70 THE BOOK OF VEGETABLES 



anything else, and daily or every other day gatherings 

 will keep the plants healthy. In this country we allow 

 many of our vegetables to get much too old before they 

 are gathered. On the Continent the Dwarf or French 

 Bean, as it is called, is used in a small state, often whole, 

 with the result that the pods are greener and more 

 tender, and have a beautiful flavour. Doubtless the 

 Editor will touch upon the value of pods cooked thus in 

 preference to our dry, sliced older beans with the seeds 

 half-ripened and the pods stringy. This'also applies to 

 the Runner, and indeed to many vegetables. There are 

 some delicious butter beans in the Dwarf section, which 

 are well worth growing and cooking whole. The Golden 

 Beans are noted for their good flavour. Another type 

 is the small Haricot Bean, a very good vegetable when 

 cooked whole. 



RUNNER BEANS 



Owing to the introduction of the Climbing French 

 Bean there are two distinct runners. I will take the new 

 ones first. These are mostly about six feet high, and 

 the pods more like those of the dwarf than of a runner, 

 except that they are all large, long, and slender. These 

 new kinds are a great gain, as they continue in bearing a 

 longer time than the dwarf, and the quality is excellent. 

 The culture is the same, except that the plants 

 should have at least six feet between the rows. More 

 room is better ; indeed, the best way to grow runner 

 beans of any kind is to give a much wider space, and 

 to plant between the rows with low-growing vegetable 

 crops. The new runners have this in their favour, that they 

 can be sown sooner than the larger fleshy scarlet runner. 

 This is a gain, and they also turn in a fortnight or three 

 weeks before the older variety. Another point is, that 

 they are more marketable, and are better shaped, and the 



