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MANUAL OF GARDENING 



In respect to their uses, beans again may be divided into three cate- 

 gories; viz. those used as string or snap beans, the entire pod being 

 •eaten; those that are used as shell beans, the full-size but immature 

 beans being shelled from the pod and cooked; dry beans, or those 

 eaten in their dry or winter condition. The same variety of bean 

 may be used for all of these three purposes at different stages of its de- 

 velopment; but as a matter of fact, there are varieties better for one 

 purpose than the other. 



Again, beans may be classified in respect to their species. Those 

 species that are best known are as follows: (1) Common bean, or 

 Phaseolus vulgaris, of which there are both tall and bush forms. All 

 the common snap and string beans belong here, as also the Speckled 

 Cranberry types of pole beans, and the common field beans. (2) The 

 Lima beans, or Phaseolus lunatus. The larger part of these are pole 

 beans, but lately dwarf or bush varieties have appeared. (3) The 

 Scarlet Runner, Phaseolus multiflorus, of which the Scarlet Runner and 

 White Dutch Runner are familiar examples. The. Scarlet Runner is 

 usually grown as an ornamental vine, and it is perennial in warm coun- 

 tries, but the seeds are edible as shelled beans. The White Dutch 

 Runner is of tener cultivated for food. (4) The Yard-Long, or Asparagus 

 bean, Dolichos sesquipedalis , which produces long and weak vines and 

 very long, slender pods. The green pods are eaten, and also the shelled 

 beans. The French Yard-Long is the only variety of this type that is 

 commonly known in this country. This type of bean is popular in the 

 Orient. (5) The Broad beans, of which the Windsor is the common 

 type. These are "much grown in the Old World for stock feed, and 

 they are sometimes used for human food. They grow to one strict, 

 central, stiff stalk, to a height of 2 to 4 or 5 feet, and they are 

 very unlike other kinds of beans in appearance. In this country, they 

 are very little grown on account of our hot and dry summers. In Can- 

 ada they are somewhat raised, and are sometimes used in the making 

 of silage. (6) The cowpea, which is really a bean (species of Vigna), 

 much grown in the South for hay and green-manuring, is also a very 

 good table vegetable and one that is destined to increase in popularity 

 for domestic use. 



The culture of the bean, while of the easiest, often proves a failure 

 as far as the first crop is concerned, from planting the seed before the 



