244 HOME AND GARDEN 



Elsewhere I have mentioned how useful a thing 

 this is for growing as a temporary screen or arbour. 

 Working people who live just out of London often 

 use it in some such way, or train it up strings to 

 decorate the sides of a window. 



One of the prettiest ways of growing Scarlet 

 Runners is by planting three bean-poles fully ten 

 feet long in a triangle, with their bases about two 

 and a half feet apart. They are put in slanting 

 towards the centre of the triangle, and are tied 

 together at such a height (about three feet above 

 the ground) that their tops will spread to between 

 six and seven feet. Three beans are sown near the 

 foot of each pole; they soon run up, and when 

 they are nearly full grown one or two can easily 

 be led across to make garlands from pole to pole. 

 Such groups in a long row some fifteen to twenty 

 feet apart are quite handsome objects. Many years 

 ago I learnt this piece of wisdom from an old 

 cottager : " Gather your Runner Beans while they 

 are straight." As the pod grows large and old they 

 become curly in shape ; any time before this occurs 

 they are nice and tender. 



A dish of dry Beans, soaked over-night, boiled 

 and served with hot olive-oil poured over, is the 

 regular main meal of many a poor family in Southern 

 Italy. 



Lentil soup is about the most nutritious food 

 that can be eaten ; it is a pity that it is not more 



