26 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
April 14. 
* Novelty (Turner), rosy crimson; lower petals strongly 
marked and veined with crimson; upper petals maroon, 
with crimson margins ; showy, and a free bloomer. 
Nectar Cup (Hoyle), orange rose; clear white eye; 
good substance, and fine habit. 
Ocellatum (Hoyle), a great improvement on Nonsuch; 
very fine and desirable. 
Ondine (Foster), a fine spotted variety; very distinct. 
■■'Optimum (Foster), lower petals bright crimson; the 
upper petals have a large glossy black spot, with a well- 
defined margin of crimson scarlet; free bloomer, large 
trusses, and excellent form; one of the best. 
■•’Oscar (Foster), rich scarlet crimson; free and con¬ 
stant, and of good quality. 
Painter Improved, a crimson flower, with a blotch of 
rose on each petal; very striking. 
Plantagenet (Turner), lower petals crimson; upper 
petals dark maroon, margined with crimson. 
Purple Standard (Foster), lower petals rich purple; 
upper petals black, with scarlet margin; fine substance, 
good form, and smooth at the edges. 
* Portia (Hoyle), large and showy; a light flower ; 
lower petals white, tinted with pale rose; large carmine 
blotch on the upper, margined with white. 
*Queen of May (Foster), bright novel orange scarlet, 
dark blotch in the upper petals, with scarlet margin. 
* Pacliael (Foster), free and constant; a good grower, 
with maroon upper petals, and margined with rosy 
crimson. A good exhibition variety. 
* Ringleader (Turner), scarlet crimson lower petals; 
maroon upper petals, with scarlet margin; very 
attractive. 
Rembrandt (Bragg), a large good shaped flower, dark 
maroon and rose. 
Rubens (Foster), crimson, with dark maroon blotch 
on the upper petals, margined with rosy crimson. 
Shylock (Foster), the darkest variety; lower petals 
dark purple ; upper petals black, with a maroon margin 
of scarlet; free bloomer. 
Tyrian Queen, a purple flower, and very distinct. 
Zaria, a pretty novel cup-shaped flower; clear centre; 
warm pink ground colour ; lower petals deeply marked 
with a constant spot of maroon and orange; small 
black and orange blotch on the upper petals. The most 
striking and novel variety ever raised. 
A select list of fancy varieties will be given next 
week. T. Appleby. 
THE KIDNEY BEAN AND ITS CULTURE. 
Although of tropical origin, there are few of our ordi¬ 
nary vegetables that can boast a higher antiquity 
amongst us than this one—certainly, some whose pedi¬ 
gree, if traced backwards, would lead to the supposition 
that they must have been in general use before this far¬ 
fetched foreigner, will be found, on enquiry, to have been 
little better than weeds at a time when this vegetable 
was nearly as much understood as it is now; and though, 
doubtless, the varieties we have in cultivation may, in 
certain points, exceed those which were in existence 
a century ago, yet we much question if the constitutional 
| character of the plant has undergone much change the 
two centuries-ancl-a-half that it is said to have been 
amongst us, but its cultivation has, doubtless, been 
much on the increase during that time, and perhaps it 
has never known a greater advance at any period of its 
history than it has during the last twenty years, as 
during that time it has found its way more extensively 
into the gardens of the labouring poor, while its culture 
for the markets of large cities has been on a corres¬ 
ponding scale of magnitude. With these facts before 
us, it requires no further comment to extol its uses. 
That mighty judge, which in the main is generally right, 
“ the British public,” has stamped it with its approbation 
as an article of necessity; and its general appearance 
in the market in abundance forms a sort of epoch, which 
is hailed with a feeling little short of that which wel¬ 
comes in new Potatoes, or the first Peas of the season; 
while, in many respects, it is better adapted for forcing 
than either of these useful articles, which enables it to 
J be had during a much longer period than the one of 
them; but as we are now speaking of the services it 
renders where grown in a natural way, we must first 
take a survey, and consider its features, and other cha¬ 
racteristics, as a plant of foreign growth, which, though 
an acquaintance of long-standing, is probably as tender 
j as on its first introduction. 
Without entering into the botanical question as to 
whether the dwarf and twining kinds be really distinct 
species or only varieties, rendered somewhat permanent 
by a long course of culture, we proceed to say, that 
in many points the two kinds resemble each other, 
| showing, perhaps, a common origin; while, for prac- 
! tical purposes, they are divided into two sections—one, 
i a twiner or creeper, which attaches itself in a spiral 
direction to whatever object it be near, prefering, how¬ 
ever, the smallest twigs instead of the large stems of 
trees, &c.; the other is more dwarf in its growth ; yet 
many varieties amongst them send up an occasional 
running shoot, evincing a disposition to ramble to a 
greater altitude; some, however, have little inclination 
to “ run,” and quietly contenting themselves with a 
position of about two feet removed from terra firma, 
furnish an astonishing supply of pods in the early 
autumn months, their fruitfulness, no doubt, being 
enhanced by the effort which nature makes to enable 
them to ripen seed for the perpetuation of their species. 
Now, it is easy to see, that taking advantage of this 
disposition, we direct the plant to minister to our wants 
by our gathering all the half-formed fruits, thus com¬ 
pelling the plant to produce more, which, in turn, suffer 
the same fate as the first; and so on, until the plant, 
unable to support such an exhausting system, either 
dies a victim to its endeavours that way, or is cut olf by 
the elements, no longer being congenial to its welfare; 
consequently, the plant either languishes and dies, or it is 
killed off outright by the cold weather setting in ; but 
usually its services, before either of these diseases over¬ 
take it, is such as entitles it to our gratitude, and few 
plots of ground in the garden produce a greater amount 
of usable food, in proportion to its extent, than does that 
portion which is planted with either of the two kinds of 
Beans, which, in common phrase, go by the name of 
Runners, (or Scarlet Runners), and French Beans (or 
the dwarf sort); the former of them, requiring stakes or 
{ some similar support not less than seven or eight feet 
: high, is, perhaps, of the two, the most prolific, and, to 
the cottage gardener, a little more hardy than the 
! French Bean. 
With regard to the culture: both of these beans still 
have a strong impress of their tropical origin; coming, 
as they do, from the hot and sultry plains of India, it is 
not to be wondered at their not bearing our cold springs 
and autumns; neither do very cold or bleak winds 
suit them at any time, for a high northern latitude is 
fatal to them ; or, if they do grow, it cannot be that they 
will be as productive as under more favourable circum¬ 
stances. Therefore, all those who attempt its culture 
under such an adverse state of things should endea¬ 
vour to mitigate them as much as possible, and try and 
give the plants the best position, as regards warmth, 
shelter, &c., which the place affords. With these ad¬ 
vantages, French Beans may be grown in most parts of 
the United Kingdom ; of course, in late situations, their 
period of servitude is much shortened by their being 
later in coming into use, and also ceasing much sooner 
in consequence of the earlier autumn. So sensitive is 
this plant of cold, that we have been creditably informed 
