varieties, and why?” 
needs. 
T IS time that readers of 
THE GARDEN MAGAZINE drop 
the term “string” beans. 
There is now neither ex- 
cuse nor reason why stringy 
beans should be found in the 
home garden. Please note that 
I emphasize the term “home,” 
since some weighty reasons 
cause market gardeners to 
hang on to some sorts that 
develop strings as they ma- 
ture. But most market sorts 
in any class of vegetables are 
grown for appearances rather 
than for quality, which is the 
Bountiful, 
lendine Very. best excuse or reason 
eading O C 
ci for the rapid rise of the home 
flat garden to a place in the na- 
Greenpod tion’s interest. 
Let us analyze for a mo- 
ment what we have a right to expect 
from a perfect bush bean in the home 
garden. Bush beans are the only ones 
considered here since, in my opinion, 
the introduction of extra large sorts in 
all classes makes pole beans super- 
fluous. Moreover, we now have an as- 
sortment of perfect bush beans which 
thoroughly covers the season from 
early to late in getting ready for the 
table, eliminating the necessity of 
‘growing pole beans for a late crop. 
So exit the pole bean as well as the 
string bean for all practical purposes. 
Perfectly thoroughbred, or pedi- 
greed, varieties are found in all four 
classes of bush beans which consist of 
flat green-podded, round green-podded, 
flat wax-podded and round wax-podded 
sorts. We expect from a bean with a 
pedigree that it yields its pods on 
schedule time; that there be plenty of 
them; and that they be of correct shape 
and color. You should not find a plant 
bearing flat-podded beans in a row of a 
round-podded sort, and there is no ex- 
cuse for finding a “rogue” bearing 
green-podded beans in a row of a wax- 
podded sort. 
To yield pods on schedule 
time is my first requisite in 
connection with any kind of 
bean. The reason for this 
is two-fold. In the first 
place, there is that everlast- 
ing desire to have the first 
beans—just like the biggest 
pumpkin or tomato—a mo- 
tive which is, perhaps, re- 
sponsible for more worthy 
ambitions in home garden- 
ing than any other. The 
second reason is far more 
important, since it touches 
the pocketbook. The first 
beans out of your own gar- 
den are the biggest money 
savers, since beans, in com- 
mon with all vegetables, are 
most expensive when they 
throughout the season. 
Exit the “String” Bean—avorrn KRveM, x 
[Eprror’s Notr.—This is a continuation of this author's series of articles dealing with the ever present problem, “Which 
While real progress in the intrinsic merits of popular vegetables is slow, yet the tendency is ever 
onward. Every once in a while the people in general come to realize that among the more recent introductions is something 
that outclasses its fellows and it becomes the standard of merit for a long time. 
readers definite facts about varieties which clarify available knowledge up to date, and places the individual reader in the 
position of the skilled expert—all that remains is for each one to select those varieties that will best fill his or her peculiar 
Some years will probably elapse before these recommendations will need radical revision—and equally it will require 
some time for this present information to be generally assimilated.] 
first appear in the markets. The second 
factor determining the value of a bean 
for the home garden is the quantity of 
pods produced early and the length of 
the bearing season. 
Quite a number besides those desig- 
nated as the “Reigning Dozen” bear as 
many beans; but they either bear them 
at a time when another, choicer sort is 
available; or they perfect the complete 
crop in too short a season (as Valen- 
tine, for instance, among the extra early 
round green pods); or they grow old 
Brittle Wax, which proved to be best tyne of Round- 
podded Stringless Wax bean 
quickly and get stringy, as is the case 
with most of the old sorts. 
The final requirements as to shape 
and color being true to type is of minor 
importance to the home gardener. I 
would forgive almost any seedsman the 
finding of a round-podded rogue in a 
The author’s trials are conducted on a typical home plot and exact records are kept 
284 
Mr. Kruhm, in these articles, is giving our 
self proves thoroughbred. For 
just as livestock, and the tre- 
mendous strides made in the 
beans during the last ten years 
are largely the work of Mr. 
foremost bean breeder and 
(Photographed August 1, 1915) 
New 
Bountiful row (though it has 
never happened yet), so long 
as the strain of Bountiful it- 
vegetables can be bred up to a 
high standard of perfection, 
improvement of American 
C. N. Keeney, this country’s 
grower. 
The relative yielding quali- 
ties of different strains of 
one and the same sort has _ Sure Crop 
been the subject of much Wax, 
study on my part. Among 2 heavy 
the more than seventy-five ielder for 
main crop 
trials which formed the basis 
of observation on which this treatise 
is built, were three trials of Boun- 
tiful, the seeds of which came from 
New York, Michigan and Wisconsin 
growers, respectively. All were af- 
forded the same chances on the same 
soil and all received the same atten- 
tion and cultivation. Yet the results 
were five quarts of pods from one row, 
seven from the next and nine quarts 
from the row representing the strain 
grown in New York State—all this on 
rather poor clay soil. 
Again, the New York strain was 
tested repeatedly for comparative 
merit on very rich loam, and the re- 
sults were amazing. Where three 
pickings of a 15-foot row on poor clay 
soil yielded nine quarts of pods, plants 
from the same seed under ideal soil 
conditions yielded fifteen quarts dur- 
ing the same period. At the end of the 
bearing season, one 15-foot row of Boun- 
tiful had twenty-eight quarts of pods to 
its credit, and as I write this (August 
15th) there are at least four quarts of 
overgrown pods which we propose to 
utilize as green shell beans since the 
limas are exceptionally late 
this year. Is it a wonder 
that I enthuse over Bounti- 
ful as a star variety, when 
a 15-foot row has one bushel 
of pods to its credit? 
Because the relative yield 
of pods on different soils 
greatly differs in quantity, © 
owners of gardens with 
rather poor ‘soil should not 
become discouraged. Grow- 
ing the beans on exception- 
ally rich soil has its disad- 
vantages as well. Above 
all, the plants have to be 
handled like so many eggs. 
The rapid and almost rank 
growth, made by a bean 
plant under favorable soil 
conditions, causes the 
branches to be very brittle. 
