IJKA.NS. 



finest seed, and ripen more perfect- 

 ly. In autumn, as soon as the plants 

 decay, they must be pulled, and, when 

 thoroughly dried, the seed beaten out 

 and stored. — (G. W. Jok7ison's Kitch- 

 en Garden.) 



The bean, as an esculent vegeta- 

 ble, is wholesome and nutritious in a 

 fresh state, and may be readily pre- 

 served for winter store or sea voy- 

 ages by salting in casks. For this 

 purpose, the large, flat-podded, Dutch 



white runner is preferred. In Hol- 

 land and Germany, where large quan- 

 tities are salted in almost every fam- 

 ily, a machine is used for cutting them 

 expeditiously, which greatly resem- 

 bles a turnip-slicer, and may, with 

 a slight alteration, be used also for 

 slicing cabbages when making the 

 national German preparation of sour 

 krout {sauer kraut). It consists of a 

 wheel or disk (see ^^?ire). A, in which 

 two or four knives are set at a small 



angle with the plane of it, so as to 

 shave off a thin slice obliquely from 

 the beans, which are held in a box, C, 

 with several partitions, in which they 

 are kept upright, so as to slide down 

 in proportion as they are cut : thus 



80 



six or eight beans are sliced at once, 

 and very rapidly, merely by turning 

 the handle, B, and supplying the box 

 with beans in succession. A much 

 more economical means would be to 

 throw the beans into a hopper hold- 



