Plant fifteen inches high, less strong and vigorous than that of the Common Red-eyed China; the flowers are white; the pods are comparatively short, usually about five inches long, green and straight while young, straw-yellow when sufficiently advanced for shelling, yellow, thick, hard, and parchment-like when ripe, and contain five or six seeds,—these are white, spotted and marked about the eye with black, of an oblong form, usually rounded, but sometimes shortened at the ends, slightly compressed on the sides, and measure half an inch in length, and three-eighths of an inch in thickness.
A quart contains fifteen hundred beans, and will plant a drill, or row, of two hundred feet, or a hundred and fifty hills.
The variety is early. When sown at the commencement of the season, the plants will blossom in six weeks, produce pods for the table in seven weeks, pods for shelling in ten weeks, and ripen in eighty-seven days. It yields well, ripens off at once, and, on account of the thick, parchment-like character of the pods, suffers much less from wet and unfavorable seasons than many other sorts.
As a string-bean, it is of fair quality, good when shelled in the green state, and farinaceous and mild flavored when ripe.
Blue Pod.
A half-dwarf variety, growing from two to three feet high, with a branching stem, deep-green foliage, and white flowers. The pods are five inches long, pale-green while young, light-yellow as the season of maturity approaches, cream-white when fully ripe, and contain five or six seeds.
Its season is intermediate. If sown early, the plants will blossom in seven weeks, afford pods for stringing in eight weeks, green beans in ten or eleven weeks, and ripen their seeds in ninety-seven days. It is a week earlier than the White Marrow, and ten days in advance of the Pea-bean. Plantings may be made as late as the last week in June, which will yield pods for the table in seven weeks, and ripen the middle of September, or in about twelve weeks.
The ripe seed is white, oblong, flattened, rounded on the back, often squarely or angularly shortened at the ends, half an inch long, and a fourth of an inch thick: twenty-seven hundred will measure a quart.
It is a field rather than a garden variety; though the green pods are tender and well flavored. If planted in drills two feet apart, five pecks of seed will be required for an acre; or four pecks for the same quantity of ground, if the rows are two feet and a half apart. If planted in hills, six or eight seeds should be put in each; and, if the hills are three feet apart, twelve quarts of seed will plant an acre.
The Blue Pod is the earliest of the field varieties; more prolific, more generally cultivated, and more abundant in the market, than either the Pea-bean or the White Marrow. It is, however, much less esteemed; and, even in its greatest perfection, is almost invariably sold at a lower price.