Ctap. 30.] THE BEAJ^-. 



45 



The bean is the first leguminous plant that is sown • that 



being done before the setting of the Yergili^, in order tibat it 



may pass the winter in the ground. Yirgipe recommends that 



It should be sown m spring, according to the usage of the parts 



^ of Italy near the Padus : but most people prefer the bean that 



I has been sown early to that of only three months' growth- 



I for in the former case the pods as well as the stalk afford a 



I mos agreeable fodder for cattle. When in blossom more par- 



!>r«? ^i^ bean requires water; but after the blossom has 



parsed off It stands in need of but very little. It fertilizes^ 



he ground in which it has been sown as^well as any manure ; 



henceit is that m the neighbourhood of Thessaly and Ma- 



-round ' ^' ''''''' ^' '^ ^^°'''' ^"^ blossom, they tm-n up^^ the 



isla^^h^oTfU^'^ ^.T' ;T^^^ H^''* ''^^^^^^^^' ^' ^^ those 

 islands of the I^or hern Ocean, for instance, which for that 



reason have been called by us the -Pabaria)."^^ In Mauritania, 



Iso, It IS found in a wild state in various parts, but so remark^ 



iDly bard that it will never become soft bv boilino- 



In Egypt there is a kind of bean^'' which gTows upon a 



:horny stalk; for which reason the crocodiles avoid it TeL 



, apprehensive of danger to their eyes. This stalk is four 



I -ubits in length, and its thickness, at the very most, that of 



' :he finger : were it not for the absence of articulations in it 



• m^h. f 'Tfl\^ ""^^ '''^ -^^ appearance. The head i^ 

 >im lar to that of the poppy, being of a rose colour : the beans 

 ^nclosed in this head are not above thirty in number- the 

 eaves are large, and the fruit is bitter and odoriferous. ' The 

 •oot, however, is highly esteemed by the natives as a food, 

 vhether eaten raw or well boiled; it bears a strou- resem' 

 >Wtothatof the reed This plant grows also^in Sy"a 

 md Cilicia, and upon the banks of Lake Torone in Chalcidice. 



56 Georg. i. 215. 



57 This notion still prevails, and the bean, while in blossom, is duo- into 

 he ground to manure it, both in England and France '' 



ig.Hng inlhrbear""^' ''""'"' ^'^^ ^^^ "^^ ^^^ ^^^ '^^ -- ^^ 

 "'■> Or Bean Islands. See B. iv. c. 27. 

 «• The Nymph^a nelumbo of Linnaeus is alluded to, but it is no lone-er 



ust. i laut. B. n . c. 1 0, but his translation is not exactly correct. 



