90 



x^iwACTICE or uAKL'EXIInG. 



placed here and there alt-'^ ^i^J^^^' side of the double 

 ^o^Y3, with tightly drawn string betweerr^^'®^^-. 



3. — Freiich or Kidney Beans. 



Kidney beans, as eaten along with the pod, contain 

 some starch but more sugar in the young beans, and some 

 sugar but more fibre in the pod, and are very wholesome 

 and nutritive. 



A light dry soil is almost indis23ensable, for much wet 

 causes the seed to rot. The time for sowing is from the 

 last week in April to the middle of July. If sown earlier 

 without protection, the frost will almost inevitably 

 destroy the young plants: they may however be sown in 

 a sheltered seed-bed, and planted out in May. 



For an early crop, the best sort is the speckled dwarf; 

 for the next, the negro or Battersea, the dun-coloured, 

 and the white Canterbury. 



The drills should be two feet or more apart, and the 

 seed (not trodden down) covered with two or three inches' 

 depth of earth. French beans are generally used in a dry 

 state for soups, and for this purpose the white Canterbury 

 is the best. 



In the London nurseries, every spare corner, even be- 

 tween trees, is planted with French beans. 



4. — Scarlet Runners. 



Scarlet runners or white Dutch runners may be planted 

 in any soil which is not too damp, three or four inches 

 asunder along the bottom of a wall, and trained to strong 

 packthread ; or they may be planted in the open ground 

 at a distance of from four to six feet between the drills, 

 and trained to sticks six or eight feet high ; or along the 

 two sides of a path, with sticks seven feet high, bent over 

 to form an arch. As they are very exhausting to the 

 ground, they should be well manured. 



For four rows, four yards long each, half a pint of seed 

 is enough. The seed may be sown at any time between 

 the latter end of April and the middle of May, in drills two 

 inches deep, covering them with the same quantity of earth, 

 and observing to sow them in double rows where the 



