VEGETABLE CULTIVATION DURING QUEEN VICTORIA'S REIGN. 



371 



name implies, is a much larger type of the Windsor section 

 than previously existed. (Fig. 93.) 



During the fifties the Seville and the Aquadulce Longpods — 

 very similar varieties — were introduced from the Continent, and on 

 account of their earliness and length of pod have been and still 

 are largely grown, although the constitution of both plants is not 

 nearly so vigorous as our English varieties. 



Beck's Green Gem, a sport from the Dwarf White Fan, 

 was introduced in 1858, and some years afterwards the market 

 gardeners in the neighbourhood of Harlington, Middlesex, 

 set to work to improve the Windsor by selection, and as a 

 result of their efforts we have the Harlington White and Green 

 Windsors. 



Painstaking selection has done much for the improvement of 

 the Longpod section, the several strains known as Exhibition 

 being fine and profitable types ; the best selections of which, both 

 white and green seeded, sometimes contain as many as eight or 

 nine beans in a pod, contrasting most favourably with the two 

 or three beans found in the pods of the older varieties. The 

 Broad Bean is not only greatly prized in private gardens, but is 

 also an important article of food with the poorer classes, and the 

 efforts made to increase its productiveness have been duly 

 appreciated by all classes of society. 



Dwarf French or Kidney Beans. 



There were several varieties in use when the Queen ascended 

 the throne, but the difference chiefly lay in the colour of the 

 seed ; a feature of little importance except to those who keep a 

 collection of these diversely coloured and pretty seeds. French 

 Beans were, in fact, frequently named after the colour of or 

 markings on the seeds, to wit the Zebra, Light and Dark Dun, 

 Red and Purple Speckled, Negro, &c, the chief exception being 

 Fulmer's Forcing, which was in use in 1837. The scope for im- 

 provement is limited to size of pod, earliness, and productiveness, 

 and in the former respect Canadian Wonder as soon as intro- 

 duced became very popular ; while Ne Plus Ultra, of later intro- 

 duction, fairly lays claim to being a marked advance over most 

 others both for earliness and productiveness. Besides these such 

 excellent varieties as Triumph, White-seeded, Forcing (Fig. 94), 



