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THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
September 30 
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- Ruralisms ► 
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THE BUSH LIMA BEANS. 
It is now nearly a decade since Burpee 
introduced the dwarf Lima bean bearing 
his name. It is a bush or vineless form 
of the well-known Large White Lima, 
and was first noticed by a grower in 
Chester County, Pa. The introducers 
were so impressed with its value that 
they advertised it in a most liberal man¬ 
ner. The trial sales were, of course, 
large, but it is doubtful whether they 
compensated for the great cost of intro¬ 
duction, for attention was soon divided 
between several other bush Limas which 
were placed on the market by other 
seedsmen. We have now a round half 
dozen varieties of bush Limas, and more 
are said to be on the way. 
Henderson’s Bush Lima is well- 
known and widely grown. It is of the 
-Ltmar-Xype, and bears a great profusion 
of small pods containing three or four 
beans about half the usual Lima size. 
It is generally true to its bush form, 
healthy and productive, and comes into 
bearing about two weeks earlier than 
most Limas. While the quality is all 
right, it does not seem to fill the place 
of the larger Limas, and one soon ceases 
to grow it. 
Tiiorburn’s Bush Lima is a finely se¬ 
lected dwarf strain of the Challenger 
Lima, a thick, strong-growing and pro¬ 
lific bean. It does not seem to be grown 
to any great extent outside of the dis¬ 
trict about New York. It is an excellent 
kind, but rather late in bearing. 
Dreer’s Bush Lima is a sport from 
the well-known Dreer’s Pole Lima, the 
characteristics of which are early ma¬ 
turity and high quality. The beans are 
thick, and so crowded in the pods as to 
be blunt at the ends. The bush strain is 
quite true to type, and seldom shows an 
inclination to climb. It is a strong 
growing and leafy plant, which often 
fails to fill the pods in wet weather. It 
requires considerable space in which to 
develop, and always succeeds best in dry 
seasons. The quality is excellent when 
the beans are nearly mature, but it is 
of only medium earliness. 
Dreer’s New Wonder is a novelty of 
the year, highly recommended by that 
careful seed firm. It was claimed to be 
very early, vigorous and exceedingly 
productive. Careful trials here and in 
central Tennessee have fairly well 
borne out these claims. In Tennessee, 
while well planted and cared for, it 
failed to fill its early pods, but gives 
promise of a good crop later in the sea¬ 
son. Here in northern New Jersey, a 
market-garden trial proved quite suc¬ 
cessful, marketable beans being picked 
in small quantity about the time most 
pole Limas began to bloom. The plants 
are vigorous, and are still (September 
32) producing well-filled pods freely. 
The quality of the beans has not proved 
satisfactory to the gardener’s customers. 
When they first twell up to marketable 
size, they cook dark and watery, but im¬ 
prove greatly after the skin becomes 
white, a week or two later. Thus the 
extreme earliness of this variety is 
rather an illusion, as the beans cannot 
be used with satisfaction until some¬ 
what mature. It makes a large, leafy 
plant, and requires lots of room for de¬ 
velopment, but shows no tendency to 
climb. 
The Jackson Wonder is of southern 
origin, and appears to be a very prolific 
and dwarf strain of the Speckled Lima 
or Small Lima. The bush form is well 
established, and the beans and pods 
average larger and better filled than 
Henderson’s Bush Lima. The dark 
mottling on the beans renders them 
rather unsightly when cooked, and the 
variety is now little grown in the North. 
The pods have the characteristic of 
being very easily shelled. 
Burpee’s Bush Lima, as before re¬ 
marked, is practically the original Large 
White Lima dwarfed to a bush form. 
It was the first one brought prominently 
to the notice of horticulturists, and after 
testing all the above, I still prefer it 
both for garden and table use. It is 
considered to have more tendency to re¬ 
vert to the climbing form than later in¬ 
troductions, but a considerable planting 
of these beans this season, bought in the 
regular wholesale seed market, shows 
remarkably few climbing “rogues.” It 
does not reauire much room, usually 
succeeds well under ordinary conditions, 
and gives the true Lima appearance and 
flavor when served at table. It is here 
not remarkable for earliness, the first 
beans seldom being ready before the 
latter part of July. 
Notwithstanding the really excellent 
character and great convenience of some 
of the bush Limas, they are little grown 
by most market gardeners. They are 
not, by any means, as productive as the 
best pole Limas, considering the area 
they occupy, neither are they as gen¬ 
erally reliable in producing a crop at 
all; but their sturdiness, and the little 
preparation required, enable the wide¬ 
awake gardener to take chances with 
them in early planting, which would not 
be justified, were the expense and labor 
of setting poles in question. The ten¬ 
dency in this locality is to make a plant¬ 
ing of some bush variety as early as 
there seems to be any possible chance 
of success, and follow it in the regular 
season with the usual area in pole 
varieties. They are a great boon to the 
amateur and home garden, however, as 
the expense and trouble of poles in 
many localities practically prohibits the 
culture of the tall varieties. While I 
have no botanical information on the 
subject, I suspect that the progenitors 
of all our cultivated beans were climb¬ 
ing species, the ordinary “snap” and 
bush beans having been dwarfed by cul¬ 
tivation in northern latitudes, and fixed 
by selection in precisely the same man¬ 
ner as the bush Limas are originating 
to-day. It is but little more than 50 
years since the Lima bean was intro¬ 
duced from Peru, taking its popular 
name from the capital city of that coun¬ 
try. It is a perennial plant in its native 
tropical home, and attains considerable 
dimensions, if left undisturbed, but pro¬ 
duces seeds very sparingly. The writer 
well remembers the grateful shade of an 
immense Lima, about eight years old at 
the time of his visit, which covered the 
wide porch of a settler’s home on the 
south bank of the Amazon River, in 
Brazil, less than 100 miles south of the 
Equator. The vine was over two inches 
through near the ground, and the 
branches had spread through the tree- 
top for some distance around. It pro¬ 
duced a few partially filled pods of beans 
at long intervals. 
The Chenille Plant. —The most sen¬ 
sational novelty of the year in the way 
of decorative plants is Acalypha San- 
deri, the Philippine medusa, Chinchilla 
or Chenille plant, which the introducers 
claim is newly discovered in the Philip¬ 
pine Islands, and the botanists of Eu¬ 
rope say is an old and forgotten plant 
from the Indian Archipelago, reintro¬ 
duced and renamed. These plant sharps 
say it is Acalypha hispida, described 
and named more than a generation ago. 
Acalypha is a genus of greenhouse pe¬ 
rennial plants much resembling Coleus 
in habit. The cultivated species are few, 
and A. mosaica is, probably, best known. 
It has broad, beautifully variegated 
foliage in red, green and white, and is 
much used for the finest sub-tropical 
bedding. The flowers are not conspic¬ 
uous. 
Acalypha Sanderi, to use the most 
common of its multitudinous names, is 
remarkable for its numerous extraordin¬ 
ary, long, drooping, tail-like racemes of 
bloom, often attaining a length of two 
feet, and as thick as one’s finger. They 
are soft crimson in color, and as fluffy 
and phish-like as chenille cord. These 
odd and handsome blossoms start from 
the axils of almost every leaf, even in 
the smallest plants, but increase in size 
and beauty as the plants grow larger. 
It is, apparently, of the easiest culture, 
but requires warmth, sunshine, plenty of 
pot room and good fertilizing to bring 
out its full effect. Like the Coleus and 
other related plants, it is a hungry 
feeder, and makes rapid growth under 
favorable conditions, but soon becomes 
starved and sickly if neglected. It can 
be grown in any warm, bright window, 
if attention is given to frequent repot¬ 
ting. It will outgrow its quarters in a 
comparatively short time, but as cut¬ 
tings root with great readiness, this is 
not much of a drawback, as young 
plants can be kept coming on. The 
present price is rather high, but it will 
soon be offered cheaply owing to its 
rapid increase. The foliage is green and 
handsome, making a fine contrast to 
the numerous flower spikes. w. v. f. 
Herbaceous Phloxes.; —We have al¬ 
ways been impressed by the immunity 
against insect attacks which these 
plants enjoy. It seems, however, that 
their roots are a favorite prey of White 
grubs. We have never had this trouble, 
but a Maine correspondent, F. C. Curtis, 
gives us his experience as follows: 
Referring to the article on herbaceous 
Phloxes in Ruralisms, page Wz, we had a 
very unpleasant experience with our planes 
this year. We have looked forward with 
anticipation to the blooming of these mag¬ 
nificent plants each year, and we do not 
know of anything else which makes such 
a brilliant display, either set in clumps or 
in a hedge; but this year they did not 
start well, and later, they turned dark and 
apparently seemed to be dying. We sup¬ 
posed that the trouble arose from the se¬ 
vere drought, but watering failed to revive 
them, and we concluded to reset the plants 
and manure heavily. As each one was 
lifted, the fibrous roots were missing, and 
several White grubs w r ere buried among 
the roots of each plant; from a space of 
about 20 feet long by three feet wide, we 
took out more than 300 of these pests. 
They are very fond of the roots of the 
Phloxes, and though some of ours are now 
making root growth, we were too late to 
save them all. The secret of success with 
these plants is very rich soil. When 
planting, dig a much larger hole than 
seems to be required, and work in a very 
liberal quantity of old manure. Decayed 
chip dirt, wood ashes and bone dust are 
greedily absorbed, and with plenty of 
water, the trusses of bloom will, in size 
and color, richly repay the extra labor be¬ 
stowed upon them. They are remarkably 
hardy. We have had clumps lie on the 
surface of the ground all Winter, and 
bloom the next Summer. 
In view of this, it would not be wise 
to plant Phlox in ground infested with 
these grubs, with any expectation of 
success. For this reason, we would not 
use decayed chips or similar decayed 
vegetable matter around the roots, as 
Mr. Curtis suggests, since decaying wood 
is a favorite haunt of the White grubs 
and their parent beetles, and their na¬ 
tural food, though many of these in¬ 
sects devour living tissue, also, as in the 
case of these Phloxes. 
My experiments with Bordeaux for the 
lust are not satisfactory. The Palmetto 
is the leading sort to resist the rust, and 
growers are setting that variety almost 
entirely. The plants must be fed w r ell. I 
spent a day of this week in the asparagus 
fields, and find that the rust is not quite 
as bad as last season, and well-kept oeds 
suffer least. byron d. halsted. 
New Jersey. 
The Taylor Blackberry.— When you 
add to your list of blackberries, allow me 
strongly to recommend the Taylor. With 
us, it closely follows the Wilson Jr., and 
we picked several quarts in September. 
Even yet there is a small picking, after a 
season of fully seven weeks. It yields im¬ 
mensely, the berries are of good size and 
very sweet. I think for a family and a 
market berry, too, it takes a front rank. 
Perrysville, Pa. j. r. s. 
Rathbun Blackberry.— When it first 
came out, I bought of James Vick’s Sons a 
dozen roots at 25 cents each, planted them 
with great care, and they have made won¬ 
derfully long, trailing canes. They do not 
root readily from the tips, neither do they 
produce fruit of size, “four times the bulk 
of Snyder.” Fruit is very small and very 
little of it. It appears to be entirely 
worthless, and I am trying to find some 
one who can pronounce it worthy of fur¬ 
ther trial, before I destroy the entire block. 
Massachusetts. a. 
Hardy Roses.— Last Winter gave an ex- 
ceptionably rigorous test of hardiness in 
most sections of the country. At Chicago, 
the Rugosa roses wintered finely, but the 
hybrid Rugosa Mme. Georges Bruant was 
killed. Few plants of the climbing rose, 
Empress of China, survived, and Queen of 
the Prairies and Crimson Rambler suffered 
badly. Caroline Marniesse was killed, and 
Clothilde Soupert suffered severely. De 
La Grifferaie, an old Multiflora variety, 
was unhurt. This is a very strong grower, 
which is often used as a stock for less 
vigorous roses. All the Hybrid Remon- 
tants suffered more or less, even with pro¬ 
tection. 
44 Keep to Your Place and 
Your Place <0)111 Keep You. 
Without good health we cannot keep 
situations nor enjoy life. Most troubles 
originate in impure blood. Hood's Sarsa¬ 
parilla makes the blood rich and pure, 
and thus promotes good health, ’which will 
help you '‘keep your place." 
Never Disappoints 
— m - ■ 
i 1 ! 
pa nr 
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