VEGETABLES. 153 



bean, excellent as a string bean, but better known in tlie Middle 

 States than in the Nortli. 



The past season has been remarkably favorable for the ma- 

 turing of the large Lima, ■which with its fellow, the small Lima 

 or Sieva, and known in some sections as Frost bean, is the bean 

 for cooking ; shelled in a green state. Li ordinary seasons the 

 Sieva can be successfully raised in warm locations as far north 

 as latitude 43 or 44. 



These and all beans that are somewhat tender in their habits 

 take better to strings than to poles, and where poles are used 

 let them be of as small diameter as can be consistent with the 

 necessary strength. Of the early pole varieties, among the most 

 desirable we have the London Horticultural, the Concord, one 

 or two varieties of the pole Cranberry, and the Mottled Cran- 

 berry, which surpasses the common sorts in productiveness. 



The climate of England does not supply the intense heat 

 necessary for the development of our beans, hence they are 

 hardly known to English housewives. The beans of England 

 differ remarkably from ours, are very much alike, differing 

 mostly in size of the bean and the color of blossom. They 

 make a tall, stiff, straight stalk, with few or no laterals. While 

 our beans are very sensitive to cold and crave the warmest 

 locations, those of our English cousins will stand slight frosts 

 with impunity and thrive in the coldest locations. For this 

 reason they rarely do well in this country, and if they are 

 planted it should be as soon as the frost is out of the ground, 

 and in a cool location. In England the bean is raised by the 

 acre to feed to stock, whence comes the name " Horse bean " 

 for one of the varieties, and when fully grown, with their thick 

 skin and rank flavor, they are no delicacy ; but I have eaten 

 them gathered when young, before the large eye is at all prom- 

 inent, when they were as delicate and rich as the finest Lima. 



Our English cousins know nothing of that delicious delicacy 

 which is found on every table when corn is in the milk. One 

 of their number who chanced to be travelling in this country 

 during the season of green corn^ returned to his countrymen 

 in raptures over the new found dish, and, planning a surprise 

 for his epicurean friends, he ordered sundry dozen of green 

 ears from America by steamer. On their arrival they were set 

 before his friends at a great banquet as the dish of the occasion. 



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