BEA 



[ 120] 



BEA 



time in the natural soil for the early 

 crops, or ground could not be spared or 

 made ready, then sow for transplant- 

 ing, either in small pots, turf-sods, on 

 gentle hotbed, and of such extent as can 

 be covered with a frame. If frames and 

 hand-glasses are deficient, matting or 

 litter, kept from injuring the plants by 

 means of hooping, &c., are sometimes 

 employed. Care must be taken that the 

 beans are not weakened by a deficiency 

 of air and light ; to guard against it the 

 lights should be taken entirely oif every 

 day that excessive wet or cold does not 

 forbid their removal. The usual time for 

 removing them into the open ground, in 

 a south border, is February, in mild and 

 open weather. 



Sowing to remain. When sown to 

 remain the seed may be inserted in 

 double rows, in drills, drawn by the 

 hoe, from two and a-half to three feet 

 apart, from double row to double row, 

 the double rows four inches apart, and 

 two deep. Previous to sowing, in sum- 

 mer, if dry weather, the seed should 

 be soaked for two or three hours in water, 

 cr if sown in drills, these should be well 

 watered immediately before the insertion. 



When advanced to a height of two 

 inches, hoeing between the stems of the 

 plants may commence. This should be 

 often repeated. As soon as the various 

 crops come into full blossom, two or three 

 inches length of each stem is broken oif ; 

 this, by preventing its increase in height, 

 causes more sap to be aiforded to the 

 blossom, consequently causing it to ad- 

 vance with more rapidity, and to set 

 more abundantly. 



For seed. No two varieties should be 

 grown near to each other ; and in order 

 to preserve the early ones as uncontami- 

 nated as possible, those plants only which 

 blossom and produce their pods the first 

 should be preserved. None of the pods 

 ought to be gathered for the table from 

 them ; the after production of seed is 

 never so fine, and the plants raised from 

 it are always deficient in vigour. They 

 are fit for harvesting when the leaves 

 have become blackish, which occurs at 

 the end of August, or early in September. 

 The pods may be gathered from the stems 

 when ripe enough, ;and spread out thin 

 upon a dry airy boarded floor to dry. 



Those only should be preserved that are 

 fine and perfect. They are best stored 

 in the pods until required. Seed beans 

 will sometimes vegetate after being kept 

 for eight or ten years, but are seldom 

 good for anything when more than two 

 years old. 



Insects. See APHIS FAB^E. 



BEATO'NIA. (Named by Dr. Herbert, 

 after D. Beaton, a Scotch gardener ; one 

 of the contributors to the Cottage Gar- 

 dener, and to this Dictionary. Nat. ord., 

 Irids [Iridaceae]. Linn., 16-Monadelphia, 

 \-Triandria. Allied to Tigridia). Green- 

 house perennial bulbs. Offsets and seeds ; 

 the latter to be sown in a slight hotbed 

 in March ; light rich soil. To be taken 

 up before frost, or covered up where they 

 have grown, so as to preserve them both 

 from frost and wet. 



B. atra'ta (dark-flowered). 2. Dark purple. 

 August. Mexico. 1843. 



curvctta (curved-stalked). Purple. April. 



Del Monte. 1843. 



purpu'rea (purple-flowered). Purple. April. 

 Brazil. 1841. 



BEAUPO'RTIA. (Named after Mary 

 Duchess of Beaufort. Nat. ord., Myrtle- 

 blooms [Myrtaceae]. Linn., IS-Polyadel- 

 phia, 2-Polyandria) . Greenhouse ever- 

 green shrubs. Cuttings of half-ripened 

 shoots, under a glass in sand, without 

 heat ; loam and peat. Summer temp., 

 50 to 65 ; winter, 38 to 48. 

 B. carina'ta (keel-leaved). 3. Scarlet. New 



Holland. 1823. 

 Dampie'ri (Dampier's). 2. Pink. May. 



Hal-tog's Island. 



decussa'ta (decussated). 3. Scarlet. May. 



New Holland. 1803. 



macrostr'mon (long-stamened). Purple. 



July. Australia. 1843. 



purpu'rea (purple- flowered). Purple. July. 

 Australia. 1841. 



spa'rsa (scattered-leaved). 3. Red. New 



Holland. 1803. 



sple'ndens (shining). 3. New Holland. 1830. 



BEATIMO'NTIA. (Named after Mrs. 

 Beaumont of Bretton Hall. Nat. ord. 

 Dogbanes [Apocynaceae]. Linn., 5-Pen- 

 tandria, \~monogynia). One of our first 

 stove twiners, with large white trumpet- 

 shaped flowers, produced in clusters at 

 the end of the shoots. They succeed best 

 planted out in the borders of a house, 

 intermediate between a stove and a green- 

 house. Cuttings of half-ripened wood ; 

 rich lumpy loam and peat. Summer 

 temp., 60 to 70 ; winter, 50 to 60. . 



