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Beans

1. Documentary References to Beans
2. Discussion
   1. Fava (Broad) Beans
   2. Kidney Beans

I. Documentary References to Beans

A. In the Virginia Gazette:

Nov. 1759, Christopher Ayscough, gardener to Governor Fauquier:

Long- podded beans (fava)*	White blossom beans (fava)
Windsor beans (fava)	Nonpareil beans (fava)
Green beans (kidney?)

March 26, 1767, William Wills, Richmond, John Donley, Petersburg:

Winsor (fava)	Early Mazarine (fava)
Long Pod (fava)	Early Lisbon (fava)
Nanpareil (fava)	White Blossum (fava)
Batersea (fava)	Early Dwarf Kidney (kidney)
Yellow (kidney)	Scarlet (kidney)
White (kidney)	Black (kidney)

March 10, 1768, William Wills, Richmond, John Donely, Petersburg:

Early Massagan (fava)	Early Lisbon (fava)
Broad Windsor (fava)	Sandwich (fava)
Tokers (fava)	White Blossums (fava)
Kidney beans of all colors

Dec. 1772, John Carter Store, Williamsburg:

Long pod bean (fava)	Windsor bean (fava)
Canterbury dwarf kidney bean (kidney)

Dec. 1773, John Carter Store, Williamsburg:

Long pod beans (fava)	Toker's beans (fava)
Canterbury dwarf kidney bean (kidney)

Jan. 1774, to be sold by James Wilson, Gardener at the College, Williamsburg:

Mazagon (fava)	Long pod (fava)
Windsor (fava)	Early Hotspur (fava)
White blossom (fava)

April 1775, John Carter Store, Williamsburg:

Windsor beans (fava)	Long pod beans (fava)
White dwarf kidney beans (kidney)

Feb. 1776, Myles Taylor, Richmond:
Turkey snap beans (kidney)

March 1778, Col. Trent's Store, Manchester:
Windsor beans (fava)
Hotspur beans (fava)

March 1792, Minton Collins, Richmond:

Large Windsor beans (fava)	Lima (lima)
French or snap beans (kidney)

Jan. 24, 1793, Minton Collins, Richmond

Large Winsor (fava)	Mazagan (fava)
Long Podded (fava)	Canterbury Dwarf (kidney)
Snap (kidney)	Speckled French (kidney)

B. Orders to John Norton Co. from local residents:

Feb. 1770, John Page of Rosewell:
Windsor beans (fava)

Sept. 1771, Robert Carter Nicholas:
Windsor beans (fava)
Best French beans (kidney)

C. Beans mentioned by John Randolph:

Beans mentioned by John Randolph in A Treatise on Gardening, 1793:

Windsor (fava)	Dutch (kidney)
French or snap (kidney)	Dwarf (kidney)
Bushel or Sugar (Lima)

D. Beans mentioned by Joseph Prentis:

Beans mentioned by Joseph Prentis in Monthly Kalender and Garden Book, 1775 - 1788:

Broad (fava)	Hotspur (fava)
Magazan (Magazan) (fava)	Kidney (kidney)
Long podded (fava)	French (kidney)

* All varieties listed as fava type beans, with the exception of Hotspur, are identified in the plant catalog appendix of Every Man his own Gardener, Ambercrombie-Mawe (1782), Hotspur bean is identified in Prentis's Monthly Kalender, 1775-1779 (January - "plant Hotspur Beans or the long podded bean").

II. Discussion

The list would suggest that there was a far more common presence of the fava type bean in our gardens than what we currently show and in a much greater variety. The fava or Broad Bean (Vicia faba) as it is more commonly known in England, is an ancient crop probably first domesticated in the eastern Mediterranean area in the Neolithic period (The Kitchen Garden, D. Stuart 1984). Athenians used the Broad Bean at feasts dedicated to Apollo. Romans ate them at funerals because departed souls were said to reside in them. Pythagorus forbade his students from eating them because he believed they were made from the same putrid material from which, at creation, man was made. They were also used in the Roman voting system, a black bean for a no vote and a white bean for a yes. Broad Beans were a staple throughout the medieval period and monastery records record harvests in the hundreds of pounds. The 18th century gardener had a great number of varieties to choose from and this popularity seems to last well into the 19th century. Burr, in Field and Garden Vegetables of America (1865), lists 19 varieties of fava or English beans. One of the most popular seems to be the Mazagan. Joseph Prentis writes in the Monthly Kalender and Garden Book, 1775 – 1788, that; "The small Magazan (Mazagan) is to be preferred to any other kind that I have seen." Mary Randolph in Virginia Housewife (1824), agrees and writes of the mazagan bean; "This is the smallest and most delicate species of the Windsor bean." This bean apparently was developed in a Portuguese settlement of the same name which is located on the coast of Morroco.

The Phaseolus genus is one of the most important of the new world food plants. Archeological sites in Peru have dated Beans to 8,000 BCE and it had reached the southwestern United States by 5,000 BCE. The Bean is an excellent dietary companion to the New World staple Corn in that Beans contain Lysine, which is lacking in Corn. Lysine helps the body digest protein. Beans are among the first vegetables mentioned by early plant explorers. Hariot, in his trip to Roanoke Island in 1586 writes; "called by us beans, because in greatness and partly in shape they are like to the beans in England, [broad or fava beans] saving they are flatter, of more divers colours, and some pied." The new world beans are cited by all explorers to North America as a staple crop with the natives and most remark on the great diversity of forms. John Josselyn writes in An Account of Two Voyages, 1674; "They are variegated much…some white, black, red, yellow, blue, spotted…" The new world bean is first illustrated in Europe in Fuchsius’ De Historia stirpium, 1561, but it is not until late inthe next century that they become a common vegetable on the English table. John Parkinson, in Paradisi in Sol, 1629, writes that beans are found "ofterner on rich mens tables" and John Worlidge writes in Systema horti-culturae, 1683, that "within the memory of man they were a great rarity, although now a common delicate food." The French were among the first Europeans to popularize this vegetable, particularly the dwarf varieties that carry the name “French Bean” to this day. This has caused some confusion as to the place of origin of the Phaseolus Bean. As late as 1822 Henry Phillips writes in his History of Cultivated Plants that it is now known that these beans are not native to France, but rather; "we may conclude this excellent and wholesome vegetable is a native of the eastern extremity of Europe, or that part of Asia now belonging to the Turks." Part of the confusion is due to a red bean described by Pliny in his Natural History (18th book, chapter 12) as Phaseoli. Pliny’s bean was undoubtedy a fava type bean although the new world bean derives its genus name from Pliny’s Phaseoli.

The relative scarcity of kidney type beans listed for sale in Williamsburg is probably not a reflection of their popularity but more likely an indicator of the common practice of saving ones own seed and the exchange of seeds between colonists. This is particularly true of the kidney bean which is more easily raised for seed in this country than in England, from which, the seeds for sale in area stores are coming. Kidney beans were perhaps the most popular New World vegetable in the 18th century kitchen garden, both here and in England. This is evident in all of the 17th and 18th century recipe books printed in England as well as recipes books in America from the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The Art of Cookery, 1747, by Hannah Glass published in England and the best selling cookbook of the 18th century gives 3 recipes for the English bean and 7 recipes for French Beans. There are also a very wide variety of kidney bean types grown and used by the English. Stephen Switzer, in The Practical Kitchen Gardener (1727), writes of the kidney bean; "there are more diversity of species, than of any other garden plants we have transmitted to us from foreign parts." The challenge is to determine which types are appropriate to pre-Revolutionary Williamsburg.

A. Fava (Broad Beans)

There were many varieties of these beans grown both in Europe and Virginia, most of which have now disappeared.  One of the best descriptions of the most common types is found in The Complete Farmer, by A Society of Gentlemen (1769): “The Magazan bean is the first and best sort of early beans at present known; these are brought from a Portuguese settlement of the same name on the coast of Africa, just without the Straits of Gibraltar; the seeds of this sort are much smaller than those of the horse bean; and as the Portuguese are but slovenly gardeners, there are commonly a great number of bad seeds among them.  The next sort is the early Portugal bean, which appears to be the Magazan sort saved in Portugal…but these are not near so well tasted as the Mazagan: when therefore the latter can be procured, no person of skill would plant the former.” 

“The small Spanish bean comes next; this will ripen soon after the Portugal sort; and being a sweeter bean, should be preferred to it.  Soon after the Spanish comes the Sandwich bean; this is almost as large as the Windsor bean, but being hardier is commonly sown a month sooner.  The Toker bean, as it is generally called, comes about the same time with the Sandwich, and being a great bearer, is often planted.”

“The Windsor bean is allowed to be the best of all the sorts for the table; when these are planted on a good soil, and allowed sufficient room, their pods will be very large, and in great plenty.  They are also, when gathered young, the sweetest and best tasted of all the sorts”.

The Windsor is, to this day, the most common variety of broad bean available. A modern variety called “White Flowered Long Pod” is probably similar to long podded beans listed in the inventory.

B. Kidney Bean Varieties

Canterbury Dwarf Kidney Bean:
The Canterbury bean is one of the most commonly listed varieties of dwarf kidney bean in the 18th century. It is one of the six Phaseolus beans listed in Miller's Gardeners Dictionary (1754). It is also listed in Abercrombie-Mawe, Every Man His Own Gardener (1787), and in this country in Bernard McMahon's American Gardener (1806). This was a dwarf bean, with white seeds that would probably be classed as a half runner today. Miller, in The Gardeners Dictionary (1768) describes it as: These [Canterbury and Battersea Beans] do not ramble far, and produce their flowers near the root so bear plentifully for some time. Mawe and Abercrombie, in The Universal Gardener and Botanist (1797) lists the Canterbury Bean under Dwarf Kidneys: Canterbury white dwarf, a great bearer and observe that they seldom throw out runners, except the Canterbury and Battersea sorts, which sometimes emit a few stragglers, but they seldom ramble far.

The Vegetable Garden, by Vilmorin, Paris, translated in London by Robinson (1885), lists the White Canterbury bean as a synonym for the Dwarf White Flageolet bean. The variety name Canterbury seems to disappear in this country in the 19th century but Fearing Burr's Field and Garden Vegetables of America (1865), does list the White Flageolet bean so it would seem that this variety continues in cultivation in this country under the French name. Hendrick's, Beans of New York (1931), agrees with this assumption in that he gives White Canterbury as a synonym for the White Flageolet bean. Flageolet beans, as a group, are used today primarily as shell beans and Vilmorin lists them under Dwarf Tough-podded Kidney Beans. The French Flageolet, or Chevrier Vert, commonly available today is a smaller, more refined bean than the original Canterbury bean although the modern variety is still used primarily as a shell or dry bean. We have a White Canterbury in our collections that grows as a half runner and seems to show the attributes of the original Canterbury very well.

White Dwarf Kidney Bean:
This bean is listed in period gardening works even more frequently than the Canterbury bean and is one of several dwarf to semi-dwarf white kidney beans popular in the 18th century. It is apparently a small, early season bean since it is often recommended for use in hot beds. Listings for this bean are found in: A Gardeners Dictionary, 1754, "Dwarf White Kidney"; A Compleat Body of Gardening, 1757, "Dwarf White Kidney"; Every Man His Own Gardener, 1782, "Early White Dwarf"; American Gardener, 1806, "White" dwarf. By the middle of the 19th century a large number of named varieties with similar traits emerge and the White Dwarf as a unique variety seems to disappear. The White Kidney of Burr's Field and Garden Vegetables of America, 1865, is much like the White Kidney we know today. It is a late season bean, used almost exclusively as a dry bean, and one not suitable for hot beds, a chief attribute of the 18th century variety. Robinson, in his translation of Vilmorin's The Vegetable Garden, 1885, lists the English varieties used for forcing in hot beds as the Dwarf Dutch Kidney (saying it is "much the same as the White Flageolet"), Early Etampes Flageolet, Scalloped-leaved Flageolet, Black Belgium Kidney and Yellow Chalandray. None of these varieties with regard to flower or seed color, except for the Dwarf Dutch Kidney, would be called a white kidney, which would seem to lead us back to the White Flageolet or Canterbury bean. Undoubtedly, the dwarf white kidney beans of the 18th century (Dwarf White, Battersea, Dutch and Canterbury) were very similar plants. Hendrick, in Beans of New York, reports that in an 1883 field trial Long White Canterbury and White Kidney proved to be virtually identical.

The Cannelone bean, while probably not in the same line as the original White Dwarf, is an heirloom kidney bean, similar to the Royal Dwarf White Kidney listed in Vilmorin's Vegetable Garden (1885) and also listed by the United Society of Shakers, NY, in The Gardener's Manual (1843) and may provide an approximation of the 18th century White Dwarf.

Turkey snap bean:
Turkey beans have a long tradition in this country and many localities have beans, which are said to have come from the crop of a turkey or goose. The diary of Col. Francis Taylor, of Orange County Virginia records Goosecraw beans in 1794. . However, because all the beans listed for sale in Williamsburg and Richmond stores seem to be imported from Europe it is more likely that the name, Turkey, in this context, refers to the country and not the bird. Many varieties of New World Vegetables were introduced to Europe from Turkish sources. For example, some of the earliest European references to the New World Corn call it “Turkish Wheat.” These vegetables were obtained by the OttomanTurks after their capture of the Portuguese settlements at Ormuz, Persia (1513) and Diu, India (1538) as well as through the capture of Spanish ships returning from the New World by Turkish pirates sailing out of their bases in the Barbary States (Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco). A number of bean varieties seem to arise in Turkey, which may be the source of confusion in Phillips History of cultivated vegetables (1822) where he incorrectly gives Turkey as the origin of the Phaseolus bean.

The Turkey Bean was a pole variety and is perhaps the oldest of all snap bean varieties. Giacomo Castelvetro records in The Fruits, Herbs and Vegetables of Italy (1614): “The least well known and the largest, we call ‘Turkish’ beans; they are white or flecked with pink and tan…they grow very tall, so you should either grow them against a trellis, or, if you want a good crop…train them up rows of dried twigs or branches. The pods of these Turkish beans, when they are young and tender, and not fully mature, make and excellent salad.” This is probably the same Turkey bean found in the account book of Sir John Foulis of Ravelson, Scotland (1671 – 1707).

In this country the Turkey bean is described by Andriaen van der Donck in A Description of the New Netherlands (1656): “The Turkish beans which our people have introduced there grow wonderfully; they fill out remarkably well, and are much cultivated. Before the arrival of the Netherlanders, the Indians raised beans of various kinds and colours, but generally too coarse to be eaten green, or to be pickled.” This would seem to suggest that this variety was developed in Europe or the Near East. He also describes how they are grown on corn stalks, a method learned from the native people, which confirm that this is a pole variety. In the 18th century Peter Kalm lists Turkish beans being grown in Canada on August 7, 1749. In Williamsburg they are advertised in the Virginia Gazette by Myles Taylor in 1776.

Pole beans were difficult to raise for seed in England. Philip Miller, in The Gardeners Dictionary (1754), writes of the Common White or Dutch Kidney-bean that; the Fruit seldom comes to good: which Trouble renders it difficult to cultivate this Sort in Plenty. It is significant that the advertisement for the Turkey bean by Myles Taylor records that they are imported from Italy as pole bean varieties could easily be propagated for seed in Italy. We have obtained a white pole variety of snap bean, which was collected in Cyprus from a Turkish refugee and is known in that region as the “Turkish Bean” and may be similar to the bean advertised by Taylor.

There is another, though less likely possibility. One of the oldest named varieties of dwarf, edible podded kidney bean is the Refuge. It is listed by McMahon (1806) and by Thornburn (1822). George von Martens, in Geo. Die Gartenbohnen (Garden Beans), 1860, describes it as the Turkish Date Bean and suggests it acquired the name Refuge because it was brought to America or England by French Huguenots fleeing persecution in France. An advertisement in The Pennsylvania Gazette on Nov. 16, 1774 for vegetable seeds includes a Valentine bean, listed with other varieties of kidney bean. Red Valentine is a synonym for the Refuge bean. The 1776 advertisement by Taylor of a Turkey snap bean could possibly refer to an early introduction of what was later called the Refugee bean.

Dutch kidney bean:
The most common variety of snap bean in 18th century England and America was the White Dutch, also a pole, or runner bean. It is known in the Netherlands as the Clapboard bean, in France as the Scimitar bean and, by the 19th century, in America, the Caseknife bean. John Randolph, in A Treatise on Gardening (1793), the original edition written in Williamsburg, probably in the 1760’s, observes; “The Dutch sort are not so apt to be stringy, which the dwarf sort are.” This agrees with Millers assessment of the bean in The Gardeners Dictionary (1754), "this is by far the best Sort for Eating yet known." It is interesting that Vilmorin, by 1885, classifies it as a Tall, Tough-podded Kidney Beanindicating either a change in standards or a degradation of the variety.

Stephen Switzer in The Practical Kitchen Gardener, 1727, takes credit for introducing it into England, "There is a large kind that grows almost as high as hops do...this kind I some years ago procur'd from Holland." He says that since then it is being grown in many of the better gardens. It is listed by Miller (1754) as Common White or Dutch Kidney, by Abercrombie (1782) as White Dutch, saying it is the best of the climbing sorts, and McMahon (1806) who lists both a Large White Dutch and Common White as pole beans. Amelia Simmons, in American Cookery (1796), calls it the Clapboard Bean and says it "is the easiest cultivated and collected, are good for string beans, will shell - must be poled." Burr (1865) calls it Case-knife and says it is common to almost every garden. Robinson, in his translation of Vilmorin (1885) ties all the names together and calls it White Dutch, Scimitar, or Case-knife. The first use of the term Caseknife to describe this bean comes in an advertisement in the Maryland Journal and Baltimore Daily Advertiser, March 8, 1793 in which Maximilian Henisler advertises a “large Dutch Caseknife Bean.” Like the dwarf white kidney there is significant variance between the strains of this bean in different countries and probably even within regions in a single country. Burr (1865) writes, "The Case-knife, in its habit and general appearance, much resembles the Sabre, or Cimeter, of the French, and perhaps is but a sub-variety. Plants, however, from imported Sabre-beans, were shorter, not so stocky, a little earlier, and the pods, generally, less perfectly formed." Vilmorin (1885) says, "The Germans cultivate a great number of sub-varieties of it, characterized chiefly by having broader and straighter pods." This is not surprising given its wide popularity. Randolph writes in A Treatise on Gardening (1793), "The Dutch sort, which is the common kind." This bean should be grown in almost every vegetable garden in town.

Scarlet Runner Bean:
The Scarlet Runner (Phaseolus coccineus) is native to the mountains of Mexico and Guatemala, preferring a cooler, more humid environment than P. vulgaris. It suffers in the hot, often dry, climate of the coastal plain of Virginia. Because of its limited natural range it was likely domesticated after P. vulgaris (The Origins of Fruit and Vegetables, Roberts, 2001). It was apparently introduced to England early in the 17th century. In the Johnson edition of Gerard’s Herball (1633) it is recorded that the Scarlet Runner was “procured by Mr. Tradescant, and growes in our Gardens, is a large plant, not differing in manner of growth from the former Indian Kidney Beanes, but his floures are large, many, and of an elegant scarlet colour; whence it is vulgarly termed by our Flourists, the Scarlet Bean.”

The Scarlet Runner was particularly suited to the English climate, more so than the pole varieties of P. vulgaris. It was one of the best varieties of snap beans as recorded by James Justice in I(1771): “This bean [Scarlet kidney bean] I would recommend for family use, not only as it holds long, but the little trouble it gives…is clean from the strings that are so troublesome in the fruit of the other kinds: they are also good boilers, both as to colour and flavour.”

Its bright red flowers give a highly ornamental quality as recorded by Philip Miller in I (1754) “The Scarlet Bean…is very common in the English Gardens, being planted for the Beauty of its scarlet Flowers. It will thrive very well in the City, the Smoke of the Sea-coal being less injurious to the Plant than most others; so that it is often cultivated in Balconies, &c. and, being supported either with Sticks or Strings, grows up to a good Height, and produces Flowers as it advances: it is also planted in some Gardens, to cover Arbours, and other Seats, in the Summer-season, to affords Shade.”

In this country, Thomas Jefferson refers to it as the “arbor bean” in 1812. He had acquired the bean prior to 1791 as Benjamin Hawkins thanks Jefferson in that year for sending him the “scarlet runner.” In Williamsburg the “Scarlet” bean advertised in the Virginia Gazette on March 26, 1767 by William Wills and John Donley is likely the Scarlet Runner.

Bushel or Sugar Beans:
This is the lima bean. The lima bean (Phaseolus lunatus) is a native of both South American and Central America. It was apparently domesticated from the wild Phaseolus lunatus var. sylvester in two separate locations. The larger form was domesticated in South America by 6500 BCE. Examples are found in the archeological site at Guitarrero Cave in Peru and predates the domestication of Phaseolus vulgaris. The second, and more recent, domestication occurred in Mesoamerica. This was the smaller, more heat tolerant variety often referred to as the Sieva bean. There is some confusion in the literature over these two beans. Some authors place them in separate species in which the larger bean, is classed as P. limensis and called the Lima bean while the smaller classed as P. lunatus and called the Sieva or Butterbean. Other authors include all varieties under P. lunatus.

Mary Randolph, in Virginia Housewife (1824), calls it the Lima or Sugar Bean and it is listed in the Va. Gazette in 1792 as simply Lima bean. Lima bean seeds were found in Williamsburg at the Richneck slave quarters site near Williamsburg that date from early in the 18th century and may have been obtained by the slaves directly from native Americans. John Lawson in The History of Carolina (1714) observes the lima being grown by native peoples and writes, "The Bushel bean, a spontaneous growth, very flat, white, and mottled with a purple figure, was trained on poles." This is very likely a variety of lima of the Seiva or Carolina type. The Sieva type is probably the common variety of limas grown by the North American Indians in both the white and colored forms based on the proximity of its ancestral origins. Lobel catalogs the large white lima, the speckled lima and the small white (Sieva) lima in Icones Stirpium (1591) but there is very little written of the bean in England to be able to compare it to modern varieties. This is undoubtedly because the lima takes a very long, warm season to mature and would be difficult to grow in England.

Randolph writes in A Treatise on Gardening (1793), "the BUSHEL or SUGAR BEANS, being of a tender nature, should not be plant till April." He also says they "are of various colours, as white, marbled and green." Jefferson records a White Carolina bean in 1794 which is almost certainly a Sieva lima. George Washington, in a Feb. 3, 1793 letter to Anthony Whiting, records: “Under cover of this letter you will receive some Lima Beans which Mrs. Washington desires may be given to the Gardener.” He obtains seed for the lima again in April 1794.

Other beans which may be appropriate to pre-Revolutionary Williamsburg:
The beans discussed so far, with the exception of the lima, are primarily those that the colonists obtained from Europe. There were undoubtedly many more that originated from trade with the native peoples and were developed within the colonies. John Josselyn in New England Rarities Discovered, 1672, cites a bean that is probably the Red Cranberry Pole Bean. This is a somewhat inferior bean according to Anne Simmons in American Cookery (1796), who writes, "Cranbury Bean is rich, but not universally approved equal to the other two." This bean seems to remain primarily in New England. However, Col. Francis Taylor of Orange Co. records on April 8, 1788 that he "Planted red beans." The trade between planters in different vegetable seeds would have resulted in the development of many regional varieties. This exchange of seeds is reflected in a diary entry of Col. Taylor, April 7, 1787, "Got some Beans from Mrs. Burnley and Lettuce from D° and C. Taylors and Cucumber seed from John Leathers."

These regional and uniquely American beans are, unfortunately, hard to identify because so little is written about them in the colonial period. For example, Burr (1865) says the Red-speckled bean (dwarf) has been common to the gardens of this country for nearly two centuries. The only reference I can find for this bean in 18th century Virginia comes from Jefferson who records a red speckled snap in 1794. In South Carolina, Squibb records the red speckled dwarf kidney in the Gardener’s Calendar (1787). Minton Collins offers a speckled French in 1793 that may be the same and a specked dwarf is listed in Gardener and Hepburn’s The American Gardener (1804). McMahon lists the Red-specked dwarf in his 1806 catalog in Philadelphia.

The colored beans were also known in England but as Bradley says in New Improvements of Planting and Gardening (1731), "We have two sorts of Kidney-Beans common in our Gardens...those being the dwarf and pole varieties of the white kidney." He says he has seen upwards of fifty other varieties but (they) "seldom produce much fruit in England." Stephen Switzer in The Practical Kitchen Gardener, 1727, agrees saying, "At present we chiefly sow and plant the old white kind; tho' the black, red, yellow and party-colour'd eat very well." The question is: how well did they eat in the colonies? There are a number of references to colored beans in the advertisements found in the Virginia Gazette. William Byrd II writes in his Natural History (ca. 1730), One has many species of French beans, or small beans, such as Indian beans, which bear bushells full throughout the whole summer...They are white, sprinkled with color, with a dark red figure on each side, and very good to taste. In The Gardener's Calendar, written in 1787, Robert Squibb records for the month of April, under Snap or Bush Bean, Sow white, black, yellow, black speckled, red speckled, large white or the cream colored dwarfs. The Jones family papers contain a reference to black French Beans in 1797 and Col. Francis Talyor plants a red Snap bean in 1788.

While the colored beans were certainly more common in our gardens than in the English gardens, it appears they were still probably second in preference to the white. . In the journal of Francis Michel, a Swiss traveler who is in the Williamsburg area from Oct. 2, 1701 until Dec. 1, 1702 he records a dinner at a humble house he stops in: She gave us also some food, a species of small white beans, cooked with bacon.

There are many heirloom varieties of beans available today, most dating from the 19th century but probably similar to varieties known in 18th century Virginia.

I am often asked, "did the colonists grow their beans on corn plants like the Indians did?" There are few references to this practice by the colonists whose agricultural and gardening methods were strikingly different from those of the indigenous peoples but there is an interesting entry in Landon Carter's diary, April 25, 1770, "will plant me a bushel of beans in every other Corn hill before the quarter that they may be protected against thieves." While this practice would have been confined to the plantations, because corn was not generally grown as a kitchen garden vegetable, quite a few beans have carried the name of Corn Field, which would lead one to suppose that the practice was fairly common. McMahon offers a Corn Hill Bean in his 1802 catalog. This would probably be a Cut-Short type that is best approximated today by the Amish Nuttle Bean.

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