78 



CULINARY OR KITCHEN GARDEN. 



well stirred, poured through a rose along the 

 flues when they are warm, or brushed over the 

 steam pipes, but not after the foliage has ex- 

 panded—produces the necessary effect, and in 

 course of a week the plants should be well 

 syringed." The same weight may be put to the 

 same quantity of water when applied to kidney 

 beans or other crops in the open air. . The 

 warmer the weather when the sulphur is ap- 

 plied, for obvious reasons, the better. 



§ 4. — THE SCAKLET RUNNER. 



Natural history— Scarlet runner (Phaseolus 

 multiflorus, Wild.) belongs to the same natural 

 order, and class and order in the Linnsean ar- 

 rangement as the last. Although the scarlet 

 runner is not so early as the kidney bean, it 

 nevertheless produces a much larger crop of 

 pods as excellent, and to some tasting better 

 than the other. In Britain the green pods only 

 are used; on the Continent, the ripened seeds 

 are as much an object of culture. " In Holland 

 the runners are grown in every cottage-garden 

 for both purposes; and in France and Switzer- 

 land it is grown chiefly for the ripened seeds : 

 in the latter countries it is grown on very poor 

 soil."— Encyclopaedia of Plants, p. 616. The 

 seeds are preserved in the pods attached to the 

 straw, and are in winter thrashed out and 

 boiled, and eaten with cream or butter, stewed in 

 haricots or put into soups. The scarlet runner, 

 although in general cultivated as, and considered 

 to be, an annual like the kidney bean, is truly 

 perennial. It is stated to be a native of South 

 America, and was introduced into Britain in or 

 before 1633. The French, now enthusiastically 

 partial to this legume, at one time held it in 

 utter detestation. Phillips relates an anecdote 

 of a lady friend of his, who took some of the 

 " seed of the scarlet runner to Jamaica, and by 

 planting them in her garden they were brought 

 to tolerable perfection ; but her gardener, who 

 was an old Frenchman, would not by any per- 

 suasion allow them to be eaten, on account of 

 the scarlet or blood colour of the blossom." 

 They occupy a place in most cottage-gardens in 

 England, and are made both ornamental and 

 useful. They cover arbours, are trained over 

 pales and up the walls of cottages, which they 

 enliven by the brightness of their blossom, 

 while every day produces a supply of whole- 

 some and nutritious food to the owner. 



Uses.— The same as those of the kidney bean. 



The mode of propagation is by sowing 

 the seeds, or by planting the small tu- 

 berous roots saved from the last crop. 

 These should be dug up in autumn, be- 

 fore the frost has killed the haulm, and 

 be kept in boxes of sand in a cellar till 

 the end of April, when they may be 

 planted. 



Sowing and planting. — Being rather 

 more tender than the dwarf sorts of kid- 



ney bean, they do not admit of being 

 planted earlier, nor should the tubers be 

 planted sooner, as both may become 

 rotten in the cold damp soil before vege- 

 tation can take place. In Scotland, one 

 sowing or planting will be sufficient, 

 as the plants will continue to bear as 

 long as the season lasts. In England, 

 where vegetation is more rapid, and the 

 season longer, later sowing or planting 

 will be necessary, making the difference 

 in the times of sowing about ten or fifteen 

 days. They should be sown in lines not 

 nearer than 1 2 feet from each other, that 

 being the height to which they will grow 

 if in good soil, and supported with stakes 

 so high. 9 feet may, however, be taken 

 as an average height ; and as that is more 

 than can be conveniently reached from 

 the ground, a greater height would be 

 next to useless. The seed being larger 

 than those of the kidney bean, the drills, 

 whether for planting the seed or the tu- 

 bers, should be not less than 3 inches 

 deep, and the seed or roots placed 9 inches 

 distant in the line. 



/Subsequent culture. — What has been said 

 regarding the pea is quite applicable to 

 this crop also : when the haulm has 

 reached the height of 8 or 9 feet, it should 

 be topped, for reasons given (vide Kid- 

 ney Bean, Pea, &c.) If the production of 

 pods be greater than the consumption, 

 the oldest should be picked off before the 

 seed is much more than formed in them, 

 as, if left on, the plants would be unne- 

 cessarily weakened, and the continuance 

 of the crop much diminished. Where 

 stakes are difficult to procure, the run- 

 ners may be topped when 2 or 2J feet 

 high. This dwarfing, although it lessens 

 the produce, nevertheless admits of good 

 crops being obtained. 



In staking runners, long slender rods 

 are preferable to the branching sticks used 

 for pease. These should be stuck along 

 both sides of the row, as soon as the 

 plants are 6 inches in height, and placed 

 in a diagonal direction, reversed on each 

 side, so that, when the row is finished, 

 the supports will have the appearance of 

 diamonded trellis-work. The intention 

 of setting the stakes in this manner is to 

 afford a more ready means to the stems 

 of the plants to ascend by and twine 

 round. These rods should meet at top, 

 for, unlike the pea, which branches 



