THE COMMON OR BROAD BEAN 



31 



2^ ft. ; leaves gray, with round-oval leaflets ; flowers red on the 

 calyx and at the base of the standard, and with well-marked black 



spots on the wings, four 

 appearing in the axil of 

 the fifth or sixth leaf; pods 

 erect, often three or four 

 together, nearly cylindri- 

 cal, and not much thicker 

 than one's finger. They 

 usually contain three or 

 four seeds each, which are 

 elongated, thickish, and 

 not flattened at the sides, 

 like those of the preceding 

 kinds. The July Bean is 

 a hardy kind, and less 

 affected by hot, dry weather 

 than either the Windsor 

 Bean or the Large Common 

 Field Bean, and, notwith- 

 standing the comparatively 

 small size of its seeds, it 

 yields almost as heavy a 

 crop as either of those 

 kinds ; for, although its 

 pods are shorter and nar- 

 rower than those of the 

 large-seeded varieties, they 

 are produced in far greater 

 numbers, and the seeds 



to six in a cluster, the first cluster 



Small July Bean, 



are, at the same time, very uniformly well grown and well filled. 



Dwarf Fan, or Cluster, Bean. — A plant growing 14 to 16 in. 

 high, with a quadrangular stem tinged with brownish-red or copper 

 colour, and rather slender, but stiff and strong leaves, ashy-green, 

 with rather small, oval-elongated, pointed leaflets. Flowers small, 

 four to six in a cluster, with a slightly reddish calyx, and the 

 standard more or less purple at the base. The first flowers come 

 in the axil of about the sixth leaf from the base of the stem. The 

 pods are erect, in twos or threes, each containing from two to four 

 square-sided, bulging seeds, of the same colour as those of the Large 

 Common Field Bean. 



Beck's Dwarf Green Gem Bean. — A very compact-growing 

 variety, much dwarfer than the preceding kind, being only i ft. or 

 14 in. high. Stem stiff", green, or slightly tinged with red ; leaves 

 very closely set and arranged like a fan on each side of the stem ; 

 leaflets oval, rather pointed, glaucous green ; flowers small, with a 



