HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



35 



aromatic the specific name iuodorum was evidently 

 a misnomer. Old Gerard's words on the Mayweed, 

 too, were quoted: "There be three kinds, one 

 stinking and the other two not stinking ; and be- 

 sides there is another, voyd of smell." To deter- 

 mine which of these was our plant was a matter of 

 still greater difficulty. Matricaria chamomilla we 

 found also an inhabitant of the neighbourhood. 



From Cockbush a fine view of the Channel is to 

 be obtained, and of a telescope, lent by the coast- 

 guard, we now availed ourselves, for a final west- 

 ward glance at the Isle of Wight in the distance. 



Many common though handsome plants, as the 

 Saw-wort, the Pink Centaury, and a remarkably- 

 coloured Polygala, had been consigned to our 

 wallet ; and taking leave of our flora, as the sun 

 was setting behind us, we traversed the sands, 

 strewn with nummulites, along the wide sweep of 

 Bracklesham Bay. On our return home, by way of 

 digression from botanical topics, we listened to 

 narratives of the daring deeds of the Sussex smug- 

 glers of the district, by one who had long known it, 

 and to an account of the fearful wreck of the Robinson 

 man-of-war, near Selsey Bill, and were reminded of 

 some of her guns, still lying in Chichester. We 

 reached the ancient Cross at half-past nine, after a 

 most successful holiday ramble, to re-examine our 

 floral acquisitions, and to experience the benefit of 

 our bracing walk, on the morrow. 



P. H. Arnold, LL.B. 



THE HISTORY OP CULTIVATED 



VEGETABLES. 



No. IX. — The Kidney-bean (Phaseolus). 



IT is said that we are indebted to Alexander the 

 Great for the introduction of this bean into 

 Europe, for while marching on his victorious route 

 in India his eyes fell upon a field of these plants. 

 They appeared to him very inviting, and finding 

 them good for food, he highly recommended them to 

 his countrymen. In ancient Greece and Italy this 

 vegetable found a distinguished place at the tables 

 of the wealthy. In the former country they were 

 served in their green state, together with figs and 

 other side dishes. The Romans preserved them 

 with vinegar and garum (a kind of lorime), and they 

 were handed round at the beginning of a feast to 

 excite the appetites of the guests. Pliny, in the 

 seventh chapter of his eighteenth book, mentions 

 these beans, and says those of Sesama and Iris are 

 red, resembling blood. He also, in his twelfth 

 chapter of the same book, called them Phaseli, and 

 says the pod is to be eaten with the seed. It is 

 probable that these beans were first introduced into 

 this country from the Netherlands, about the year 

 1509, when gardening first began to be attended to 

 in England ; the white Dutch kidney-bean having 



been the earliest sort known in this kingdom. The 

 old French name for this vege table was Fives de 

 Rome, which evidently proves that they were 

 introduced into that country from Italy ; and about 

 the time of Queen Elizabeth we find it called the 

 " Roman Bean." Gerard gives it also the name of 

 " Sperage Bean," and says it is called Faselles, or 

 long peason. He mentions that a considerable 

 variety was cultivated in England in his time, and 

 says, " The fruit and pods of kidney-beans boiled 

 together before they be ripe, and so eaten, are 

 exceeding delicate meat." This medical herbalist 

 adds, " they are gently laxative, and ingender good 

 blood." 



Kidney-beans are amongst the most valuable of 

 culinary vegetables, yielding a large return crop, 

 and continuing in use during the whole summer. 

 The ripe seeds are much used on the Continent iu 

 cooking, under the name of " Haricots," which as 

 dishes are as numerous as curries in Calcutta. It 

 is stated that the Nubians boil the leaves of the 

 kidney-bean, and consider them an excellent dish. 

 Major Denham mentions four kinds of beans raised 

 in Bornou. A paste made of them and fish was the 

 only eatable which this traveller and his companions 

 could find in the towns near the river. 



The seed of the large kidney-bean (Feve haricot) 

 sliced and stewed in milk, is a frequent dish at the 

 farm-houses in Flanders. 



The scarlet-runner (Phaseolus multiflorus) was 

 brought into this country from South America, in 

 1633, and was first cultivated at Lambeth, by 

 Tradescent, but it was merely planted as an ornament 

 to cover walls, and to form arbours, without an idea 

 of cooking the pods for the table. Its flowers were 

 in great favour for nosegays, but its legumes did 

 not come into general use as an edible vegetable 

 until brought into notice by Miller in the eighteenth 

 century. 



Phillips relates that some years ago the French 

 had a prejudice against this plant nearly equal to 

 the superstition of the ancients respecting the bean 

 (Faba), on account of the scarlet or blood-coloured 

 blossom ; but now it is largely cultivated in France, 

 and almost all over the Continent, not only for the 

 green pods, but also for its ripened seeds, which are 

 eaten in haricots or put into soups. 



The scarlet-runner, although in general cultivated 

 as and considered to be an annual, like the kidney- 

 bean, is truly perennial. It also deserves notice 

 that in their spiral habit of growth the tendrils 

 turn to the right, or in a direction contrary to the 

 apparent diurnal course of the sun. This aberration 

 from the common habits of plants has been accounted 

 for by supposing that the native climate of the 

 scarlet-runner will be found to lie south of the 

 equator, and that the plant, although removed to 

 the northern hemisphere, is still obedient to the 

 course originally assigned to it, turning in a direction 



