120 
TJIE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
May 18. 
to tli 0 improvement of his estates, whether occupied 
in farming or forestry. He lias been gathered to his 
fathers since I wrote that paper, and T may venture to 
say, a more patriotic man never lived, lie was truly 
and emphatically a noble man. 
His Oak plantations are of great extent, and, as I was 
given to understand, are all, or nearly all, from acorns 
sown on the spot where the trees, some thirty or forty or 
more feet high, are now growing. I could see the 
ground had been thrown up in beds, the seed sown, and 
gradually thinned as they advanced in growth. The 
older plantations were just thin enough, and the stems 
were as straight as possible, promising, in the next 
generation, to become stately denizens of the forests; 
thus proving and producing examples of what well- 
directed efforts, patiently followed up for some three-score 
years care, accomplish even in raising the slow-growing 
Oak. 
(To be continued.) 
THE RUNNER KIDNEY BEAN. 
The tropical origin of this plant is still manifest in 
j its injury by cold, for the least frost seems to destroy it, 
and although it will struggle through one of our dullest 
; summers, and furnish our table with a profusion of 
\ those pods which have long been as common at the j 
j table of the poor man as at that of the Prince, still it ' 
is only during our brightest seasons that it attains that 
degree of excellence, in beariug and quality, which | 
j make it one of the most profitable crops grown, where 
sticks or some other means of attaching it to can be 
commanded. As its utility is unquestionable, a few 
! words on its culture may not be altogether out of 
place, although in that respect, perhaps, little that is 
really new can be adduced, yet its peculiarities are not 
everywhere known. 
Unlike its compeer in the kitchen-garden quarters, j 
; the tall or running varieties of the Kidney Bean have 
not received such an accession of fresh names, alias 
kinds, as the Pea has done during the last dozen years 
or so, but prior to that date some little attention was j 
directed to it in the way of increasing its attractive 
powers, and by some adroit contrivance the colours of I 
the Scarlet and of the White Runners were blended in 
that ol a sort of hybrid variety, which was named, 
rather libellously, by-the-by, The Painted Lady. This 
pretty flowering kind was a great favourite with the 
flower-gardener for a time, and its admirers asserted 
that its qualification for profit, or table, was equal to that 
of any other sort. This, however, has not been the 
case, for it does not bear so well, but it is well worthy a 
place in the shrubbery-belt, or other back ground, as a 
tall, flowering climber, in which capacity it is not seen 
half so often as it deserves. It was also about the time 
| that it made its appearance that some little stir was 
made in the gardening world, by some one announcing 
he had discovered a perennial variety, or rather, he had 
contrived to save a few plants through the winter, which 
had been in beariug the year before and cut down. J 
This was thought something of a feat at the time, but ' 
its practicability seemed doubtful to carry into every- ' 
day practice, and except those who might now and then I 
save a few plants for curiosity’s sake, there has never 
( been any useful result followed in keeping them over 
the winter, the plan being at variance with the designs 
of Nature, whose object is to induce an annual to ripen | 
its seed every autumn to reproduce itself the next year; 
and though several kinds may, by adopting a particular 
! course of culture, be carried through the winter, it is 
j rarely they exhibit that degree of robust health which 
seedling plants do. I have saved French MaFujulds i 
| through the winter, and struck cuttings in spring', but 
could never get them to flower any earlier; nor, in fact, 
so early as the same kind sown that spriug; the only ad¬ 
vantage was the certainty of their being the particular 
kind I wanted; but this is not the only case wherein an 
apparent start proves no advantage, for another presents 
itself in the flower-garden way. Fuchsias that have 
been allowed to stand the winter without cutting-down 
do not flower one whit sooner than those cut down in 
the usual way, and have to make rods like basket willows 
ere they bloom. I have some old plants of Fuchsia 
Iliccartonii, which have stood unscathed for several 
winters, the tips only being killed each season ; but they 
are no earlier than others that are regularly cut down 
every autumn. I thought the past winter, being 
severe, might have destroyed them, but 1 find they are 
pushing out all the way up their fleecy balked stems; 
a greater length of the tip ends, may, perhaps, be killed 
this winter than usual. But as this is a digression from 
the habits of annuals, I have merely adduced it, to show 
that an apparent advantage does not always prove so; 
and I have no doubt but the perennial variety of 
Kidney Bean, which the enthusiastic cultivator of the 
day believed was to become a great national boon, 
proved anything but an acquisition. However, as seed 
is produced, in a general way, plentifully enough, the 
object of Sieving old plants tlu-ough the winter, on that 
score, is not worthy of a serious thought. We now come 
to the practical part of rearing them in the spring. 
Like most large seeds, this vegetable germinates 
freely, but, like many more large ones, it does not keep 
well over one year. This inability to preserve their 
living principle seems not to be confined to the seeds of 
tender exotics, for some of our most common aud hardy 
plants are equally as bad keepers as those from the 
tropics. The sturdy Oak, the boasted emblem of our 
national greatness, bears a seed which is, perhaps, one 
of the worst for retaining its vital powers out of the 
ground, while even Peas aud Beans are less able to 
endure the “ effects of time” than many seeds of very 
minute proportions. 
The Kidney Bean keeps well until the spring, when 
its proper time to be returned to the earth comes round, 
but some thirty or forty per cent, will be found defective 
if kept until another season, and still more, if kept 
longer than that; consequently, fresh seed must be had 
every season, and those of our cottage friends who have 
not the chance to save their own, must take care and 
have it from some one whom they are sure deals in a 
good article. The ordinary sowing in the open ground 
is an easy every-day affair, but when the ground is not 
exactly suitable, something must bo done to assist it 
that way, in order that it may be able to flourish and 
bear well. It likes a generous soil, but one too rich 
rather tends to grossness than fruitfulness ; consequently, 
where a soil of the latter kind has to be put under crop, 
do not let it have any dung nor other manure, and if the 
crop be seed-planted on the ground, let no other part of 
it be dug, save that portion only where the row is to be, 
and do not let it be loosened any deeper than just suffi¬ 
cient to receive the seed, the rest being trodden as hard 
as it cau be made, and the usual adjuncts to good culti¬ 
vation in other matters must be set aside here, or 
rather a directly contrary .course adopted. No earth¬ 
stirring, nor any of the contrivances, in other respects, 
so useful. This will, in a general way, check the habit, 
so as to produce fruitfulness. If, on the other hand, a 
degree of barrenness arises, in consequence of the soil 
being too stiff or clayey, or containing matter not agree¬ 
able to theBean’s wants,some additional matter must be 
furnished. Stones of various kinds, and especially brick- 
and-mortar rubbish, are especially suited to the re¬ 
quirements of this vegetable. The addition of these 
will be gratefully acknowledged by the increased vigour 
and fruitfulness of this plant; and, of course, these in- 
