P H A 



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their produce is fit to gather ; except to the 

 earliest crops on warm sunny borders, in very 

 drv hot weather, when it may be beneficial to 

 give occasional waterings to the plants in the 

 mornings or evenings, especially when in blos- 

 som, and fruiting. 



In gathering the produce of these sorts of 

 beans, it shoiild always be performed when the 

 pods are quite young, or at least before they be- 

 come large, and the beans in them attain any 

 considerable size, as they are then tough, 

 stringv, and rank tasted ; and in order to con- 

 tinue the plants in bearing as long as possible, 

 the gatherings should be regularly repeated two 

 or three times a week ; for by gathering the 

 pods often and clean, as they become fit, the 

 plants blossom more abundantlv, and continue 

 fruiting more plentifully and for a much longer 

 period. 



Large quantities of these dwarf kinds are 

 often cultivated in the gardens and fields in the 

 neighbourhood of large towns, for supplying the 

 markets during the latter part of the summer 

 season. 



Culture of early Crops ly artificial Heat. — 

 In order to have these sorts of beans as early as 

 possible, recourse is had to raising them by the 

 aid of heat, in two or three different methods, 

 as by raising the plants in a hot-bed, an inch or 

 two high, and then planting them out into a 

 warm border, by raising and continuing the 

 plants in a hot-bed so as to bear their crops, 

 and by aid of a hot-house. 



In the first of these methods, they may be 

 forwarded a fortnight earlier than those sown en- 

 tirely in the full-ground; for this puipose, to- 

 wards the latter end of March, or early in the 

 following month, a moderate hot-bed should 

 be prepared a foot and a half or two feet in 

 depth of dung, covered either with a frame or 

 hand glasses, or arched over with hoops or rods, 

 to be covered with mats ; earthing the bed with 

 fine, light, rich mould, six inches deep; then 

 having some seed of the early sorts, it should be 

 sown pretty close either all over the surface, an 

 inch or two apart, covering them with earth 

 about half an inch deep, or in small close drills, 

 earthing them over the same depth ; or where 

 only a few are wanted, they may be sown in 

 large pots at about an inch distance and half a 

 one deep, and the pots plunged into a hot-bed, 

 or placed in a hot-house ; and when the plants 

 come up, the pots be removed by degrees into 

 the full air in warm days, to harden the plants 

 for transplantation : and it is a good method to 

 plant a quantity of beans in small pots (thirty- 

 twos or forty-eights), three in each pot, plun- 

 ging the pots in a hot-bed, and when the plants 



arc fit for being transplanted out, they can be 

 readily turned out of the pots with the whole ball 

 of earth about their roots, so as not to feel their 

 removal. But in raising the plants in either of 

 these methods with this view, attention is par- 

 ticularly necessary to inure them gradually to 

 the full air, by takingoffthe covers of theglasses 

 or mats in all mild weather from those in hot- 

 beds, and only covering them in cold nights ; 

 or the pots in the hoc-house should-Afc placed 

 abroad in fine days ; but as they advance in 

 growth, and the weather becomes warmer, they 

 must be exposed by degrees to the full air, day 

 and night, to harden them properly, previously 

 to their being finally transplanted out. They 

 should also be allowed frequent moderate re- 

 freshments of water. 



When they have shot out their proper leaves 

 an inch or two broad, and all danger of frosty 

 mornings and other bad weather is apparently 

 over, proceed to plant them out into a warm 

 border, under a wall or other fence, takinc 

 them up with their roots as entire as possible, 

 and with as much earth as will hang about them, 

 or with a small ball of earth ; and . those raised 

 in small pots by threes may also be easily turned 

 out with the whole ball of earth entire : and as 

 to the mode of planting them, those which can- 

 not readily be taken up with balls may be 

 planted by dibble, in a row along close under a 

 south wall, or some in cross rows two feet 

 asunder, forming shallow drills for their recep- 

 tion, in which the plants should be set three or 

 four inches apart; but those with good balls 

 about their roots should be holed in with a 

 trowel ; and if some of those for a small early 

 production are also disposed in patches, three 

 plants in each, so as to be covered occasionally 

 in cold nights with hand-glasses, it will be 

 found very beneficial in forwarding their growth. 

 As soon as they are planted, in either method, 

 a moderate watering should be given to settle 

 the earth close about the roots, and repeated in 

 dry weather as thtVe may be occasion, till the 

 plants have taken fresh root in their new situa- 

 tions. 



After this they should be kept clean from 

 weeds ; and when they are a little advanced in 

 growth, some earth drawn lightly up about their 

 stems; and as the warm season advances, if it 

 prove hot and dry, refreshments of water will 

 greatly forward and strengthen the growth of 

 the plants and fonvard their perfection. 



In the second method — about the beginning or 

 towards the middle of February a dung houbed 

 should be made, cither a small one in which to- 

 sow the beans thick for being transplanted, when 

 the plants are about an inch high, into a larger 



