Hardy Wax is perhaps the best all-round wax bean. The photograph shows 

 its prolific nature 



Bountiful, a high ranking flat green pod bean. 



prolific 



Earlier than others and very 



The Best Bush Beans to Grow — By Adolph Kruhm, o^ 



[Editors' Note. — Mr. Kruhm, is a worthy successor to the late E. D. Darlington who gave us in his time the best articles on varieties of vegetables we have ever 

 seen. It is impossible for any amateur to give the comparative merits and limitations of varieties accurately because the facts can be learned only on large and 

 costly trial grounds. Of course, horticulture is not an exact science; the variety that suits one place or purpose may not suit another; and opinions are judgments, 

 not facts. Nevertheless our duty is to give our readers the best of everything. The readers of The Garden Magazine are able to make their own allowances.] 



THERE are four main types of bush 

 beans: first, fiat green podded; sec- 

 ond, round green podded; third, fiat wax 

 podded; and fourth, round wax podded. 



Keeney's Stringless Refugee, green pod. The 

 largest plant of the present selection and excellent 

 for fall use 



Of recent years the demand has been 

 strongly in favor of the round podded types. 

 There are reasons for this. With few ex- 

 ceptions, the round podded sorts are free 

 from strings, while some fiat podded sorts 

 have defied all efforts of the breeder to 

 eliminate this unpleasant feature, and still 

 save those characteristics which make the 

 flat podded beans worth while. As the 

 result, the proportion of round podded 

 sorts to flat podded sorts in cultivation 

 to-day is as three to two, and it is safe to 

 predict that another decade will see still 

 greater changes in favor of round pods. 



The cardinal points in favor of the round 

 podded sorts are their handsome appear- 

 ance, great fleshiness, small seeds while 

 in the eatable stage, and, with few ex- 

 ceptions, entire absence of strings. 



The favorable points of the flat podded 

 sorts are that they average longer than 

 their round podded brethren; they are, 

 perhaps, slightly more prolific and (as in 

 the case of a few wax podded sorts), 

 they hold up well on market, presenting 

 a better appearance after hours of display, 

 than the round podded sorts which wilt 

 more easily. The reason for this is the 

 larger amount of water contained in the 

 round podded and the larger amount of 

 fibre contained in the flat podded sorts. 



The preference for either wax podded 

 or green podded beans is altogether a 

 matter of personal taste. While the waxy 

 yellow beans present a more appetizing 

 appearance when served, the green podded 

 beans seem to have a greater number of 

 followers who claim for them flavors not 

 to be found among the wax-podded sorts. 



My great fondness for this vegetable 

 has led me to grow nearly all sorts fit to 

 grow in the home garden during the past 

 three years. I have failed to discover any 

 vital difference in flavor among green beans 

 and yellow beans. It's perhaps a matter 

 of sentiment in favor of the green pods 



298 . 



because they are the kind "grandmother 

 used to cook." But some of those old 

 kinds never could begin to compare with 

 some of our up-to-date wax beans which 



New Kidney Wax is better than the old-time Ward- 

 well. Resistant to rust and has a long season 



