BEAN, FIELD. Phaseolus rulgaris, Linn. Legu minosx. Figs. 295-302.
Annual plants of bush or twining habit, of un known habitat but probably native to the New World, grown for the edible seeds. Leaves 3-foliolate, the leaflets stalked and stipellate, entire ; flowers papilion aceous, greenish, whitish or tinted with blue or blush, few at the apex of a short axillary peduncle, the stamens 9 and 1, pistil 1 and contained within the stamen tube, which is enclosed in the spiralled or twisted keel (a, Fig. 293); fruit a long, 2-valved pod containing many oblong or sometimes oval seeds of many colors. The common garden snap beans are of the same species. The bush beans are often separated as a distinct species, P. menus, but both bush and pole varieties are undoubtedly domestic de rivatives of one species.
History.
While beans have been grown ana used for human food in various forms from a very early date, the production of commercial dried beans is of recent origin. It is stated that in 1836 Stephen Coe brought from the eastern part of New York into the town of Yates, Orleans county, a single pint of beans. He planted them, and from the successive products of three years, his son, Tunis H. Coe, in 1839 raised a small crop of beans and sold a load of thirty-three bushels to H. V. Prentiss, of Albion, the only man in the county who could be induced to buy so many. This is supposed to be the first load of beans sold in western New York, and it is probable that up to that time there had not existed anywhere in the world an organ ized industry for producing and distributing commercial dried beans.
From this humble beginning sprang an industry that has produced in the state of New York alone for the last thirty years one to two million bushels of beans per year. For many years the production of commercial beans was confined to Orleans county, but it gradually spread to other counties and later was taken up in other states. This devel opment has occurred in about sixty years, but during the first twenty-five years of this period the production did not rise to 2 per cent of its present volume. The early settlers of western New
York depended principally on the sale of wheat for their cash income, and eastern markets were largely dependent on the wheat grown in western New York. The advent of the weevil in 1846, which proved very destructive in the wheat-fields, offered to farmers the first inducement to experi ment in raising beans. However, the industry made little growth down to 1861. At this time the government began to buy beans for use in the army and during the years of the civil war pro duction increased very rapidly. At the close of the war the government demand ceased, but the soldiers had learned to eat beans and they carried the habit back with them into home life and induced others to eat beans also. Thus arose the consump tive demand for beans that has made possible the great development of the indus try. Other causes have influ enced the extension of the con sumption of beans in certain localities, but none were of so widespread influence as the civil war. At the present time the practice of canning beans in convenient and attractive forms is doing much to extend their use.
According to the Twelfth Cen sus of the United States (crop of 1899), Michigan is the larg est producer of commercial dried beans of any of the states. In the previous census reports of the crops of 1879 and 1889, New York ranked first in bean production. In 1879, New York produced 42.4 per cent and in 1889, 35.1 per cent of the total crop of the United States. The weather condi tions in New York in 1899 were more unfavorable and the bean crop was numerically small, falling to 26.9 per cent of the total crop of the United States, while Michigan produced 35.7 per cent of the same. It is asserted by dealers in beans in New York that the state still leads in production in normal seasons, but owing to the fact that no statistics relating to beans are taken except in census years, it is difficult to confirm or refute the assertion.