E. Aveling Green. 
73 
BEANS GROWING “ON THE WRONG SIDE.” 
I N the autobiographical chapter of the “ Life and Letters of 
Charles Darwin” (Vol. I., p. 104) reference is made to the 
widespread belief among farmers that in certain years the common 
field-beans grow “ on the wrong side of the pod,” or, as it is some¬ 
times more vaguely put, “ on the wrong side.” Darwin tried to find 
out what such expressions could mean, but his informants were 
quite unable to give any explanation. After fruitless enquiries he 
concluded that it was a case in which “ a belief—if indeed a state¬ 
ment with no definite idea attached to it can be called a belief—had 
spread over almost the whole of England without any vestige of 
evidence.” 
It seemed to me hardly likely that an idea of such wide currency 
should be merely a baseless superstition, and I determined to try 
and investigate it a little further. Many years ago I asked the 
question, “ Do beans grow on the wrong side in certain years?” of 
some of our farmers and farm labourers in Bedfordshire. I found 
that the younger men knew nothing of it, but the older men all knew 
of it and “ were quite sure it was true because they had known it 
ever since they were boys,” but not one could give me any 
explanation ! I have been unable to get any light on what is exactly 
meant by the beans, or seeds, growing on the wrong side of the pod. 
One can imagine no meaning for it except that they grow on the 
dorsal suture, which I believe is an unheard of thing. But on 
thinking over the life-history of the bean, and my recollections of 
threshing with the flail before the use of machinery, a suggestion 
has occurred to me in reference to the beans growing “ on the 
wrong side ” of the stem, which I put forward for what it is worth. 
Possibly some of the readers of the New Phytologist may be able 
to throw more light on the subject. 
In ordinary years it is very noticeable in passing a ripe bean- 
field that the bean-pods are all on the south side of the stems, 
because when the flowers were out they turned to the sun. This 
made it very convenient for striking with the flail, since the pods 
were all on one side standing clear of the stem, and hence lay flat 
on the floor. But in very wet seasons, if there is no sunshine when 
the flowers are coming out, they miss the directive influence of the 
sunlight, and they, and the pods which succeed them, point in all 
directions, making it very inconvenient for striking with the flail. 
This might well, in the uncritical language of the farmer, be 
described as “ the beans growing on the wrong side.” Now that 
the threshing is done by machinery, the direction of the pods is a 
matter of indifference, and hence passes unnoticed, and the tradition 
which Darwin described as “ the oddest case ” which he had known, 
seems in a fair way to die out altogether. 
Berrystead, 
Woburn, 
Beds. 
E. AVELING GREEN. 
