GROWING LIMAS THAT ARE FIT FOR LUCULLUS 
Not so Much a Matter of Which Particular Kind or Type, but Rather 
of Giving Right Conditions, and Picking and Using at the Right Time 
Famous for its quality and heavy yield — Carpinteria Lima 
I. HIGHEST QUALITY AMONG LIMA BEANS 
ADOLPH KRUHM 
ffetejSN ONE respect the two great American vegetables, 
Corn and Lima Beans, are alike — you must grow them 
y° urse U’ gather them when “just right,” and prepare 
promptly, or the elusive “quality” will not be there at 
mealtime. The rich, marrow-like, peculiarly characteristic 
flavor of Lima Beans cannot be canned, captured by drying, or 
gotten hold of in any other way than via the home garden. 
Both the tall or climbing, and dwarf or Bush Limas are of 
specific usefulness. The dwarf sorts are unquestionably the 
earlier, but the very much longer branches of the tall sorts bear 
more pods, and consequently their yield is greater; and notwith- 
standing the introduction of very large-podded dwarf sorts, 
the Pole Limas generally surpass in size both of pods and shelled 
beans. Where garden space is limited and poles are not avail- 
able, Pole Limas may be grown along fences or trellises, thus 
serving the treble purpose of creating shade, hiding unsightly 
objects, and’yielding food. 
As to difference in flavor between Bush and Pole Limas I 
can truthfully say there is none. A great deal depends at what 
stage of development the pods are picked and how soon after 
picking the beans are shelled and cooked. Thirty minutes of 
cooking may bring out the flavor to perfection while forty-five 
minutes may neutralize it. Still, a great leeway is possible in 
connection with these various factors if you press into service 
pedigreed quality kinds of proven behavior; and it is in the en- 
deavor to introduce you to Limas that always behave, that 1 
first mention: 
The Quality Trio Among Bush Varieties 
T WELVE years ago a young son of one of the largest Lima 
Bean seed specialists in California (where, incidentally, 
nearly the entire crop of all Limas is produced) walked through 
a field of King of the Garden Pole Limas and discovered, not- 
withstanding the field had been “rogued” before, two “sports” 
of true bush habit, with pods every bit as large as those of the 
King of the Garden Pole variety. These two mutations or 
“sports” carried pods of entirely different types; and there 
isn’t a gardener to-day who has not heard of Fordhook and 
Burpee-Improved as the most up-to-the-minute quality Bush 
Limas available. 
Fordhook Bush Lima is the largest podded form of the old- 
fashioned “fat” or Potato Lima. The pods average 5 inches 
long, are borne in pairs or double pairs and contain on an average 
four large, thick, green-skinned beans that truly have no superior 
in flavor. (Incidentally, here is a “tip”: whenever you see a 
green-skinned Lima, make up your mind that it is far superior 
in flavor to the white or yellow-skinned bean). A week to 
ten days after Fordhook has yielded its first picking, the Burpee- 
Improved brings us its large, flat pods equal in size to any pole 
variety. The pods average 5! inches long and contain on an 
average 5 beans which, in the green stage, are as large as those 
of the largest Pole Limas. 
The introduction of these two sorts marked the dawn of a 
new era in Bush Limas for, popular as old Burpee’s Bush Lima, 
102 
