BEANS. 



uary. Sowings, wlien a removal is 

 intended, should always be perform- 

 ed ill pots, the plants being less re- 

 tarded, as the roots are less injured, 

 than when the seed is inserted in 

 patches or rows in the earth of the 

 bed. It is a good practice, likewise, 

 to repeat each sowing, in the frames 

 Without heat, after the lapse of a week, 

 as the lirst will often fail, when a sec- 

 ond, although after so short a lapse 

 of tiino, will perfectly succeed. In 

 every instance, the seed is buried one 

 and a half or two inches deep. The 

 rows of the main crops, if of the 

 smaller varieties, may be one and a 

 half; if of the larger, two feet apart, 

 the seed being inserted, either in 

 drills or by the dibble, four inches 

 apart ; the plants, however, to be 

 thinned to twice that distance. 



If anj' considerable vacancy occurs, 

 it may always be filled i)y plants care- 

 fully removed by the trowel from 

 where they stood too thick. A gen- 

 eral remark, however, may be made, 

 that the transplanted beans are nev- 

 er so productive or continue so long 

 in bearing (although sometimes they 

 are earlier) as those left where rais- 

 ed. The rows of the earlier crops 

 ire best ranged north and south. The 

 sted inserted during the hottest pe- 

 riod of summer should be either 

 pi) iked in water for five or six hours, 

 la.l in damp mould for a day or two, 

 or the drills be well watered previous 

 to sowing. The only after-cultiva- 

 tion required is the destruction of 

 weeds, and earth to be drawn up 

 round the stems. 



The pods of both species are al- 

 ways to be gathered while young ; 

 by thus doing, and care being had not 

 to injure the stems in detaching them, 

 the plants are rendered as prolific and 

 iong-lived as possible. 



Runners. — As these are more ten- 

 der, and the seed is more apt to de- 

 cay than those of the dwarfs, no 

 open ground crop must be inserted 

 before the close of April, or early in 

 May, to be continued at intervals of 

 four weeks through June and July, 

 which will ensure a supply from the 

 middle of this last month until Octo- 

 G2 



ber. Some gardeners force them in 

 a similar manner to the dwarfs ; they 

 certainly require similar treatment ; 

 but they will endure a higher temper- 

 ature by a few degrees. They are so 

 prolific, and such permanent bearers, 

 that three open-ground sowings of a 

 size proportionate to the consump- 

 tion will, in almost every instance, be 

 sufficient. . 



The runners are inserted in drills, 

 either singly, three feet apart, or in 

 pairs, ten or twelve inches asunder, 

 and each pair four feet distant from 

 its neighbour. The seed is buried 

 two inches deep and four inches apart 

 in the rows, the plants being thinned 

 to twice that distance. If grown in 

 single rows, a row of poles must be 

 set on the south side of each, being 

 fixed firmly in the ground ; they may 

 be kept together by having a light 

 pole tied horizontally along their tops, 

 or a post fixed at each end of a row, 

 united by a cross-bar at their tops ; a 

 string may be passed from this to 

 each of the plants. If the rows are 

 in pairs, a row of poles must be placed 

 on each side, so fixed in the ground 

 that their summits cross, and are tied 

 together. They are sometimes sown 

 in a single row down the sides of bor- 

 ders, or on each side of a walk, hav- 

 ing the support of a trellis-work, or 

 made to climb poles which are turn- 

 ed archwise over it. 



As the plants advance to five or 

 six inches in height, they should have 

 the earth drawn about their stems. 

 Weeds must be constantly cleared 

 away as they appear. When they 

 throw up their voluble stems, those 

 that straggle away should be brought 

 back to the poles, and twisted round 

 them in a direction contrary to that 

 of the sun : nothing will induce them 

 to entwine in the contrary direction, 

 or from left to right. 



For the production of seed, forty or 

 fifty plants of the dwarf species will 

 be sufficient for a moderate-sized fam- 

 ily, or thirty of the runner. They 

 must be raised purposely in May. or 

 a like number from the crop in that 

 month may be left ungathered from ; 

 for the first pods always produce the 



79 



