ENGLISH BEAN. 295 



crease the bulk ocrop, as well as hasten its maturity. This 

 often-recommended operation, though disregarded by many, 

 is of very signal importance." Mclnt. 



Taking the Crop. The pods should be gathered for use 

 when the seeds are young, or when they are of the size of a 

 morrowfat pea. As a general rule, all vegetables are most 

 tender and delicate when young ; and to few esculents does 

 this truth apply with greater force than to the class of plants 

 to which the English Bean belongs. 



Use. The seeds are used in their green state, cooked 

 and served in the same manner as shelled kidney-beans. 

 The young pods are sometimes, though rarely, used as 

 string-beans. 



Varieties. In England, where this vegetable is grown 

 in great perfection, and where it is much esteemed and gen- 

 erally used as a table esculent, the number of varieties cul- 

 tivated nearly equals the number of kinds of the Common 

 Garden-bean grown in this country. Under the climate of 

 the United States, the crop has generally proved a failure. 

 The plants are not only much infested with vermin, and 

 more or less injured by mildew, but the yield is so small, 

 and the quality so inferior, that its cultivation is generally 

 abandoned. 



Nineteen varieties are described in " THE FIELD AND 

 GARDEN VEGETABLES OF AMERICA." 



The White Windsor produces fine large pods, and is a 

 favorite kind. Nine of the seeds, if well grown, will weigh 

 an ounce. The Green Windsor is also a popular sort ; 

 eleven of the seeds weighing an ounce. Other esteemed 

 varieties are the European Long-pod, Early Mazagan, Dutch 

 Long-pod, and the Dwarf Fan, or Cluster. 



