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THE field bean is one of the very few high protein grain crops which can be grown successftilly on farms in Britain, and for this reason it is of great importance as a source of concentrated protein for livestock. However, in recent years it has become an extremely uncertain and unprofitable crop, and despite its potential usefulness is regarded with some mistrust. Over the past seventy years the acreage has fallen from approximately 450,000 acres to under ioo,ooo acres, and, according to the Agricultural Statistics for 1882-1953, the average yield per acre has shown a slight decrease over the last twenty years. In comparison with cereal grain crops the yields per acre are generally poor. The importance of the breeding system in relation to grain production has received little attention hitherto, and the precise nature of the breeding system itself has never been described. Until this situation is remedied, attempts at plant improvement can proceed only with difficulty. Charles Darwin (1900) stated that bean plants which had been protected from insects gave one-third the number of pods which arc produced by unprotected plants ; it was concluded therefore that V. faba was a naturally cross-pollinating species. Many other investigators remarked on the entomophilous nature of the bean flower and supported the suggestion that it was an outbreeding species.

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