636' LEGDMINACEOUS ESCULENTS. 



abundant crops in dry hot weather, when the pea, unless abundantly watered, 

 is withered up. The green pods, also, make an excellent pickle ; and the 

 ripe seeds are much used in cookery, especially in what are called haricots, 

 soups and stews. The scarlet runner, one of the twining varieties, is at once 

 a highly ornamental plant, and eminently proli&c in pods, from J uly till 

 the plant is destroyed by frost ; and as it is of the easiest culture, it forms 

 one of the most valuable plants in the catalogue for the garden of the cottager. 



139G. Varieties. — Those of the dwarf species (Haricot nain, or sans rames, 

 i^r.), are very numerous ; but the kinds considered best worth cultivating 

 are the early negro for an early crop ; Fulmers early, a very prolific variety 

 for a succession ; and the cream-coloured for a main crop. The best variety 

 of the twming species (Haricot a rames, Fr.)^ for cultivating for its pods to 

 be used green, is the scarlet runner; though there is a large white runner., and 

 also a variegated-blossomed runner., which produce equally good pods, but the 

 blossoms are not so ornamental. The pods of the kidney-bean are smooth, and 

 those of the scarlet- runnersare rough outside. The roots of the scarlet runner, if 

 taken up on the approach of frost and preserved through the winter, will grow 

 again next spring, like the roots of the marvel of Pein, or the Dahlia; or like 

 them they may be protected where they stand ; but as notliing would be 

 gained by this practice, it is never adopted. Half a pint of seed will sow a 

 row eighty feet in length, the beans being placed from two inches and a half 

 to three inches apart in the row ; and this length of row will be required for 

 gathering a single dish at a time. The seed comes up in a week or less. 



1397. Culture of the dwarf sorts. — The first sowing in the open garden 

 may be made m the beginning of April, if the situation is warm, and the 

 soil dry. The second about the middle of the month, and subsequently 

 sowings may be made every three or four weeks till the first week in August. 

 The rows may be two feet asunder, and the beans deposited in drills from 

 two inches to three inches apart, and covered to the depth of one inch, or one 

 inch and a half. The routine culture consists in watering abundantly in 

 very dry weather, and using lime-water, if, which is often the case, the 

 plants are attacked by snails or slugs. 



1398. Culture of the twining sorts, — These being rather more tender than 

 the dwarfs, are not so^vn till towards the end of April or the beginning of 

 May ; a second sowing may be made about the middle of May ; and a third 

 and last in the first week of June. In cottage gardens, one sowing in the 

 beginning of May will produce plants which, if the soil is in good condition, 

 water judiciously applied, and the green pods gathered before the seeds 

 formed m them begin to swell, will continue bearing, from the middle of 

 June, till the plants are destroyed by the frosts. The rows, as in every 

 similar case, should be in the direction of north and south, for reasons al- 

 ready given (723) ; they snould be at least four feet apart, and the beans 

 should be placed in shallow drills, three mches asunder, and covered about 

 two inches with soil. Where the plants come above ground they may be 

 slightly earthed up ; and m another week when they begin to form runners, 

 they should be sticked with branches or rods, the former being preferable, 

 of six or eight feet in length, a row being placed along each side of the plants, 

 as in sticking peas ; but instead of the stakes for runners being placed wider 

 apart at their upper extremity, they may be made to meet there, as, contrary 

 to the vegetation of the pea, the twining stems of the runner produce more 

 leaves below than at their summits. In many cases, the scarlet runner may 



