THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 133 



ground. The weakest-growing sorts of kidney beans known will 

 cover a square foot each plant, and therefore we may properly allow 

 for the weakest a space of two feet between the rows, and of one 

 foot between the plants. It is quite a common practice to leave 

 the strong-growing sorts four to six inches apart, so we have a fair 

 case for grumbling, even at the first start. The distances are to be 

 determined by a consideration of the habit of the variety and the 

 strength of the soil. On our fat loam, in a moist valley, we find 

 that the Long-podded Negro dwarf bean may be in rows three feet 

 apart, and the plants two feet asunder in the row, and then we can 

 scarcely get amongst them to gather, so completely do they cover 

 the ground. As for runners, we always leave them a foot apart at 

 least, and might leave them double that distance with the certainty 

 of a good plant, and have the stakes heavily garlanded soon after Mid- 

 summer-day. It is well to sow in deep drills, even if they are a 

 day or two longer in coming up than they would be if sown shallow. 

 Cover the seed three inches at least, and be patient. Tour neigh- 

 bour, who covers with a mere dusting of soil, will have plants 

 before you do, but in a run of years the deep-sowing system will 

 win, for we do not merely need to see the plant sprout, we also 

 desire to see it grow on without a check, and flower and fruit freely. 

 The best day in all the year for sowing kidney beans is May- 

 day. Where an early supply is wanted, it is customary to sow in 

 pots and boxes in March and April, and keep them in pits and 

 frames until the plants can be put out. It is by no means wise so 

 to act, and, as a rule, the man who sows in the open on the 1st of 

 May will have the advantage of one who takes a lot of trouble to 

 gain a week or so in the first gathering of fruit. The earliest sorts 

 of dwarf beans may be sown in open borders about the middle of 

 April with a fair prospect of success, especially if the rows can be 

 protected by means of such a contrivance as Looker's Acme Frame, 

 or by bell-glasses or flower-pots in the event of cold weather occur- 

 ring after the plants have begun to push through the ground. The 

 crop may certainly be hastened by the adoption of simple measures 

 of protecting or coaxing, and, indeed, early supplies of dwarf beans 

 may be obtained most easily by sowing at the end of March, in 

 frames, and giving air cautiously on fine days, more and more freely, 

 until in the end the lights are removed altogether. But our anxiety 

 has always been, not to obtain early, but late crops of kidney beans ; 

 and for this simple reason, that when they first come in, vegetables 

 are plentiful, but, as they are going out, vegetables become scarce. 

 Thus, in the earliest days of French beans and runners, there are at 

 command cauliflowers, peas, spinach, broad beans, and new potatoes. 

 .Rapidly these drop out of the list, and, as the season advances, 

 kidney beans and marrows are almost the only vegetables of a delicate 

 kind available. For just this reason we do not usually sow until 

 the 1st of June, and we never miss sowing two or three sorts — the 

 common scarlet-runner being always one — about the 15th or 20th 

 of June. In southern counties, and especially on light soils, sow- 

 ings may be made as late as the first week in July, but on our cold 

 soil that is too late, for just as the plants should be in full bearing, 



