THE COMMON OR BROAD BEAN 



2 ft. ; leaves gray, with round-oval leaflets ; flowers red on the 



calyx and at the base of the standard, and with well-marked black 



spots on the wings, four to six in a cluster, the first cluster 



appearing in the axil of 



the fifth or sixth leaf; pods 



erect, often three or four 



together, nearly cylindri- 



cal, and not much thicker 



than one's finger. They 



usually contain three or 



four seeds each, which are 



elongated, thickish, and 



not flattened at the sides, 



like those of the preceding 



kinds. The July Bean is 



a hardy kind, and less 



affected by hot, dry weather 



than either the Windsor 



Bean or the Large Common 



Field Bean, and, notwith- 



standing the comparatively 



small size of its seeds, it 



yields almost as heavy a 



crop as either of those 



kinds ; for, although its 



pods are shorter and nar- 



rower than those of the 



large-seeded varieties, they 



are produced in far greater 



numbers, and the seeds 



are, at the same time, very uniformly well grown and well filled. 



Dwarf Fan, or Cluster, Bean. A plant growing 14 to 16 in. 

 high, with a quadrangular stem tinged with brownish-red or copper 

 colour, and rather slender, but stiff and strong leaves, ashy-green, 

 with rather small, oval-elongated, pointed leaflets. Flowers small, 

 four to six in a cluster, with a slightly reddish calyx, and the 

 standard more or less purple at the base. The first flowers come 

 in the axil of about the sixth leaf from the base of the stem. The 

 pods are erect, in twos or threes, each containing frpm two to four 

 square-sided, bulging seeds, of the same colour as those of the Large 

 Common Field Bean. 



Beck's Dwarf Green Gem Bean. A very compact-growing 

 variety, much dwarfer than the preceding kind, being only I ft. or 

 14 in. high. Stem stiff, green, or slightly tinged with red ; leaves 

 very closely set and arranged like a fan on each side of the stem ; 

 leaflets oval, rather pointed, glaucous green; flowers small, with a 



Small July 



