08 The Bean

The Bean

Every garden grows beans of one kind or another. Under this general name, many kinds of plants are cultivated. They are all tender, and the seeds, therefore, should not be planted until the weather is thoroughly settled; and the soil should be warm and loose. They are all annuals in northern countries, or treated as such.

The bean plants may be classified in various ways. In respect to stature, they may be thrown into three general categories; viz. the pole or climbing beans, the bush beans, and the strict-growing or upright beans (as the Broad or Windsor bean).

In respect to their uses, beans again may be divided into three categories; viz. those used as string or snap beans, the entire pod being eaten; those that are used as shell beans, the full-size but immature beans being shelled from the pod and cooked; dry beans, or those eaten in their dry or winter condition. The same variety of bean may be used for all of these three purposes at different stages of its development; but as a matter of fact, there are varieties better for one purpose than the other.

Again, beans may be classified in respect to their species. Those species that are best known are as follows:

(1) Common bean, or Phaseolus vulgaris, of which there are both tall and bush forms. All the common snap and string beans belong here, as also the Speckled Cranberry types of pole beans, and the common field beans.

(2) The Lima beans, or Phaseolus lunatus. The larger part of these are pole beans, but lately dwarf or bush varieties have appeared.

(3) The Scarlet Runner, Phaseolus multiflorus, of which the Scarlet Runner and White Dutch Runner are familiar examples. The Scarlet Runner is usually grown as an ornamental vine, and it is perennial in warm countries, but the seeds are edible as shelled beans. The White Dutch Runner is oftener cultivated for food.

(4) The Yard-Long, or Asparagus bean, Dolichos sesquipedalis, which produces long and weak vines and very long, slender pods. The green pods are eaten, and also the shelled beans. The French Yard-Long is the only variety of this type that is commonly known in this country. This type of bean is popular in the Orient.

(5) The Broad beans, of which the Windsor is the common type. These are much grown in the Old World for stock feed, and they are sometimes used for human food. They grow to one strict, central, stiff stalk, to a height of 2 to 4 or 5 feet, and they are very unlike other kinds of beans in appearance. In this country, they are very little grown on account of our hot and dry summers. In Canada they are somewhat raised, and are sometimes used in the making of silage.

(6) The cowpea, which is really a bean (species of Vigna), much grown in the South for hay and green-manuring, is also a very good table vegetable and one that is destined to increase in popularity for domestic use.

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