard. 



Bayo. Refs. 31, 43, 44. This bean, mostly grown 

 in the Sacramento River of California and the South- 

 west, is unknown in the East, but was grown in our 

 tests and might be useful in breeding work because of 

 the long pods crowded with many seeds. The plant, 

 however, is rather viny and late but vigorous and very 

 productive. Bayo came to California from Chile in 

 the first trading vessels previous to 1850, and has been 

 a market staple since 1853 in mining camps and for 

 Mexican trade in Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, and 

 Mexico. It is a baking bean, the dry seeds being nearly 

 as large as Boston Marrow, but flattened like Lady 

 Washington; in color lilac white to pale salmon flesh 

 when fresh, changing with age to dark salmon pink, 

 with a medium wide, distinct, brown or reddish chocolate 

 eye-ring. The word bayo is a Spanish descriptive 

 adjective and refers to the bay or chestnut color of the 

 seed. 



Bayo Chico is a smaller seeded strain, also from 

 Chile, formerly grown in California. Imported or 

 Manchurian Bayo is a speckled bean from the Orient, 

 not grown in California under that name: but may be 

 the Pinto of Aggeler and Musser, which is said to have 

 come from Siberia and which differs from the Mexican 

 Spotted Red or Pinto commonly grown. 



