42 



THE VEGETABLE GARDEN 



mats. As soon as the Beans have 

 got a good hold of the, soil and 

 begun to grow, their protection is 

 removed. Great care must be exer- 

 cised with hand-light Beans, other- 

 wise they are a deceptive crop, and 

 sometimes die off altogether, espe- 

 cially when nursed too tenderly and 

 changed too suddenly, if the ground 

 he cold and wet, and their top cover- 

 ing insufficient. Those grown in 

 frames, and which come into bear- 

 ing early in June, last in good 

 picking condition for six weeks ; 

 and those in warm borders begin to 

 fruit in the last week of June or 

 first week in July, and continue to 

 yield a fair crop for nearly two 

 months in a moderately moist 

 season, if kept closely picked. The 

 first main crop immediately follows 

 the border ones, and, as a rule, lasts 

 the longest. Drought makes them 

 short-lived sometimes, but in rich 

 soils, and warm, moist seasons, the 

 yield is so heavy that it is scarcely 

 possible to pick them as quickly as 

 they grow. Drought, too, induces 

 red spider, with which large fields 

 are sometimes completely overrun ; 

 and although this pest is very pre- 

 judicial to the health and longevity 

 of the crop, there is no remedy 

 for it. 



French Beans are gross feeders ; 

 they require manurial substances of 

 such a character as can be speedily 

 turned to account ; therefore, land 

 that was richly manured for the 

 previous crop — such as for Celery 

 — and which has afterwards again 

 been liberally dressed with short 

 manure, such as that from Mush- 

 room-beds or old Cucumber-pits, 

 suits them perfectly. The crop to 

 succeed such as are grown under 

 hand-lights is planted on a south 

 border, in front of a wall or thick 

 hedge if possible, which is dug 

 over and lined off in cross-rows 



at 1 8 in. apart, drawing the lines 

 in the form of seed-furrows with a 

 hoe. Herein are planted Beans 

 5 in. asunder in the row ; they are 

 earthed-up in due time, and, if the 

 weather be favourable, come into 

 bearing three weeks after those 

 grown in frames. Some growers 

 erect barricades of mats in an up- 

 right position to stakes driven in the 

 earth, and placed to the windward 

 side of the borders ; and they also 

 surround frames containing them, 

 but not covered with sashes, with 

 the same protection to ward off cold 

 and frosty winds. 



Out-of-door sowing begins 

 during the first fortnight in April, 

 just as the state of the weather and 

 soil permits, and the warmest avail- 

 able position is selected for the pur- 

 pose. If the ground be free from 

 all other crops at the time of sowing, 

 there is more need for a sheltered 

 place than if it were cropped. In 

 sowing, the lines are drawn at 2, 

 25, and sometimes 3 ft. apart, and 

 the seeds planted about 4 or 5 in. 

 asunder. The earliest crop is often 

 sown in drills drawn between lines 

 of Cauliflowers, Cabbages, or Let- 

 tuces. These crops, instead of being 

 injurious to the French Beans when 

 they appear above ground, are very 

 beneficial to them, inasmuch as they 

 protect them from cold winds until 

 they have gained some strength and 

 the weather becomes mild and warm, 

 by which time the bulk of the Cauli- 

 flowers will have been removed for 

 market. Even then, however, the 

 Beans do not get all the space to 

 themselves, for no sooner is the earth 

 cleared of the other crop than it is 

 loosened a little between every alter- 

 nate line, and those spaces replanted 

 with Lettuces or similar crops. Thus 

 one space contains another catch 

 crop while the other is empty; and 

 by means of having this empty space 



