The ripe seeds are white, colored and spotted about the eye with purplish-red, oblong, nearly cylindrical at the centre, rounded at the ends, six-tenths of an inch long, and three-eighths of an inch thick: sixteen hundred and fifty measure a quart, and will plant two hundred feet of drill, or two hundred hills.
If planted early in the season, the variety will blossom in six weeks, afford young pods for use in seven weeks, green beans in ten weeks, and ripen in eighty-five days. When planted and grown in summer, the crop will ripen in eleven weeks; and plants from seeds sown as late as the first of August will generally afford an abundant supply of tender pods from the middle to the close of September.
The Early China is very generally disseminated, and is one of the most popular of the Dwarf varieties. It is hardy and productive; but the young pods, though succulent and tender, are inferior to those of some other varieties. The seeds, green or ripe, are thin-skinned, mealy, and mild flavored.
Early Rachel.
A low-growing, branching variety, twelve to fifteen inches high; flowers white; the pods are five inches and a half long, green while young, becoming paler or greenish-yellow as they approach maturity, cream-white when ripe, and contain five seeds.
Planted early in the season, the variety will blossom in about seven weeks; and, in eight weeks, the young pods will be fit for use. Pods for shelling may be plucked in ten weeks, and the crop will ripen in eighty days. For the green pods, the seeds may be planted till the middle or twentieth of July.
The ripe seed is yellowish-brown, white at one of the ends, kidney-shaped, often abruptly shortened, five-eighths of an inch long, and a fourth of an inch thick: nearly two thousand are contained in a quart.
The Early Rachel is hardy, and moderately productive, and, as an early string-bean, may be desirable; but as a shell-bean, green or dry, it is of little value. In common with many other early sorts cultivated as string-beans, the pods, though crisp and tender at first, soon become too tough and parchment-like for use. In general, the pods of the later sorts remain crisp and tender a much longer period than those of the earlier descriptions.
Early Valentine.
Valentine.