Reversed Bean Vines

Nine different kinds of pole beans were planted in rows of about fifty hills each. All nine kinds twined about the poles in the same direction, namely, a right-hand screw thread. The vines on even numbered poles of three rows were carefully unwound and twined backward. The runner was loosely tied about two inches below the tip, and this process was repeated whenever the runner had grown eight to ten inches. The period between ties was only a couple of days at first and gradually increased to about ten days as vines reached full growth. All vines and pods were allowed to ripen, wither and dry on the poles. Then the plants were harvested. The field data on each hill consists of: number and weight of pods, number and weight of beans, weight of shucks, number and weight of vines. Since the vines still appeared a bit green in places, the vines and shucks were sun dried for about ten days, and then reweighed. The vines of Hawaiian bean turned out to be rather more green than expected.