B70 Turtle Soup Bean— Steel P^s. 
TURTLE SOUP BEAN. 
We were presented with two quarts of black beans by our 
friend and neighbor, Mr. William Cooper, last spring, for cultiva- 
tion and trial for soup for our table. They proved to be an ear- 
ly dwarf variety and very prolific, much more so than the small 
white pea bean generally cultivated in the field. We'did not test 
them as a snap or string bean, but Mr. Downing, in the Horticul- 
turist, says "It has proved to be the best snap or string-bean that 
we have ever cultivated — as a general crop for family use. Its 
superiority over the ordinary bush beans consists in the tenderness 
and excellent flavor of its pods, and the long time which they con- 
tinue fit for use — certainly three times as long as the common 
dwarf bean. Where only one variety of dwarf bean is cultivated 
we would recommend this variety as decidedly preferable to the 
old sorts ; and it bears abundant crops on dry soils, where several 
others fail. It is said to have its name from superior flavor of the 
ripened beans in soup." 
From the two quarts planted we obtained 3| bushels. The 
crop would probably have been greater, had they been planted in 
a less rich soil. 
We have had soup made from the beans in the same way that 
mock-turtle soup is made, with force-meat balls of veal, seasoned 
highly, and not one at table but supposed it was made from a 
calve's head. We afterwards had a soup made without the force- 
meat balls, and the flavor %vas equally good, and it has been uni- 
versally pronounced fully equal, if not superior, to that usually 
made from calve's head. The beans are boiled with a piece of 
salt pork, the same as for bean soup, and pressed through a colan- 
der or sieve, which forms the base of the soup. Herbs and spices 
are added to suit the taste. 
Steel Pens. — The quantity of steel annually consumed in the 
manufacture of steel pens is estimated at 120 tons, from which 
100,000,000 pens are made yearly. 
