KIDNEY BEAN, OR FRENCH BEAN 



45 



Uses. — The young and tender pods of many kinds are eaten 

 boiled. Every one knows the use which is made in cookery of the 

 seeds or beans, either when dried or when gathered before they are 

 quite ripe, but when the pods can just be opened without difficulty. 

 And lastly, the Edible-podded or Mange-tout varieties are used 

 from the time the seeds begin to swell until they are quite ripe. 

 We heartily wish that English housekeepers and gardeners would 

 look into the qualities of many of the fine varieties described in 

 this book. Apart from the greater variety of valuable kinds of the 

 types they know so well, two very valuable series deserve attention 

 — those of which the pods may be eaten when large and mature, 

 and the Flageolet kinds, which are very little used with us. * 



TOUGH-PODDED KIDNEY BEANS 



French, Haricots k ecosser. 

 Italian, Fagiuoli da sgusciare. 



I. Tall-growing 

 Varieties 



Soissons Large 

 Runner Bean. — A plant 

 with a slender green 

 stem, growing 6\ ft. high 

 or something more. 

 Leaves pretty large, at 

 wide intervals from each 

 other; leaflets moderately 

 crimped, rounded at the 

 base, dark green slightly 

 yellow ; lower leaves 

 larger than the upper 

 ones ; flowers white, pass- 

 ing into yellow ; pods 

 green, but turning to 

 yellow when ripe, broad, 

 somewhat curved, and 

 generally irregular in 

 shape, owing to the un- 

 equal growth of the seeds, 

 which are seldom more 

 than four in number, and 

 are white, kidney-shaped, 

 and more or less humpy 

 or round - backed ; they 

 are nearly i in. long, 

 about \ in. broad, and 



Soissons Lai^e Pole Bean. 

 * Climbing French Beans, see pp. 758, 759- 



