210 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
January 1. 
Gerard adds that it is named “ Virgin's Bower , by reason of 
the goodly shadow which they make with their thick bushing 
and climbing; as also for the beauty of the Uowers, and the 
pleasant scent or savour of the same.” 
It is in the Class and Order Poly an dr ia Polyyynia of the 
Linnrean System. 
Clematis — Generic Characters. — Cal. none: Petals 
four, rarely five or six, valvular, or rolled back at the edges: 
Styles permanent: Seeds numerous, tailed: Receptacle 
capitate. 
C. vitalba. Leaves winged: leaflets heart-shaped : stem 
climbing. 
Stem extending ten or twenty feet, 6-angled, woody. 
Leaves opposite, on leaf-stalks, deciduous, pointed, five- 
j leafleted; each leaflet heart-shaped, sometimes entire, but 
usually unequally iobed and toothed. The leafstalks twine 
about whatever they can lay hold of, and thus support the 
1 plant. Flower-stalks branched, with triple divisions, woolly, 
| from the bosom of the leaves, bearing numerous sweet- 
scented flowers. Petals green on the outside, cream-coloured 
| within, thick, reflexed, scored, woolly. Styles becoming very 
I long, slender, crooked, and covered with fine silky hairs; 
j forming elegant tufts towards autumn. 
Places where found. — Common in hedges and shady 
places, especially where the soil is chalky. It is rare in 
Scotland. 
Time of Flowering. —July, August. 
Uses. —Astringent, corrosive, and diuretic. An infusion 
has been recommended in dropsy by Swediaur. The branches 
are sufficiently tough to make withs for faggots, for which 
purpose it is always used in the woods where it can be pro¬ 
cured. The hairy plumes growing in clusters exhibit in 
winter a singular and beautiful appearance over the tops of 
bushes, hedges, &c. It is particularly well adapted for 
covering arbours and bowers in pleasure-grounds, being of 
rapid growth and hardy. “ The tubes, lymph-ducts, and 
air-vessels of this plant appear in a common magnifier 
beautifully arranged, being large, and admitting the air 
freely to circulate through them. Our village boys avail 
themselves of this circumstance, cut off a long joint from a 
dry branch, light it, and use it as their seniors do the to¬ 
bacco-pipe ; hence they call it Smoke-wood. The pores are 
well seen by drawing some bright-coloured liquor into 
them.”— Journ. Nat., p. 110. The long feathery down at¬ 
tached to the seed may often be found at the entrance of 
holes made by mice ; probably dragged there as a valuable 
material for their nests; as may be the seeds themselves 
(though small, abundant), no unimportant accession to the 
winter store. In France common beggars, to excite com¬ 
passion, produce ulcers by applying the juice to their skin; 
and the twigs are there used to make bee-hives, baskets, &c., 
possibly in a warmer climate growing even larger and stronger 
than with us. 
(Smith’s English Flora. Withering’s British Plants. 
Baxter’s British Botany). 
FORCING THE KIDNEY BEAN. 
Few vegetables are more esteemed in a forced state 
| than the Kidney Bean, for it is much more delicate in 
I texture, when from healthy, well-fed plants in-doors, 
j than from those in the open border. Besides, the 
| kidney bean is a great accession to the list of the table 
vegetables, for with plenty of these, mushrooms, sea- 
kale, asparagus, cauliflowers, early ash-leaved kidneys, 
and cucumbers, any epicure may compare his own 
dinners unblushingly with those of either a Lord Mayor 
or a Cabinet Minister. 
Kidney beaus are forced in a variety of ways: in 
pots, in pits, planted out in frames, and, as we have Lad 
them many years since, under the partial shade of a 
vinery, the vines confined to the rafters. 
Whether in pots or not, a liberal amount of heat and 
atmospheric moisture must be provided, if good, healthy 
crops are to be insured. Thus cucumbers and kidney 
beans may be grown very successfully together; also 
I pines and kidney beans, it being, however, seldom that 
a house or pit can be thus appropriated, expedients must 
be resorted to, and hence beans are for the most part j 
grown in pots, and transferred from one house to the j 
other—from the peach-house to the vinery, or the pinery. 
Indeed, little advance can be made, at a very early 
period, short of the heat of the pine-house, or a special I 
house or pit; for at any temperature below sixty degrees | 
they may just vegetate, but we may look in vain for any 
progress towards fruiting. One essential point is light, 
and, in common with most thin-leaved plants from 
tropical climates, it is useless to expect to excel in their 
culture with an inadequate amount. Another point of 
identity, also, may be named, and that is their liability 
to the depredations of the red spider, the thrip, &c. 
Therefore, whatever mode of culture may be adopted, 
or whatever structure they may be placed in, a vigilant 
eye must be kept on those insidious enemies. 
The amateur, and those who possess a very moderate 
amount of glass, are placed in an awkward position in 
endeavouring to avail themselves of this delicacy, and 
in endeavouring to do so perhaps some sacrifice will 
have to be made. This merely requires a little solid 
consideration as to what must be had, and what can be 
had ; and in doing so, the means of heating, with other 
collateral considerations, must, of course, be a primary 
consideration. Although the back flue of former days 
(with a broad shelf over) is almost amongst “the things 
that were,” yet we, in common with some others of long 
standing, sometimes cast a “longing, lingering look 
behind,” when we call to mind what a snug place this 
was for our early kidney beans, and many other things: 
a situation for the loss of which many a man has 
scarcely received a sufficient compensation. Kerbs in 
well-heated houses are indeed eligible, but the great 
principle for which gardeners contend—a bottom warmth 
a few degrees above the air heat—is not to to be found 
there in the same amount. To be sure, the dry heat 
liable to be engendered over flues was wont to cause 
terrible apprehensions about red spiders, and such-like 
diminutive vermin, but, long since, good gardeners 
found means of supplying the necessary amount of 
atmospheric moisture to these dry localities; and, after 
all, this is at least the best preventive. Nobody now 
cares a fig for red spiders; what between an improved 
atmosphere and the frequent use of sulphur, gardeners, 
who used to be pestered with heavy dreams and the 
nightmare, now sleep as soundly in their beds as 
Shakspere’s ship-boy. On the whole, we would not 
advise the man-of-little-glass to attempt kidney beans 
before the days begin to lengthen, unless he really 
possesses a pit built for the purpose. By commencing 
about the middle of January, he may obtain a good 
crop from a pit or frame intended for succession cucum¬ 
bers or melons. 
The kinds generally preferred are the Dun-coloured, 
the Newington Wonder, the Early- Speckled, and the 
Early Negro. The first-named we consider the most 
generally useful for a full crop. The Newington Wonder, 
however, a recent introduction, is, indeed, a wonderful 
little bean, extremely dwarf, very prolific, and noted for 
the delicate character of its pods. In point of room, 
this kind will stand in situations near the roofs of 
houses, or pits, where the Dun-coloured will not. It is a 
delicate-habited variety, and should have very kindly 
treatment. It should not be transplanted, but grown to 
fruit in the pots the seed is deposited in, which should 
he about six or seven inches in diameter. Another 
remark as to their peculiarities; they should not be 
pinched or topped—at least, such is our impression, and 
we have grown them several times. 
And now for the general culture of the larger or old- 
fashioned kinds. Most gardeners, especially for suc¬ 
cession of crops, use pots of nearly eight or nine inches 
(those termed 2I’s about the metropolis) for very early 
