260 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. 



plenty of water, with a little salt ; and, if a few 

 stalks of mint are added, the flavour is improved. 

 They are served up with melted butter. For table 

 use they must be gathered young. 



The Phaseolus includes the Kidney Dwarf (our 

 common bush-bean), and the Pole or Running bean, 

 well known to our gardeners. The Dwarf bean is a 

 native of the East ; the Runners originated in South 

 America. There are some fifteen or twenty varie- 

 ties of the Dwarf or Snaps in cultivation ; of these, 

 the early Six-weeks, early China Dwarf, white Kid- 

 ney, red Cranberry, and Refugee or Thousand-to- 

 One, are the best. No variety of the Phaseolus, ei- 

 ther dwarf or pole, must be planted until all danger 

 from frost is over, as, being natives of warm cli- 

 mates, cold is destructive to them ; and they should 

 not be hazarded in the open ground till the proper 

 temperature is gained. " It should be recollected," 

 says Mr. Bridgeman, in his excellent treatise, " that 

 these beans are next to melons and cucumbers for 

 tenderness, and will always grow quicker and yield 

 better if the planting is delayed until settled warm 

 weather." 



Of tlie Pole or Running varieties, some ten or 

 twelve kinds are cultivated ; and of these the red 

 and white Cranberry, the Caseknife, the London 

 Horticultural, and the Princess or Dutch Caseknife, 

 are the best ; but, of all beans, the Lima, Phaseolus 

 Limensis, is perhaps the best. 



The cultivation of the bean is very simple. A. 

 good soil is required, but all new or unfermented 

 manures should be avoided, as causing more vines 

 than pods. Bush-beans may be planted in rows, two 

 and a half or three feet apart, and about three inch- 

 es distant in the rows ; while pole-beans should be 

 planted in hills, four feet apart each way, with not 

 more than four stalks in a hill. Nearly all these 

 varieties of beans are productive, and some of them 

 continue in bearing until cold weather. The dwarfs 



