The Velvet Bean. 
THe Texas (U.S.) Stock and Farm Journal contains the following very 
interesting article on a new bean, or, rather, a bean to which the attention of 
orchardists and agriculturists has only lately been drawn. The notice of the 
bean was written by a reliable public official in Louisiana, and may therefore 
be taken as correct. 
“The Velvet Bean” (Dolichos multiflores), also called “Pea Banana,” 
“Field Pea,” and “ Banana Stock Pea,” has been cultivated in Florida for 
ornamental purposes, as trellises upon porches, and as shade for pine-apple 
patches. It has an enormous quantity of foliage and yine, and bears late in 
the season a large quantity of seed. y 
It is now used in orange groves instead of cow peas,* and several growers 
have found it very satisfactory. Dr. Q. Clute, director of the Florida Experi- 
ment Station, had his attention called to this bean in 1895, and at once 
procured seeds, and began experimenting with it. ‘The land was prepared as 
for corn, in rows three feet wide, and beans dropped one foot apart in drill. 
It was cultivated sufficiently to keep down weeds, with plough and hoe, until 
the vines shaded the ground. The ground finally became covered with a dense 
mass of vegetation. It bloomed in August, “ producing long clusters or 
racemes of somewhat large purple flowers, which were quite ornamental. ‘The 
bloom was followed by plump pods of rich dark-green, covered with a close 
down-like velvet, whence probably comes the name of Velvet Bean. At harvest, 
before frost in November (in Florida—Ed. Q.A.J.), a square rod of the vines 
- and pods gave 93 Ib. of green forage, or 16,680 Ib. per acre.” 
He estimates that it would have cured into two or three tons of hay per 
acre. “All stock readily ate the green forage, including pods with beans.” 
Last year only five seeds of this bean were obtained by the writer. Of 
these two were planted around the front gallery, and one by the side of a small 
dead plum-tree. Those around the gallery became so rampant that the vines 
were many times cut back. They yielded a quantity of pods. The one seed 
around the plum-tree produced an enormous quantity of vines, completely 
obscuring the plum-tree, and in November one half-bushel of pods. The pods 
are thick and leathery, and very difficult to shell, each containing from three to 
five large, oval, plump beans, and are borne in clusters on a long stem. The 
vines grew over twenty feet in length. Left on the field, both leaves and pod 
were blackened by the frost, but the pods were apparently uninjured. 
The Sugar Experiment Station is distributing these seeds, and will send 
to any applicant one pod, enough to obtain seed for a whole neighbourhood 
next year. ‘ 
The vines have not been analysed, but Professor Persons, chemist of the 
Plorida Station, has given the following analysis of the bean, air-dried :— ~ 
Per cent. 
PA‘SHire ss An x ee AD noo PAD) 
Albumenoids te Br on an Zabeyy 
Fat... mo oe ot ey RAK) 
Fibre ... cee cD ot a0 nt BERD 
» Carbohydrates di} ost on «. 60°75 
<a pena ope ereeenreeeeneerseeeeereneeeee eee ee a en 
* The cow fen is not recommended for orchards in Queensland by Mr. Benson, Government 
Fruit Expert.—Kd. Q.4.J. . 
