2.02 



HORTICULTURE. 



K iirn 

 Garden. 



Beans. 



tioneil, that Delaunay, in Le Ion Jardinier, describes 

 as excellent a new variety cultivated at Paris, which 

 he calls the green Lean from China ; it is late, but very 

 productive; and the fruit remains green, even when 

 ripe and dried. 



299- The early sorts, such as the Mazagan and Lisbon, 

 are sown in the end of October or beginning of Novem- 

 ber, in a sheltered situation, in front of a wall, reed- fence, 

 or other hedge, and in drills about two inches deep. The 

 plants are earthed up in November as they advance. In 

 .severe frost, some haulm or fern is laid over them, as 

 in the case of early peas. In March and April, as the 

 beans begin to shew flower, they are kept close back 

 to the fence, by means of lines of pack-thread. When 

 the lower blossoms are fully expanded or beginning to 

 fade, the tops of the stems are pinched off, this being 

 found to forward the production of pods. With this 

 sort of care, a crop is generally procured about the end 

 of May or first of June. Successive autumn and win- 

 ter sowings are managed much in the same way ; being 

 sown in rows, eighteen inches apart, in sheltered bor- 

 ders or quarters. It is necessary to guard against the 

 ravages of mice, which are very apt to attack the new 

 sown rows. Some gardeners sow their winter beans 

 thickly, and cover them with a frame, transplanting 

 them in February or March : in this way they prove 

 very productive. 



300. In February and March, full crops of the late 

 and large beans, such as the Windsor, Sandwich, and 

 Long-podded, are planted, in a free and open exposure. 

 The middling sized kinds are allowed two feet between 

 the rows ; but the large growing kinds, two and a half 

 or even three feet. The plants in the rows, however, 

 are only five or six inches separate. Sometimes the 

 beans are planted with a blunt setting-stick, obser- 

 ving to close the earth down upon the seed ; but drills 

 drawn, two inches deep or a little more, with the 

 hoe, are in general preferred. One of the principal 

 things to be attended to is the earthing up : in per- 

 forming this operation, it is necessary to take care that 

 the earth do not fall on the centre of the plant so as to 

 bury it ; for this occasions it to rot or fail. Nicol says, 

 that topping is not necessary for any but the early 

 crops, and is practised only to make them more early. 

 Most other horticulturists are of opinion that topping 

 improves the crop both as to quantity and quality ; and 

 it is very commonly performed on the late crops as well 

 as the early. The crops of beans when in flower, it may 

 be remarked, are very ornamental to the kitchen-garden, 

 and render it a pleasant walk, the flowers having a pow- 

 erful fragrance, not unlike that of orange-flowers. The 

 latest crops in May and June are sown in strong or moist 

 land, as on an arid soil scarcely any return could at 

 this season be expected. For these late crops, the long 

 pods, broad Spanish, and Toker are preferred. In a 

 dry season, it is found useful to soak the seed-beans for 

 several hours in soft river water, before planting. 



An expedient sometimes resorted to in order to pro- 

 long the bean season, may here be mentioned : A bed 

 or quarter of beans is fixed on ; and when the flowers 

 appear, the plants are entirely cut over, a few inches 

 from the surface of the ground. New stems spring from 

 the stools, and these produce a very late crop of beans. 



In gathering beans for table use, such pods as are 

 too old should as much be avoided as such as are too 

 young, the seeds decreasing in delicacy after they at- 

 tain about half the size which they should possess 

 at maturity. When, beans are to be saved for seed, 

 none of the pods should be gathered for the kitchen, 



the first pods being the most vigorous, and affording Kitchen 

 the best seed. The whole plant should be pulled up ; Garden. 

 and the seeds should be allowed to dry in the pods, S '^"Y"~ I ' 

 these last still remaining on the stems. 



Kidney-bean. 



301. The Kidney-bean (Phaseolus vulgaris, Lin. Com- .. 

 mon kidney-bean ; and P. multiflarus, Willd. Scarlet b e ' an " 

 runner) belongs to the same artificial and natural classes 



as the pea and the bean. In this country it is often call- 

 ed French bean ; and it is the well known and favourite 

 haricot of France. It is an annual, originally from 

 India ; its stem is more or less twining, but in the dwar- 

 fish kinds it scarcely shews this propensity ; the leaves 

 are ternate, on long foot-stalks ; the flowers on axillary 

 racemes ; the corolla generally white, sometimes yellow 

 or purple : The pods are oblong, swelling slightly over 

 the seeds ; these last are generally kidney-shaped, 

 smooth and shining when ripe, varying exceedingly in 

 colour, white, black, blue, red, and spotted. The date 

 of the introduction of the kidney-bean into this country 

 is not known : it was in familiar use in the days of Ge- 

 rarde. The unripe pods chiefly are used in Britain ; 

 but in France, the ripe seeds or beans are also very 

 much employed in cookery, being dried in the autumn 

 and kept for winter use. 



302. There are many varieties, both of what are call- 

 ed dwarfs, and of runners. By Dwarfs are meant kinds 

 that do not much exceed a foot in height, and do not 

 need support ; by Runners, such as have long climbing 

 stems, and which require stakes. Of the former, the 

 Early white dwarf, Early black or Negro, the Speckled 

 dwarf, Early yellow, and the Battersea and Canter, 

 bury white, may be mentioned as principally esteemed. 

 Of the latter, the Scarlet runner is preferred, the pods 

 being tender, especially if gathered young, and being 

 produced in succession for a long time. This was for- 

 merly considered as merely a variety of the common kid- 

 ney-bean ; but Willdenow has described it as a distinct 

 species, under the name of Phaseolus muUiflorus ; it is 

 distinguished by its racemes equalling the leaves in 

 length, and by its bracteae or floral leaves lying close 

 to the stalk ; while in the common kidney-bean, the 

 former are shorter than the leaves, and the latter pro- 

 ject from the stalk. The scarlet runner is frequently 

 cultivated as an ornamental flower, particularly in form- 

 ing fancy hedges : when trained near a wall, and led 

 up with lines of pack-thread or spun-yarn, it unites 

 both characters, or is at once shewy and useful. The 

 white runner seems to differ from the scarlet, merely 

 in the colour of the blossoms and of the seeds. The 

 Dutch white runner produces long smooth pods, but 

 does not afford so many successive gatherings as the 

 other two. 



303. The kidney-bean is too tender for sowing ear- 

 lier than the middle or end of April. From that time 

 successive crops are sown every fortnight or three 

 weeks, till July ; and in this way the young and tender 

 pods are to be had all the summer and autumn. The 

 dwarfish sorts are sown in drills from two to three'feet 

 asunder, perhaps three inches separate in the lines, and 

 covered with something less than two inches of soil. As 

 they advance, they are hoed and cleared of weeds, a 

 little earth being at the same time drawn to the stems. 

 As the young pods come to be fit for use, the more re- 

 gularly and completely they are gathered, the greater 

 is the successive produce. The runners, being rather 

 more tender, are not sown till about the middle of May. 



