August, 1012.] 



103 



THE SOLOMON ISLANDS " GUADA " 

 BEAN AS A VEGETABLE. 



Burring Bar, New South Wales, 

 Australia, 10th June, 1912. 



To the Editor of the 



Tropical Agriculturist. 

 Sir,— Having grown the above bean 

 during the past year, with great success, 

 and knowing how beneficial it would 

 prove to many planters in the East 

 Indies and elsewhere, kindly permit me 

 to give you a brief description thereof. 

 My attention was first drawn to this 

 matter by reading the following para- 

 graph in one of our local papers giving a 

 description of the above Islands, " On 

 the kitchen table is an enormous bean. 

 It is seven feet long and is named the 

 ' Guada.' Both the pod and the beans 

 are edible, and are sliced and cooked like 

 French beans. This green, succulent 

 ooking delicious streak, is intended for 

 our host's family dinner to-night. It will 

 provide amply sufficient vegetables for 

 one meal, for half a dozen hungry 

 people." 



Descriptions. 

 This vine grows from 15 to 20 feet long 

 and within a few months yields a heavy 

 crop of beans from 3 to 6 feet in length ; 

 which greatly resemble a long, narrow 

 cucumber. The flowers are fringed and 

 scented, and when over-ripe the pods 

 assume various hues — organe-red and 

 green with white stripes ; when young 

 the fruit acts as a good substitute for 

 cucumbers when pickled. A writer in 

 one of our local papers of recent date 

 says :— " I can testify to their value as a 

 table vegetable. Mr. Harrison gave me 

 one bean in January last ; from this 

 single seed I have grown about 25 lbs. of 

 beans from the one vine, which is grow- 

 ing and bearing heavily yet. Single 

 beans have measured up to 5 feet 4 in. 

 in length and to 2 lbs. in weight, and 

 we have frequently served up half a 

 bean for a meal. It is usual to expect 

 coarse flesh and rank flavour in such 

 bulky vegetables, but such is not the 

 case with the L " Guada." If taken 



before the beans have hardened in 

 the pod, sliced and cooked like French 

 beans, and served with sauce it is quite 

 a luxury in the bean line." 



This vegetable should prove a most 

 useful and prolific adjunct to gardens in 

 the East Indies, and other tropical 

 countries where it is sometimes very 

 difficult to cultivate kitchen produce. 



Yours faithfully, 



B. Harbison. 



[In another letter our correspondent 

 calls this bean Tricho-santhese anguina, 

 which is, of course, the Snake Gourd, 

 well known throughout the East and a 

 native of India, though not usually 

 attaining to the dimensions described 

 here. T. columbrina grows to 5 or 6 

 feet however.— Ed.] 



FUNGOID DISEASES OF CULTI- 

 VATED PLANTS. 



The increasing attention given to plant 

 diseases is one of the most striking (and 

 unexpected) of recent advances in British 

 Agriculture. But after so many years 

 of neglect, native information on such 

 matters was necessarily meagre, being 

 almost limited to the researches of a 

 very few voluntary workers ; and under 

 these circumstances there was a distinct 

 opportunity for the introduction of 



Standard Text Books 

 by experienced plant pathologists in 

 other countries. Messrs. Bailliere, Tin- 

 dall & Cox have taken advantage cf 

 that opportunity to issue a translation 

 of a popular hand-book by Prof. Eriks- 

 son, Director of the Botanical Division 

 of the Swedish Central Agricultural 

 Station, who has a high reputation as 

 a Mycologist, and is especially renowned 

 for his 



RESEARCHES ON THE RUSTS OP CEREALS. 



The book is well arranged and ex- 

 cellently illustrated. A diagnostic key 

 to the diseases of each plant — a new 

 feature in works of this kind— is given, 

 and with the assistance of that and the 

 numerous figures, the practical man will 

 have little difficulty in gaining some 

 idea of the nature of any diseases which 

 may be attacking his crops. The general 



