These are divided into two classes--pole and bush beans. They are
subdivided into many varieties. We omit the English, or horse-bean, as
being less valuable, for any purpose, than our well-known beans or peas.
Pole beans are troublesome to raise, and are only grown on account of
excellence of quality, and to have successive gatherings from the same
vines. Pole beans are only used for horticultural purposes.
_Field-Beans._--For general culture there are three varieties of
white--small, medium, and large. Of all known beans, we prefer the
medium white. The China bean, white with a red face, is an early
variety. All ripen nearly at the same time. It cooks almost as soon as a
potato, and is good for the table; but it is less productive, and less
saleable because not wholly white. For planting among corn, as for a
very late crop, this bean is valuable, because it matures in so short a
time. Good beans may be raised among corn, without injury to the
corn-crop. This can only be done when it is designed to cultivate the
corn but one way. Many fail in attempts to grow beans among corn, by
planting them at first hoeing. The corn, having so much the start, will
shade the beans and nearly destroy them. But plant at the same time of
the corn, and they will mature before the corn will shade them much, and
not be in the way even of the ordinary crop of pumpkins. But
double-cropping land in this way, at any time, is of very doubtful
utility. A separate plat of ground for each crop, in nearly all cases,
is the most economical. To raise a good crop of beans, prepare the soil
as thoroughly as for any other crop. Beans will mature on land so poor
and hard as to be almost worthless for other crops. But a rich, mellow
soil is as good for beans as anything else, though not so indispensable.
Drill in with a planter as near together as possible, and allow a
cultivator to pass between them. One bushel to the acre on ordinary
land, and three fourths of a bushel on very rich land, is about the
quantity of seed requisite. Hoe and cultivate them while young. Late
cultivation is useless--more so than on most other crops. Beans should
not be much hilled in hoeing, and should never be worked when wet. All
plants with a rough stalk, like the bean, potato, and vine, are greatly
injured, sometimes ruined, by having the earth stirred around them when
they are wet, or even damp. Beans are usually pulled; this should be
done when the latest pods are full-grown, but not dry. Place them in
small bunches on the ground with the roots up. If the weather be dry,
they need not be moved until time to draw them in. If the weather be
damp, they should be stacked loosely in small stacks around poles, and
covered with straw on the top, to shed rain. Always haul in when very
dry. Avoid stacking if possible, for they are always wasted rapidly by
moving. In drawing in, keep the rack under them covered with blankets to
save those that shell.
In pulling beans, be sure and take hold below the pods, otherwise the
pods will crack; and although no harm appears then to be done, yet, when
they dry, every pod that has been squeezed by pulling, will turn wrong
side out, and the contents be wasted. If your beans are part ripe and
the remainder green, and it is necessary to pull them to save the early
ones, or guard against frost, when the ripe ones are dry, thrash them
lightly. This will shell all the ripe ones, and none of the green ones.
Put the straw upon a scaffold and thrash again in winter. Thus you will
save all, and have beautiful beans. Bean-straw should always be kept dry
for sheep in winter; it is equal to hay.
_Garden-Beans._--There are many varieties, a few of which only should be
cultivated. Having the best, there is no object in raising an inferior
quality.
The best early string-bean is the Early Mohawk; it will stand a pretty
smart spring-frost without injury; comes early, and is good. Early
Yellow, Early Black, and Quaker, or dun-colored, are also early and
good.
Refugee, or Thousand-to-one, are the best string-beans known; have a
round, crisp, full, succulent pod; come as soon as the Mohawks are out
of the way; and are very productive. Planted in August, they are
excellent until frost; the very best for pickling. For an early
shell-bean we recommend the China red-face; the white kidney and
numerous other varieties are less certain and productive.
_Running Beans_ are numerous. The true Lima, very large, greenish, when
ripe and dry, is the richest bean known; is nearly as good in winter,
cooked in the same way, as when shelled green. They are very productive,
continuing in blossom till killed by frost. In warm countries they grow
for years, making a tree, or growing like a large grapevine.
The London Horticultural--called also Speckled Cranberry, and Wild
Goose--is a very rich variety. The only objection is the difficulty of
shelling; one only can be removed at once, because of the tenderness of
the pod. The Carolina or butter bean often passes for the Lima. It has
similar pods, the bean is of similar shape, but always white, instead of
greenish like the Lima, and smaller, earlier, and of inferior quality.
The Scarlet Runner, formerly only grown as an ornament on account of its
great profusion of scarlet blossoms continuing until frost, is a very
productive variety; pods very large and very succulent, making an
excellent string-bean; a rich variety when dry, but objectionable on
account of their dark color. The Red and the White Cranberries, Dutch
Caseknife, and many other varieties, have good qualities, but are
inferior to those mentioned above. Beans may be forwarded in hotbeds, by
planting on sods six inches square, put bottom-up on the hotbed, and
covered with fine mould; plant four beans on each sod; when frost is
gone, remove the sod in the hill beside the pole, previously set, leave
only two pole-beans to grow in a hill; they will always produce more
than a greater number. A shrub six feet high, with the branches on, is
better than a pole for any running bean; nearly twice as many will grow
on a bush as on a pole. Use a crowbar for setting poles, or drive a
stake down first, and set poles very deep, or they will blow down and
destroy the beans.