132 THE VEGETABLE CULTIVATOR. 



of another season, a sufficiency to supply his cus- 

 tomers ; at present they are scarce. 



The seeds are rather small, flat, and quite of the 

 kidney shape ; the plants are good bearers, pro- 

 ducing their pulse nearly a foot long, in branches 

 of four to every joint, and almost from the ground 

 to upwards of twenty feet, till the frost checks them. 



In respect to cooking, a very small portion of the 

 sides requires to be peeled off; two cuts, one down 

 the middle, and another to divide it into four parts, 

 will be found quite sufficient, and much superior to 

 the modern method of mincing the beans before 

 boiling, which renders them more watery and 

 tasteless. 



There are two other running kidney beans, the 

 Zebra, so called from the seed being curiously 

 striped, and the Painted Lady ; both of which may 

 occasionally be planted for variety and succession. 

 They are good bearers, and the pods are delicate 

 and well tasted. 



CULTURE OF THE DWARF VARIETIES. 



The soil for kidney beans in general, but more 

 particularly for early crops, should be rich, light, 

 and dry, and must have been manured for a crop or 

 two before (fresh dunged ground being a poison to 

 the seed), and also worked up to the depth of a 

 foot or eighteen inches. The ground being well 

 wrought and levelled, drills may be drawn two 

 inches deep, and, if for a principal crop, at two feet 

 or two feet and a half distance, according to the 

 size of the seed. The best season for planting the 

 beans is the first or second week in May. They 



