438 Culture of the Kidney-bean. 



gardener is living here just now, who recollects perfectly this kind being 

 landed, in a small basket, from a Dutch vessel, fifty-five years ago. I will not 

 pretend to say that they are better now than they were then, but mine are 

 superior to what they were eight years ago, when I commenced business. 

 This goes far to corroborate my former statement, that varieties of potato 

 may be not only kept from degenerating, but that they may even attain greater 

 perfection (due attention being paid to the seed), without importing fresh 

 seed potatoes from a distance." 



Art. VII. A Method of expediting the Fruiting of Kidneybeans in 

 the open Air ; and a Mode of obtaining a Second Crop from those 

 forced in the Stove. By Mr. James Cuthill, Gardener to S. Sul- 

 livan, Esq., at Broom House, Fulham. 



I have tried an experiment with the early dun kidneybean, 

 which I have found answers beyond my expectations, and which, 

 I trust, may be of some use to your readers. I sowed a large 

 pan of these beans about the middle of March, and put it into 

 a house the temperature of which was about 60°. After the 

 first leaves had expanded, I removed the plants into a cold pit, 

 where they remained till the 15th of April following. They were 

 then (still in the pan) exposed to a south aspect, and covered, 

 for a few nights, with matting; and, finally, about the 1st of 

 May, I planted them out into an open border, having a western 

 aspect. The stems were then about 8 in. long, and, to prevent 

 them from damping off, I did not plant them above an inch 

 deeper than they stood in the pan, but moulded them up by 

 degrees. When transplanted, the leaves were quite brown, 

 but the centre bud was green ; the old roots were quite dead, 

 and new ones about an inch or so long. I planted them in the 

 centre of the border ; and, upon the same day, transplanted 

 into the same border other beans of the same sort, but sowed 

 at the usual time. The result has been, that I had beans from 

 the former upon the 12th of June: the latter will be ready, as 

 near as I can judge, about the 28th of that month ; making 

 about a fortnight's difference in the time of ripening : and this 

 difference would have been greater, had I had a south border 

 at the time to have planted them on. I may add, that I looked at 

 the other gardens in the neighbourhood, and saw no kidneybeans, 

 in the open air, ready before my second crop. This mode of 

 treating the kidneybean was not adopted from accident, but I 

 was driven to try the experiments which led to it by sheer 

 necessity. Every gardener knows that, when the forcing of the 

 kidneybean is prolonged to a late season in houses, the plants 

 become infested with a well-known insect; and, if they are 

 planted out in a pit or frame, they are attacked by the red 

 spider, which will soon spread all over the melon ground : and 



