THE COMMON OR BROAD BEAN 



27 



for Mazagans, but with less particu- 

 larity as regards the way in which 

 they run, the position of the quarter, 

 or the quality of the soil which they 

 occupy. The Broad Windsor, which 

 forms the principal crop, is generally 

 sown in March. The Green Broad 

 Windsor is preferred by consumers ; 

 therefore market gardeners generally 

 grow this sort for the main crop. 



Some cultivators grow beans for 

 seeding purposes, and in this case 

 about one-half or two-thirds of the 

 pods, consisting of the earliest 

 formed, are picked off for marketing 

 in a green or usable condition, the 

 'remainder being left to ripen. If all 

 were left the seeds would not be 

 so large, plump, or heavy as when 

 the pods are thus thinned out. * 



Uses. — The seeds, or beans, are eaten boiled, both in the green 

 and dried state. In the south of France the young pods are some- 

 times boiled and eaten. Broad Beans are not thought so much 

 of in private gardens as Kidney Beans, but by the poorer classes 

 they are much grown. Generally they are not considered a 

 remunerative crop, inasmuch as they do not continue long in 

 bearing. The green-seeded varieties are usually preferred to the 

 white ones, because they retain their green appearance when 

 cooked, whilst the white ones become dark brown. The Bean 

 suffers from the usual and bad practice of allowing the pods to 

 become old and hard before they are used. It is an excellent 

 vegetable when gathered at the right time and properly cooked, 

 and as it is wholly distinct in flavour from any form of Kidney or 

 Runner Bean, it deserves more attention both from the gardener 

 and the good cook. Beans are often gathered for table before they 

 have attained half their size ; but this is not advisable, as they 

 sometimes taste bitter when so small. The best-flavoured beans 

 are those that are full-grown but young. If any be required for 

 soup, a row may remain until they become black-eyed. When 

 gathering for exhibition, choose young, long, straight, and shapely 

 pods, as nearly alike as possible, and the more beans they contain 

 the better. 



Large Common Field Bean. — Stem quadrangular, erect, about 

 2j ft. high, and almost always tinged with red ; leaves usually 

 consisting of four or five oval gray-green leaflets. At the base of 

 each leaf, the stem is encircled, for about two-thirds of its circum- 

 ference, by two broad, toothed, sheathing stipules marked with a 

 blackish spot. Flowers, five to eight in number, in clusters, the 

 first of which commences at the fifth or sixth leaf from the base of 

 the stem ; they are pretty large, white, marked on the standard 

 with dark-brown streaks, and with a spot of velvety black on each 

 of the wings. Pods often two or three together, sometimes curved 

 when fully grown, or becoming pendent from their weight, at other 

 times remaining quite erect. They are over i in. broad, and from 

 5 to 6 in. long, and contain from two to four very large seeds 

 which are longer than broad. 



*■ The Bean Aphis Disease, see p. 77^- 



