BASIL, BEAN. 



67 



the dwarf aud the tall. It should be sowed in very fine earth early 

 ill the spring, and transplanted into earth equally line, with very 

 great care. But let me here speak of the place for herbs in gene- 

 ral. They should all be collected together in one spot, if possible. 

 The best form is a long bed, with an alley on each side of it, the 

 bed too narrow to need trampling in order to reach the middle of 

 it. The herbs should stand in rows made across this bed, the 

 quantity of each being in due proportion to the consumption of the 

 family ; for it is a mark of great want of judgment to occupy great 

 spaces of ground with things that can be of no possible use. We 

 often see, in a gentleman^s garden, as much parsley growing as 

 would be sufificient for the supply of a large countiy town ; and, as 

 to mint, I have often seen it covering several rods of ground, when 

 the sensible original intention was that it should be confined \\ ithin 

 the space of a couple of square yards. ]SIint, however, forms an 

 exception to what has just been said about collecting the herbs to- 

 gether in one place ; for its encroachments are such that it must 

 be banished to some spot where those encroachments can occa- 

 sionally be restricted by the operation of the spade. 



124. BE AX. — Bean is the name given to two plants having 

 very little resemblance to each other in almost any respect. In 

 the French language, they have two different names wholly dissimi- 

 lar to each other. That sort which we call our bean, and which is 

 an upright plant, rising very high, producing a very large seed, 

 and is called garden-bean or horse-bean, that species the French 

 call feve ; that species which we call kidney-bean (because the seed 

 is exactly in the shape of a kidney), or French-bean, because, I 

 suppose, it came originally from France, the French call haricot ; 

 w-hich latter name has given rise to an application of it, verv cu- 

 rious, but quite congenial to the turn of mind and taste of those by 

 whom it has been adopted. Thus, we see a dish of stewed mut- 

 ton made richer than its own means would afford by all manner 

 of ingredients, called a haricot of mutton ; whereas the French 

 mean by a haricot of mutton a dish full of haricots or beans, with a 

 little morsel of mutton stewed along with them. The English bean, 

 which is that that we have now to speak of, has several varieties, 

 the favourite among which is the broad bean, or Windsor bean. 

 The long-pod is the next best, though there are several others of 

 nearly the same form, size, and quality. But there is one bean, 

 which is called the ^l/r/;:*?^^//?/?, ^^hich conies earlier than the rest, 



F C 



