94 
Improvement of the Plants of the Farm. 
Beans are a favourite and productive crop in the Isle of Ely 
and the fens, and probably some of those enormous pods that 
ornament the seedsmen's stalls at the Agricultural Shows are 
pampered in that district. I have not much faith in the 
stamina of giants, or of monster ears and pods. Suits in courts of 
law occasionally remind us of the folly of sowing the seeds of ab- 
normal plants, and of the credulity displayed by some farmers. 
But an experienced correspondent in the fenland reports great 
improvement in beans. A sort called the White-eyed Chatteris 
is much sought after, having been for years carefully selected in 
that parish by hand-picking. The crop may be distinguished 
blindfold for its stout vigorous habit. The Double-blossom 
bean and the Cluster bean are also favourites in the same dis- 
trict, and the large Windsor bean is much grown in the same 
bean-producing country ; notably an improved and very prolific 
large-sized variety, which often produces as many as ten or 
twelve stalks from a single seed. In other districts the Scotch 
bean, Winter bean. Horse bean, and Tick are in good repute, 
and the early and productive Mocha and Mazagan for spring 
sowing. 
The varieties of the several kinds of " roots " are far too 
numerous to be named. Those which are sent out by the 
prominent firms of seedsmen are generally good, Mr. A. S. 
Wilson says of turnips : — 
" Every seedsman says he has greatly improved his stock. Pliny tells us 
that the old Romans raised turnips 40 Eorean pounds in weight (12-oz. lbs.). 
And Dr. Skene Keith, who wrote an agricultural history of this country 
at the beginning of this century, found bulbs up to 38 lb. weight. The 
I^rocesses of improvement and evolution are too slow for the patience of most 
experimenters." 
There is much truth in this last observation, which is ap- 
plicable to every kind of professed plant-improvement. Still, 
it will generally be acknowledged that the competition of seeds- 
men in this department has not been in vain, and if the swede 
is a hybrid, as most botanists believe it to be, the improver can 
claim it as a very profitable modification. My correspondents 
generally report improvements. The great number of the va- 
rieties of swedes and turnips, and the difference of the sorts in 
different districts, prove that their qualities vary, and that some 
are adapted for one climate some for another. The seed of a 
tough-leaved cabbage is largely grown in this country for the 
American farmers, who find that this particular sort succeeds 
best in their hot climate. Similar constitutional difference* 
adapt the varieties of turnip to different districts. The names, 
perhaps, should be sought in the seedsmcns' lists, and I shall 
only mention a few characteristic types. Mr. Melvin, of Bon- 
