THE BEST SOIL FOR BEANS. 245 



flavoured though small. Of the Lisbon, a variety like the 

 mazagan, that it is well flavoured and very fruitful. The 

 long pod is, he says, perhaps the greatest bearer of all ; it 

 grows about three feet high, is hardy, and of easy cultiva- 

 tion. The Spanish bean, otherwise known as the broad 

 Spanish, is a large bean ; it excels in fruitfulness, as does 

 also the Sandwich bean, which, although large, is not a 

 delicately tasted bean. The white blossom, so called, as 

 it does not bear the black velvety spot referred to as a 

 characteristic feature of the bean flower, is good and hardy, 

 although liable to degenerate ; it is very late, and may be 

 sown even at the beginning of June. Of all the large 

 varieties, none are so highly esteemed as the Windsor, 

 "long celebrated for its richness." The varieties best 

 adapted for an early crop are the mazagan and the Lisbon, 

 they may be sown in October, or early in November. In 

 procuring seed, that brought direct from Lisbon late in the 

 season should be preferred, as it will be more fruitful, and 

 produce an earlier crop than the seed grown at home. Mr. 

 Crother notices one variety, the green Genoa bean, of 

 which he says a peculiarity is, that " if permitted to be 

 perfectly ripe before they are pulled, and then be well 

 dried, they may kept in green condition for winter use ; 

 and if steeped for some days before they are wanted, they 

 will become tender, and retain their colour and summer 

 flavour." 



42. The soil best suited for the bean crop, is a strong, 

 rather moist one, firm in texture, yet so as to enable 

 the plants to send their roots deep into the soil. Lime is 

 an essential element in it. 



43. As regards the condition" of the soil necessary for the 

 bean crop, Professor Tanner, in the able papers to which 

 we have, in the course of these chapters so frequently re- 

 ferred, states that it requires a soil of a strong and ad- 

 hesive character; and this as much in fact for the sup- 

 plies of food which it draws from it, as from the mechanical 

 qualities which such a soil offers to the plant. Like the 

 wheat crop, the bean requires a firm condition of land, the 



