Navy Bean 
The navy bean is a small white bean 
generally sown in drills about 18 inches 
apart between the drills, and about two to 
four inches apart in the row. This gives 
room for cultivation with a small plow. 
Sometimes they are sown broadcast, gath- 
ered in the autumn and threshed like 
wheat or oats. Sometimes the thresh- 
ing is done with a flail, or by treading 
with horses. 
Bunch Beans or Bush Beans 
Bunch beans are planted in the garden, 
generally for home use, or for sale while 
green in the form known as “string 
beans.” Included in the varieties of 
bush beans are White Marrow, Burling- 
hame, Medium and Snow Flake. 
Lima Beans 
Among the varieties of Lima beans, 
are the dwarf Lima and the pole Limas. 
The dwarf varieties are growing into fav- 
or, because they require less work than 
the pole Limas. If the pole varieties 
are planted, aS soon as the beans be- 
gin to vine, poles six to eight feet long 
should be set, one for each hill of beans, 
and the vines allowed to entwine about 
them. 
The Soil 
Unlike most other vegetables, the bean 
does not require a rich soil. If the soil 
is rich, it produces heavy vines, and not 
a heavy crop of beans. It is possible 
therefore, to grow beans successfully on 
soil too poor for ordinary crops. The 
bean is also a leguminous vegetable, gath- 
ering nitrogen and improving the soil 
conditions. 
Varieties 
Improved Prolific Black Wax, Extra 
Early Refugee, Bismark Black Wax Pro- 
lific, Dwarf Horticultural, Stringless 
Green Pod, Harly Warwick. 
GBANVILLE Low THER 
Bean Growing in Eastern Washington and 
Oregon, and Northern Idaho 
Lee W. Frunarry, 
Assistant Agriculturist, 
Office of Farm Management 
The arable land of Eastern Washington, 
Eastern Oregon, and Northern Idaho has 
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PRACTICAL HORTICULTURE 
been devoted almost exclusively to the 
production of wheat, oats, and barley for 
more than 30 years. 
While wheat, oats, and barley are the 
crops most universally grown, a smal] 
portion of the wheat belt of Washington, 
Oregon, and Idaho is well adapted to the 
production of beans The area best suit- 
ed to this crop lies along the foothills 
of the Blue mountains in Umatilla coun- 
ty, Oregon, Walla Walla, Columbia, Gar- 
field, and Asotin counties, Washington, 
and along the foothills of the Craig moun- 
tains and adjacent to the canyons of the 
Clearwater and Potlatch rivers in Nez 
Perce, Lewis, and Latah counties, Idaho. 
A few districts are in Whitman, Spokane 
and Stevens counties, Washington, where 
the climatic conditions are favorable for 
bean culture. While it is true that only 
a limited area is adapted to this crop a 
careful study of all the details of its 
production shows that thousands of acres 
now lying idle each year as summer fal- 
low may be used for growing beans as an 
intertilled crop. This crop has been 
grown in parts of Nez Perce and Latah 
counties, Idaho, for the past 15 years, 
and the bean hullers make their regular 
fall runs the same as the grain thrashers. 
The crop has also been grown in a more 
limited way near Weston, Oregon, for 15 
years. The production of field beans in 
this territory is therefore past the ex- 
perimental stage. A few days spent in 
the vicinity of Kendrick, Idaho, visit- 
ing bean growers during the months of 
July and August will convince the 
skeptical of this fact. 
Limiting Factors of Bean Production 
Two factors largely determine whether 
beans may be grown successfully: (1) 
The annual precipitation must be suffi- 
cient to produce a crop each year and (2) 
the growing season from May 10 to Sep- 
tember 15 must be approximately free 
from frosts. Owing to their proximity 
to the mountains the districts previous- 
ly mentioned receive sufficient precipita- 
tion for growing beans when proper cul- 
tural methods are employed. 
The deep ravines leading down from 
the mountains in these regions give pro- 
