Our bean harvests varied a good deal from year to year; in my father’s family, from as little as half a sack, to as much as three barrels. The biggest harvest our family ever put up, that I remember, was equivalent to about three barrelfuls. Of course we did not use barrels in those days.
Bean threshing never lasted long; it was work that could be done rapidly.
Gathering up the vines, threshing, and winnowing took about a day and a half; the actual threshing lasted only about half a day. But this does not take into account the time the vines and the threshed beans lay drying.
I remember that one year, when our crop was of good size, for the whole work of threshing and labor of getting our bean crop in, I spent but three days. In this time I had gathered up the vines, threshed them, and winnowed the threshed beans.
However, the time necessary for these labors varied much with the crop, the weather, and the greenness of the vines.
Varieties
There were five varieties of beans in common use in my tribe, as follows:
| Ama´ca ci´pica | Black bean |
| Ama´ca hi´ci | Red bean |
| Ama´ca pu´xi | Spotted bean |
| Ama´ca ita´ wina´ki matu´hica | Shield-figured bean |
| Ama´ca atạ´ki | White bean |
These varieties we planted, each by itself; and each kind, again, was kept separate in threshing; also, only beans of the same variety were put in one bag for storing. Black, red, white, shield-figured, spotted, each had a separate bag.