Cleaning.—As the beans come from the threshers, there are among them more or less that are discol ored and damaged, and also gravel and dirt of vari ous sorts. This refuse must be removed before the beans are ready for market. Much of this work can be done by machinery, but some of it must be accomplished by hand - picking. Usually, beans going into market are "hand-picked," which means that practically every bean is perfect. The work of preparing the crop for market is now almost exclusively in the hands of the bean dealers. At many of the railway stations in the bean-growing sec tions are " bean-houses," usually the prop erty of a local produce dealer who buys the crops of the locality. The farmer delivers his crop at the bean-house. It is sampled. The sample is weighed, picked and weighed again to determine the loss by picking. The farmer is usually paid for the estimated amount of picked beans which he de livers.
At the bean-houses the beans are run through special machines that remove much of the refuse and sometimes grade the beans according to size. The hand-picking is usually performed by women and girls. The work is much facilitated by a weather is unfavorable, the punches must be turned frequently to prevent the beans in those pods resting on the ground becoming damaged. , Wet weather does not injure the crop seriously mechanical device which causes the beans, thinly spread on a movable canvas apron, to pass slowly in front of the picker, who has opportunity to see each bean and time to pick out the gravel and damaged beans. By means of a foot-lever the operator controls the movement of the apron and the rapidity of the flow of the beans, which are led by means of spouts from the storage room above. Some dealers arrange the work so as to keep ten to twenty persons employed throughout the year.
Cull by-product of the bean-houses are the damaged beans removed from the crop. These are mixed with more or less of gravel which the machines could not separate from the beans. These cull beans have a high feeding value, although the admixture of gravel interferes somewhat with their use. Sheep are fond of beans and will sort them out, leaving the gravel. Swine eat the cooked beans, and by stirring in water while cooking, the gravel falls to the bottom of the vessel and leaves the food practically free from it. Ground and mixed with other grains, the beans may be fed to cattle, and when the animals become accustomed to them they are apparently relished, although at first they are usually rejected. The presence of the gravel is especially objectionable when it is desired to grind the beans. Probably the best use of cull beans is for sheep and swine food, and for this pur pose they have a higher value than farmers have usually assigned to them. It is important, however,
that they be fed in connection with other more carbonaceous foods, as corn, instead of being made the exclusive diet, or the health of the ani mals may be impaired. Samples of cull beans from the bean-houses of New York have been analyzed by Cavanaugh and reported on as follows : Diseases.
There are a number of diseases affecting the bean plant, each of which assumes considerable economic importance at times. The most destruc tive of these is the bean anthracnose (Colletotrichum Lindemuthianunt, Fig. 58), though bean-blight (Bac terium yhaseoli) also often causes considerable loss. In 1904 and 1905, these diseases, especially the former, were very abundant and destructive in New York. The bean anthracnose occurs in almost every case as the result of planting diseased seed. If conditions are favorable it may develop rapidly, resulting in the destruction of the plant while still small ; or under other conditions its progress may is also a by-product of considerable economic importance as forage. Sheep are fond of the pods and thrive on them. When fed to dairy cows they are productive of good results. Al though if used freely there is a tendency to pro duce looseness of the bowels, a danger that should be guarded against. The digestible nutrients con tained by bean-straw, as computed by Cavanaugh, are as follows : be so slow as to attract little attention till the pods are well formed, when it may appear as "pod spot." The diseased seedlings may be recognized by the brown or black sunken spots or pits on the stems and cotyledons. The stem may become so diseased and weakened at the base as to fall over of its own weight. When the beans are affected after the leaves are well developed, these will show the disease chiefly on the under side along the veins, which become brownish and dead. The blade itself may often become affected. If the attack develops late in the season, it is on the pods that it becomes most characteristic and destructive. Here it forms large, dark brown sunken spots in the tissue of the pods. The spores of the fungus may often be seen as a tiny pink mass at the center of these spots or pits. The dis ease gradually works through the pods, and, at tacking the seeds, forms pits or discolored places in them. When the seeds are dried the fungus becomes dormant, only to become active again the next season, when the diseased cotyledons are lifted above the soil on the growing stalks. Diseased seed usually may be recognized by the discolored areas on the coat and by the shriveled condition.