CHAP. I. CULINARY VEGETABLES. 151 



two principal varieties : the Long Pod and the Broad Windsor. 

 The latter takes a longer time to mature, is of higher flavour, 

 and for that reason better suited for this country. 



Sowings should be made about the middle of October. The 

 seed should first be immersed in a basin of water as hot as the 

 hand can bear, and be allowed to steep twelve hours or more. 

 Unless this mode of softening their rinds be adopted they will 

 remain a long time in the ground before germinating, or if 

 the ground be dry will fail of germinating altogether. 



The seeds are to be put in the ground two inches deep, in 

 rows of double drills four inches apart, with a space of two feet 

 between each row of double drills. When the plants come into 

 full blossom, about an inch should be nipped off from the top 

 of each. This will prevent the formation of more blossoms, and 

 cause those already opened to form pods. 



A good plan, and one that saves trouble in the end, is to 

 place the seeds, after they have been steeped, in a gumlah of 

 moist earth, and when they sprout sow them in the ground 

 where they are to remain. It will then be certain that none but 

 sound seeds are sown, and there will be no risk of great gaps 

 occurring in the drills, and of much ground being thus wasted. 



Or a better plan still, perhaps, is this : Sow the steeped 

 seed in large seed- pans filled with soil of a loose texture, about 

 an inch apart. When the young plants are about two inches 

 high, and have become seasoned by exposure to the sun for 

 a day or two, transfer them to their places in the open ground. 

 Close the earth up rather high about the stems. Abercrombie 

 says the fruiting is accelerated nearly a week by transplanting. 

 In Bengal I have found the Broad Bean very shy of fruiting ; 

 possibly transplanting may conduce to render it more prolific. 



Phaseolus multiflorus. 



SCAKLET KUNNEB. 



This is an extensive climber, and bears very large seeds, when 

 ripe of a mottled dark-purple character. It is a perennial, and 

 is said to be a native of India ; but it will not survive through 

 the hot months, and therefore must be raised from seed each 

 season afresh. With the cultivation of it as a vegetable I have 

 never had much success, the produce always proving very scanty 

 and unsatisfactory. 



