THE AMATEUR’S KITCHEN GARDEN. 57 
the most constant lover of beans will admit that when 
allowed to grow old, and then badly cooked and served with 
coarse bacon, the bean is not a thing to be desired. Let us do 
justice to the bean, that we may see it on the table as green 
as grass, tender, and slightly meally, without being in the 
least old, and accompanied with real parsley-butter as green 
as the beans, and with the true flavour of the parsley preserved 
to the utmost. 
The Soil. — The bean requires a good soil, and it is an 
extremely exhausting crop, and therefore should be prepared 
for, or at least followed by, liberal manuring, for it takes out 
of the soil tremendous quantities of potash, phosphorus, lime, 
and sulphur. The seed is sown from November to the end of 
June, and consequently soil and situation must be selected to 
suit the several sowings. Those sown to stand the winter 
should be on a somewhat light and dry soil, and in a sheltered 
situation. Those sown in February and March will do better 
on a deep and heavy soil, as they will be in bearing in the 
hottest part of the summer. In any case the ground must 
be well dug, and sufficiently manured, and although shelter 
will assist the autumn and winter-sown crops, beans will never 
thrive under trees, or in any half-stifling spot, where air and 
light are deficient. 
Sowing the Seed. — It is a waste of seed, of ground, and 
of quality of produce, to sow the seed too thickly. It is 
usual to sow in double rows, thus — 
%> v> -v w- r- 
a 
b 
The small-growing sorts may be in double rows two feet 
apart, and the drills may be two-and-a-half inches wide from 
a to b, and quite two inches deep. The large-growing sorts, 
such as Windsor and Longpod , may also be in double rows, 
but the breadth from a to b must be four inches, the distance 
from double row to double row must be three feet, and the 
seed must be set full three inches deep. Of late years we 
have practised sowing in single rows, as we grow for summer 
use only the largest varieties of Windsor bean, and we are 
satisfied that the extra space afforded the plants is amply 
repaid in the increased abundance and fine quality of the 
produce. As to distance apart, we never could get our men to 
