oughly understood and who was thoroughly in love with horticultural work. The tendency is to confine the work too largely to the school-room. Even from this standpoint, however, the course, when illustrated by good charts, prepared specimens, and the use of simple text-books, has considerable educational value. But the Germans are becoming fully aware of the fact that the complete success of such a course will depend almost wholly on the teaching ability, theoretical and practical knowledge of the subject, and enthusiasm of the individual teacher.

XXIII

BEANS, PEAS, AND OTHER LEGUMES AS FOOD*

INTRODUCTION

The word legume is used by botanists to denote the one-celled two-valved seed pod, containing one or more seeds, borne by plants of the botanical order Leguminosa. The most common representatives of this family which are used as food are the various kinds of beans and peas. In common usage the term is applied to the plants themselves, which are hence called leguminous plants or legumes. The term pulse is also sometimes applied to this class of plants. The papilionaceous or butterfly-shaped flowers and the pendant pods of the pea and bean are familiar in every garden, while the ripened seeds of the pea, bean, lentil, and peanut are among the standard food stuffs offered in our markets. Taking the world over, the legumes are, next to the cereals, the most valuable and the most extensively used among vegetable foods. The seeds are eaten green, either alone or with the pod, as in the case of string or snap beans and edible podded peas, and also in the fully ripened state, as split pea, dried bean, lentil, and peanut. Most species of the pea and bean have been greatly improved by the gardeners' art.

GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION

Representatives of the legume family are found in all climates and countries. The pea and bean grow rapidly, three and four months being sufficient to bring most varieties to maturity, and consequently they can be grown in the short summers of far northern lands, the pea, the most hardy of them, at least as far as 67 degrees north latitude; and, as they also stand high temperatures, they are all largely cultivated in tropical and subtropical regions. The pea is the favorite legume of middle and northern Europe, while in the Mediterranean countries the bean is grown more generally than the pea. In nearly all sections of our own country both the pea and the bean are grown extensively, and are even exported. Peanuts of a superior quality are cultivated in our Southern States. So far as can be learned, the lentil is at present grown in this country only to a small extent in the southwestern portion of the United States.

THE BEAN

This valuable legume is known to have been cultivated by the Egyptians, the Greeks, and the Romans. The Romans used the broad bean (Vicia faba) in voting and in certain ceremonies. Early voyagers to the Western

*U. S. Department Agriculture, Mary Hinman Abel, Farmers' Bulletin 121. Permission to reprint kindly granted.

Continent speak of beans and peas as being cultivated by the Indians in different parts of North and South America, and we know that the Algonquins had one and perhaps two varieties of pole beans. The Indian name for the

bean means to wind about." Champlain, in 1604, describes the planting of what he calls the Brazilian bean" in the region of the Kennebec. He says it grew five to six feet high and wound around the corn. It was certain that before 1600 A. D. beans were cultivated as far north as the St. Lawrence, and they were recognized by travelers as "proper to the country." Bean flour is spoken of as in use among the Aztecs. Beans are now widely distributed, one or more varieties being grown in all temperate, tropical, and subtropical countries.

The main species of beans are briefly discussed below.

BROAD OR WINDSOR BEAN (Vicia faba)

This is the "bean of history," or that which was earliest cultivated. This bean (Fig. 1) grows erect about two and one-half feet high, has a square, reddish stem, and the leaves are made up of oval leaflets. The pods are broad, thicker at the end, and generally curved and pendent, containing thickish, bulging seeds. Several varieties are grown in Europe, both for fodder and for human food, but it does not continue as long in bearing as other beans. It is said to be more generally eaten there by the poor than by the wealthy, but, as it has a distinct and agreeable flavor of its own, quite different from the kidney bean, it should be better known among us. It is gathered when full grown, but unripe, and it is then best flavored. The Broad Windsor is perhaps the best known of the cultivated varieties but it is less successfully grown in the United States than in Europe, the climate being apparently unsuited to its best development. It is imported to some extent in exchange for varieties grown here.

FIG I.- Broad or Windsor Bean

KIDNEY BEAN
(Phaseolus vulgaris)

This species, with its numerous varieties, comprises all beans ordinarily used among us except the Lima bean. It is a native of a warm climate, probably of South America, and was introduced into Europe in the sixteenth century. It was not known to the ancients.

It has since become very important, chiefly because varieties of it are easily produced by the gardener and the quality thus improved by cultivation. What is called the "keel" in papilionaceous flowers is reduced in the kidney bean to two small blades which do not adhere and cover the pistil, so that cross fertilization with different varieties is easily brought about. It is naturally a climber, but dwarf varieties have been developed which we call bush beans, which are used both as string or snap beans and as dried beans. This bean grows rapidly, flowering and seeding early, It has large, rough leaves, made up of three leaflets, and the butterfly-shaped blossoms, in cluster of from two to eight, start at the axils of the leaves. The pods and seeds are variously shaped and colored. The kidney beans may be divided into two groups-tough podded and edible podded (Fig. 2), there being both bush and pole varieties of each group. A great number FIG. 2.-Snap or edible podded kidney of varieties have been developed, each locality having its own favorites, and the tendency of growers to rename standard varieties or those which have developed only unimportant differences tends to confuse the nomenclature. The many wax" beans belong to this species. Most of the "shell" beans which are eaten before fully ripe are of the pole varieties. The prejudice against beans that grow dark in cooking is unfortunate, since many of them are of fine quality and full flavored.

LIMA BEAN
(Phaseolus lunatus)

bean

This bean is of South American origin, a tall climber, bearing a very flat, broad pod, with short, flat seeds, slightly kidney-shaped, one of the halves nearly always larger than the other and wrinkled or fluted (Fig. 3). The Lima Bean is of excellent quality and a favorite shell bean, both green and ripe, especially in the United States. There is also a cultural variety of bushy habit.

SCARLET RUNNER (Phaseolus multiflorus)

This species, familiar as an ornamental climber but seldom used as food in the United States, is considerably used for that purpose in Europe, especially in England, some varieties being often preferred both

FIG. 3.-Lima Bean

as string and green shell beans to the kidney bean. They are, however, inferior to other beans when dry. It seems strange that this handsome climber, of vigorous and rapid growth, should be so little known as a food plant. It is used while young and tender in the form of string bean. It bears better if the growing points are pinched off..

FRIJOLE

(Phaseolus spp)

Another species which should be noted as being of local rather than general importance is the frijole (Phaseolus spp.) of Mexico and our Southwestern Territories, a small, flat bean frequently of a reddish brown or light tan color. Various other colors are also found. It is, next to maize, the staple food in those regions. It is largely used also as a green or snap bean. Either green or dry it is an almost daily food with the Mexicans or natives of Spanish-Indian descent.

It would seem that the dry frijole might well be used farther north. Several varieties that have been tried are very good both in soup and as a vegetable.

COWPEA

(Vigna catjang)

The cowpea (Fig. 4) belongs to the bean family; but it is the field pea" of the Southern States. There are several varieties-the "red" and "black" varieties, the round lady" peas, the large "black-eye" and "purple-eye," and the variously mottled and speckled "whippoorwill"' peas, besides many others. There are both trailing and bush varieties. The plant bears a leaf with three leaflets and long pods growing in pairs on a long stem. The cowpea has been grown for at least one hundred and fifty years in our Southern States, the seed having been brought from India or China. It is grown both as a forage plant and for human food, but mainly as a fertilizer for the soil (green manure). Considerable quantities of the cowpea are consumed during the season, being gathered when the pods begin to change color and before they become dry. For winter use the dry

peas are cooked like other dried beans and have a very agreeable flavor. The cowpea requires a longer season than the kidney bean and will seldom, if ever, mature in the climate of New England. But as a dry bean it might well be introduced into our Northern markets on account of its distinctive and agreeable flavor.