THE BEAN AND THE KIDNEY-BEAN. 635 



orts in rows two feet and a half to three feet apart ; or, which will insure 

 a larger crop, in rows eight feet or ten feet apart, with dwarf-growing crops 

 between, as recommended for the pea (1387). The seeds may be deposited- 

 in drills an inch and a half or two inches deep, and covered and pressed 

 down like the pea. Very early crops may be brought forward under cover, 

 or by other means used in obtaining an early crop of peas. The bean 

 transplants remarkably well, and many gardeners adopt this mode with 

 their earliest crops. 



1393. In cottage gardens, not only in Britain but in the North of Europe 

 generally, it is customary to plant beans in the same rows with cabbages, 

 and also with potatoes ; a bean being planted alternately with every potato 

 set, or cabbage plant. The rows of potatoes or cabbages are two feet and a 

 half or three feet apart, according as they may be of small or large sorts ; 

 the distances in the rows are eighteen inches, and between each two plants a 

 bean (the longpod is the best variety for this purpose) is deposited. If the 

 beans are transplanted they get the start of the potatoes or cabbages, and as 

 they come in early they will be gathered before they can do any injury to 

 the cabbage or potato crops. 



1394. All the routine culture required for a crop of beans is, destroying 

 weeds, slightly earthing up the stems, stirring the soil, watering in very dry 

 weather, and stopping the plants when the first opened blossoms are begin- 

 ning to set. Stopping in the case of an early crop may take place as with 

 the pea, at the joint above the first blossom as soon as it appears ; but this 

 is only when a very early crop is more desirable than an abundant one. A 

 very late crop of beans may be obtained by cutting over a summer crop, a 

 few inches above the ground, as soon as the plants have come into flower. 

 New stems will spring from the stools in abundance, and continue bearing 

 till they are destroyed by frost. Beans for the table should be gathered 

 before they arrive at maturity, which is known by their being black-eyed, 

 that is black at the hilum or point of attachment to the pod. When this 

 has taken place, beans are tough and strong tasted, and much inferior for 

 eating as a dish ; though they are excellent in the soups of the cottager. 

 The bean is sometimes attacked by the black aphis, which may be kept 

 under by abundant syringing with lime-water. Seed of any variety may 

 be saved by allowing a sufficient number of plants to bring their pods to 

 maturity ; it will keep a year, and sometimes two years. 



The bean is rarely or never forced, not being held in sufficient estimation 

 for this purpose by the wealthy classes of society. 



SUBSECT. III. The Kidney-bean. 



1395. The Kidney-bean, Phascolus L. (Haricot, Fr.\ includes two spe- 

 cies; the common dwarf kidney-bean, syn. French bean, P. vulgaris L. 

 an annual, growing twelve or eighteen inches high, a native of India ; and 

 the runner, syn. climbing kidney-bean, P. multiflbrus W., a twining annual, 

 attaining the height of ten or twelve feet, a native of South America. 

 Though both sorts are too tender to endure our springs and autumns in the open 

 air, yet so rapid is their growth during our summers, that they produce 

 abundant crops of green pods in the open garden, from June to October, and, 

 by forcing, these can be obtained all the year. The unripe pods both of the 

 dwarf and twining kidney-beans, form the most delicate legume in cultiva- 

 tion; having no tendency to flatulency like the pea and bean, and producing 



