156 BEANS. 



or fourth year you begin to eat ; but then only 

 the stronger plants may be cut ; and care must 

 always be taken to leave beneath the incision a bud 

 for the succeeding growth. A square pole of ground 

 is the least that can be depended on to furnish a 

 dish at each cutting. If your garden be near the 

 sea, and consist much of sand, you have a twofold 

 advantage for the rearing of this favourite vegeta- 

 ble the soil is the most suitable, and seaweed is 

 the best manure. 



Beans. Of the many varieties of this garden 

 pulse choose at least two the white-blossom, hav- 

 ing the remarkable property, though black in itself, 

 of not tinging the broth in which it is boiled, as 

 the white varieties do, and the Windsor, or other 

 large sort, which from its size renders the operation 

 of blanching less troublesome. For an early pro- 

 duction, sow a part of each sort about the middle 

 of February, if the ground be tolerably dry; if 

 otherwise, as the seed is apt to decay with too 

 much wet, the sowing must be delayed. A later 

 crop may be sown in April. This pulse has no oc- 

 casion for manure provided it succeed a crop which 

 had a sufficient allowance the year before. As the 

 early sown beans vegetate slowly, the mice are apt 

 to find them out, and may probably finish them be- 

 fore their growth is well begun. It is necessary, 

 therefore, to adopt one of the following precautions : 

 steep the seed in train oil for a few hours ; or wet 

 it with water and then dust it over with a farthing's 

 worth of pounded rosin ; or sprinkle the sown drill 



