6 The Progress in Vegetable Cultivation 



CLIMBING FRENCH BEANS. 



One of the most notable achievements in Vegetables during Her Majesty's reign 

 has been the creation of an entirely new race of French or Kidney Beans, with a 

 climbing habit of growth. There are several distinct types before the public, 

 differing in the size and colour of the seed, shape and size of pod, and in earliness 

 also. Amongst these arc our Tender and True and Veitch's Climbing, both attaining 

 a height of 4 to 7 feet, according to cultivation. A more recent introduction is 

 our Excelsior a Bean combining the delicacy and tenderness of the Canadian 

 Wonder with the vigorous growth of the Scarlet Runner. 



RUNNER BEANS 



were represented sixty years ago by the oi^d Scarlet, the Painted Lady, and the 

 Large White, and although one or two Runner Beans of recent introduction are 

 the result of artificial crossing, the majority of the improved types have been 

 obtained by selection. Even in some of these cases it is quite reasonable to suggest 

 that they are natural crosses resulting from inoculation . Scarlet Runners producing 

 pods 13 inches in length would have caused almost as much interest amongst the 

 gardening fraternity of 1837 as did the advent of the first motor-car in the streets of 

 London. That greater length will yet be attained I have no doubt, and with it an 

 improvement in quality on some of the existing large-podded kinds. 



The homely Scarlet Runner, which Tradescant cultivated in his garden at Lambeth 

 in the seventeenth century for the sake of its flowers, can now, in its improved form, 

 boast of an almost unlimited number of attractive names, each chosen to indicate 

 a type of greater size or length than any previously quoted. 



ASPARAGUS, &c. 



Until quite recently English gardeners and their employers appeared to be 

 satisfied with the kinds grown when the Queen came to the throne, such as Giant 

 and Battersea ; but the facilities for reaching the Continent have resulted in the 

 desire to cultivate the sorts which produce the massive sticks so well grown in 

 France. The most popular French strain is the best selection of Argenteuil, and 

 when the English cook has learned to imitate more closely the methods of the 

 French chef -we shall doubtless find as delicate and delicious Asparagus in London 

 restaurants as in those of Parid. 



In like manner has the increased taste for Globe Artichokes been formed a 

 delicacy which was seldom grown fifty or sixty years ago. 



The increased use also of Sugar Peas, Waxpod or Butter Beans, Celeriac, Chicory, 

 Endive, Cardoons, Egg Plants, Silver or Sea Kale Beet, and other kindred subjects, 

 may be traced to the same cause. 



We do not appreciate all the ways of railway companies, but they have 

 undoubtedly been the means of introducing us to some of the more delicate and 

 delicious Vegetables of the Continent. 



