Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1920-02-24
o. F. and Improved Yellow BYE Beans.

| Inc market value OF Maine grown
Yellow Eye beans and the Improved Yel
low Eye beans depends upon their true
ness to the type called for by the Bostor
bean dealers. In order to command tbt
top price not only must some Of tht
beans be standard. They must all be Of
that type. The more nearly uniform
and true to type the better price one Car
expect to receive from crop. 1t com
munity Is producing beans of uniform
standard type that fact will speedily be-
come known, and the product of thai
community will be at a premium.
Therefore when the Maine Expert
ment Station began it's bean breeding
for the two kinds of Yellow Eye beans
the first thing to learn was what the Bos
ton market considers to be Yellow Eye
bean and an Improved Yellow Eye bean
This was taken up by correspondence
and afterwards by personal visits to the
prominent Boston dealers handling these
kinds of beans. While there was some
difference of opinion the final standards
adopted by the Station and published 10
1915 were approved and accepted by the
ex perts of the Boston bean market be-
fore the bulletin was issued.
Since that time the Station has been
engaged in fixing the type and produc-
ing the beans on large enough scale to
warrant their distribution. In 1918
enough seed was obtained 80 that the
beans had pretty wide trial in 1919.
Out of about 20 strains the Station has
now reduced the ones that 1t recommends
to three strains of each of the two varie.
ties. In 1919 as grown by the Station at
Highmoor Farm on large areas the three
strains to be continued of the Old Fash
ioned Yellow Eye beans yielded at the
rates of 81, 35 and SO bushels per acre.
And the three Improved Yellow Eye
beans yielded at the rate Of 25, % and 20
bushels per acre. The Old Fashioned
Yellow Eye bean is, as seen above, a
better yielder than Is the Improved Yel-
low Eye bean. But there is only a
limited demand for 1t outside of the
State of Maine. With single exception
the Boston bean merchants agreed in
1915 in saying that outside of the State
of Maine there is practically no demand
for the Old Fashioned Yellow Eye bean
and that when they receive lot of this
variety of beans they are "largely sent
to jobbers and retailers ip Maine."
Maine $40 oat has replaced other oats
on thousands of acres in Maine. And
with reason. For it ia the best ost for
Maine conditions yet produced. For
example the Waldo County Farm Bureau
in 1919 In trials by 35 farmers found on
104 1-2 acres An increased yield of 2464
bushels; on the average an increase of q
little over 23 bushels per acre. One of
the great advantages Of pure line Is
that the plants are uniform all the way
from pushing through the ground until
harvest. They not only bloom but they
ripen at the same time and are ready to
harvest at one time. This applies to the
bean plant as truly as 1t does to the oat
plant.
While Maine stands near the head, be-
ing the fifth state, in bean growing, the
states above 1t grew in 1910, 2, 10, 3S
and 80 times as many beans IS Maine.
There seems to be little reason why the
bean crop should not be made an impor-
tant one In Maine. Most of the varieties
of the bush bean and all OF these here
spoken Of will mature in 90 to 100 days.
For the southern and central parts of the
state they are as sure as any other crop.
The return per acre compares fsvorsbly
with most crops that demand no more
attention. The bean is member of the
family of legumes, the family to which
clover and other nitrogen fixing plants
belong. So that at the same time that q
crop is grown the land is benefited. In
most farm practices beans fit into the
rotation to advantage.
The Experiment Station has some seed
of both kinds OF Yellow Eye beans of it's
own growing for sale and also has OBJ
tanned and tested for purity and germi.
nation samples from those to whom seed
was sold in 1919. 1t is the desire of the
Station management that every one of
these standard beans grown in 1919 be
used for seed in 1920. If the reader of
this is a grower of beans or has friend
that is write to the Station for the list Of
growers who can supply seed Of these
standard beans that will come strictly
true to type and under favorable con-
ditions give large yields that will com
mand the top market price.-Chas. D..
Woods, Director.