THE KITCHEN-GARDEN. 



from the first week of March to the end of May. 

 It is also customary to lay down plants in Sep- 

 tember, with the heads turned from the sun, 

 applying earth on the south side over the stems, 

 to protect them from snow and frost. 



The Leguminous or Pea and Bean Tribe. 



Of the Pea there are various sorts, but it is only 

 those of a fine kind which are cultivated in gardens, 

 and called garden-peas, that we require to notice 

 here. When fresh, they are a bright green, and 

 when dry for seed, most are a buff yellow, others 

 of a bluish-green hue. Peas are a summer deli- 

 cacy, and the chief art is to produce them in the 

 open air, by the middle of May, and to keep up a 

 succession of crops till the weather becomes too 

 cold for them in autumn. Skilful gardeners do 

 not consider it a difficult process to effect an early 

 crop, as the plants are very hardy, and sustain 

 violent transitions without much danger. Peas, 

 therefore, may be accelerated in frames and 

 vineries during February, and transplanted into 

 rows fronting a south wall, where they will con- 

 tinue to advance steadily though the weather 

 be cold. They can also be sown provided there 

 be no frost in the open ground at any time 

 throughout the winter. There are many varieties 

 of this vegetable, but we shall notice only those 

 that have proved themselves worthy of general 

 culture. Beck's Gem, Easte's Kentish Invicta, 

 Essex Rival, Laxton's Alpha, Laxton's Supreme, 

 M'Lean's Little Gem, Sutton's Ringleader, Mul- 

 tum in Parvo, Nuttings No. i, and Prince Albert, 

 are adapted for very early crops ; but some of the 

 following later kinds ought to be chosen for a 

 full crop : Imperial, Knight's Marrowfats, Fair- 

 beard's Surprise and Champion of England, 

 Advancer, Laxton's Quality, Princess Royal, 

 British Queen, Burbridge's Eclipse, Harrison's 

 Perfection, M'Lean's Premier, Prince of Wales, 

 Queen of the Marrows, Veitch's Perfection, 

 Williams' Emperor of the Marrows, Wonder of 

 the World, &c. In the two varieties of sugar-pea 

 the tall and dwarf the pod is destitute of the 

 cartilaginous transparent lining usually seen in the 

 pods of peas ; this enables the pods to be used in 

 the same way as those of kidney-beans. 



The soil in which peas most luxuriate is a free, 

 light, but rich loam, abounding with vegetable 

 matter, but not manured with recent dung. The 

 situation for crops from June to August should be 

 exposed and open. Some obtain an excellent yield 

 from seed sown early in November, in a sheltered 

 situation ; and if the winter be open, success is 

 nearly certain. At whatever season sowing is com- 

 menced, a better general rule cannot be adopted 

 than to sow for a successional crop as soon as the 

 peas of the preceding sowing are fairly above the 

 surface. The plants, when three inches high, 

 should have earth drawn against their stems on 

 both sides ; after which, the soil may be super- 

 ficially opened by passing the hoe lightly through 

 it, and thin branchy sticks, or other supporters, of 

 a height suitable to the habit of the variety, ought 

 to be thrust into the ground, converging a little so 

 as to meet at top, and interlace each other. Shal- 

 low soils over chalk are soon over-cropped by peas, 

 and refuse to bring a healthy plant ; and in all 

 kinds of ground, the frequent repetition of pen- 

 sowing is to be deprecated. 



In country gardens, the field-mouse is a great 

 enemy to peas, and where these are sown in winter 

 or early spring, when food is scarce, the seed is 

 sure to become a sacrifice to its ravages. Many 

 methods have been recommended to obviate this 

 mischief ; but the most effectual plan is to coat the 

 peas with red-lead, then to make a pretty deep 

 furrow, and after depositing the seed-peas in it, to 

 cover them with small bits of chopped furze, after 

 which the whole is covered in with earth in the 

 usual manner. 



Kidney-beans. These are planted in rows, and 

 the seeds are generally sown at different periods 

 between the ist of May and the middle of July. 

 The situation should be open, not crowded by 

 other vegetable crops, or under trees the soil, a 

 free working loam, moderately manured. The 

 drills should not be nearer to each other than 

 thirty inches, and not more than two inches deep. 

 In these the beans are to be dropped at regular 

 distances, not exceeding three or four inches. 

 Make the ground firm at bottom, but let the cover- 

 ing earth be light, and only slightly raked, not 

 trodden or made hard. The one leading principle 

 of successful growth, is to bring the plants up as 

 soon as possible, and this is effected by selecting 

 warm weather and well-prepared open soil. A 

 cold, wet, cloddy condition of the land causes 

 decay. 



The kidney-bean comprises two species of 

 plants, which, though of one family, are of very 

 different habits. Both, however, are natives of the 

 East, and are very impatient of cold ; hence the 

 necessity of deferring the sowings till the weather 

 be nearly settled in the spring, and the ground 

 warmed to the depth of several inches. The two 

 species are, first, the dwarf, with its numerous 

 varieties, all bearing the title of French-beans 

 being forms of the Phasaolus -uulgaris of botanists 

 and, secondly, the runners, which are varieties of 

 the Phasceolus multiflorus. There are few of the 

 many varieties of the dwarf which surpass the 

 buffer dun-coloured in its freedom of growth and 

 fertility, either when forced in pots or planted in 

 the open ground. The black speckled, negro, and 

 American prolific are also excellent bearers ; the 

 white is the true haricot of the French. 



Runner Kidney-beans are planted with similar 

 precautions, or if sown early in pots and boxes, 

 will transplant very well When the plants attain 

 the height of three or four inches, they should have 

 a little earth drawn about the stem, and be staked ; 

 that is, somewhat tall branchy sticks should be 

 placed on each side, converging towards each 

 other at the top : these props ought to be eight 

 feet high ; and when the plants reach their sum- 

 mits, they should be nipped off and kept stopped, 

 to cause them to produce fruit-bearing laterals. 

 ' Gather beans, and have beans ;' that is, never 

 leave any pods to ripen ; if redundant, let them be 

 given away, or go to the pigsty, for a maturing pod 

 arrests the fertility of the plant by tasking all its 

 powers. Keep the crop clean, and the surface of 

 the ground rather open. The kinds are : Scarlet 

 Runner, Painted Lady, Carter's Champion, and 

 White Dutch. 



The Garden-bean is known to every one. Though 

 a native of Egypt, it is, in all its cultivated varieties, 

 very hardy. These varieties are numerous : some 

 of the more approved are the Early Mazagan for 

 the first crops, which may be sown from October 



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