BEAN. 
of pease for feeding pigeons. It is early, prolific, 
and of dwarfish growth; and its seed is consider- 
ably darker in colour than either the Scotch or 
the tick beans. It originated in Germany, and 
is extensively cultivated there on the lighter 
bean soils; but it has as yet found little favour 
in Great Britain.—The purple field bean has also 
been little tried in this country, yet might pro- 
bably succeed as a winter bean, and certainly de- 
serves attention. Its flower has a pinkish tinge, 
and is otherwise redder and darker than that of 
the common winter bean; its seeds have a red- 
dish-brown or purple colour; and it is later in 
ripening than the pigeon bean, and not so proli- 
fic—The Alexandrian field bean grows to about 
the same height as the Scotch bean, but is later 
in ripening ; and its seeds resemble those of that 
bean in shape and size, but are not so plump, and 
have a dull reddish-brown colour.—The new large 
red or scarlet field bean was discovered in a field 
of Scotch beans, in the Carse of Gowrie, in 1834: 
and is a very prolific and remarkably distinct 
variety, with large reddish-coloured seeds.—The 
Swiss bean is a lately acquired variety of winter 
bean; it stands the frosts of England without 
injury ; it may be sown from the middle of Sep- 
tember till the middle of October ; it pods about 
the first of June, ripens in the latter end of July, 
and escapes the attacks of insects and mildew; 
and it appears to be peculiarly suited to the 
warmer districts of England.—Two other varie- 
ties of field beans are the Ainfield and Mac- 
Phail’s. 
The Mazagan and the long-podded beans have 
a medium habit and a medium size of seed be- 
tween the field beans and the garden beans; and 
are suitable alike for garden culture and for the 
better kinds of field culture-—The Mazagan bean, 
as already noticed, is a native of the quondam 
Portuguese settlement of Mazagan, on the coast 
of Morocco, immediately west of the Straits of 
Gibraltar. Its seeds, as grown’ in its native 
place, are said to be smaller than even those of 
the Scotch bean; but they grow to a larger size 
in Portugal and in England. “If the seeds are 
saved two years in England,” remarks Miller, 
“the beans will become much larger, and not 
ripen so soon, which is called a degeneracy.” 
The stem of the Mazagan bean is about four feet 
high, and rather slender; its pod is narrow, and 
from four to five inches long, and contains four 
or five seeds ; its flower is white, with dark 
brownish stripes on the standard, and two dark 
brown spots on the wings; and its seed is of a 
whitish colour, and both large and more flat- 
tened than that of the horse bean. This variety 
loves soil of medium quality, as near as possible 
to normal loam, and dislikes both strong clays 
and very light soils. Miller complains that, in 
his time, in consequence of the slovenly garden- 
ing of the Portuguese, a large proportion of the 
seeds imported from Portugal were bad. The 
Mazagan bean has as yet been seldom tried in 
a 
the field in Scotland; though, from its early and 
prolific habits, it would almost certainly succeed 
in any favourable situation.—The Portugal bean 
is simply the Mazagan bean a little modified, and 
somewhat deteriorated by cultivation in Portu- 
gal; and is now seldom mentioned as a distinct 
variety.—The small Spanish bean is another 
modification of the Mazagan, sweeter in taste, 
and a little later in habit, than the Portugal. 
The long-podded bean is somewhat more proli- 
fic than the Mazagan, and generally about a week 
later. Its stem grows to the height of from four 
to five feet; its pod measures from six to seven 
inches in length, and about one inch and a quar- 
ter in breadth, is rather pendulous, and contains 
four or five seeds; and its seed measures about 
an inch in length and five-eighths of an inch in 
breadth, and is flat, rounded at the end, and of 
a whitish colour when ripe. The subvarieties of 
this bean are very numerous, and are constantly 
changing; for any one kind is much modified by 
two or three years’ culture under widely different 
circumstances from those to which it has been 
accustomed, and almost any two kinds become 
assimilated to each other after two or three years’ | 
culture in the same farm or garden. Yet many 
of the subvarieties have distinctive names; and 
several possess considerable pretensions to dis- | 
tinctiveness and permanence of character. Among 
the best known are the Sandwich, the Lisbon, 
the early Lisbon, Child’s new early long pod, the 
old early long pod, the Hangdown long pod, the 
large long pod, and the early mom. The Sand- 
wich was known and esteemed in the days of 
Miller, and was cultivated as the next in succes- 
381 | 
sion in the garden to the Spanish. Child’s new 
early long pod was recently introduced by the 
seedsman whose name it bears; it is rather ear- 
lier and more prolific than the common long pod; 
and its seed is thicker and less symmetrical in 
shape. But three varieties of long pod, the green, 
the Dutch, and the white-blossomed, are quite 
unsuited to field culture, and rank wholly as 
garden beans. 
The white Windsor bean has long been re- 
garded as the best variety for the table; and it 
is everywhere in great request for garden culti- 
vation. It is the earliest of the late garden beans; 
it is also a sure bearer; and, as it does not ripen 
regularly, it affords a prolonged daily succession. 
Its stem grows to the height of four feet ; its pod’ 
is short and broad, and contains two or three 
seeds ; and its seed is flat, circular, about an inch 
in diameter, and whitish in colour, but varies in 
size according to season, soil, and culture. The 
principal subvarieties of the white Windsor, are 
the broad Windsor and Taylor’s Windsor. But 
three other named and well-known subvarieties 
of white garden bean, the Mumford, the Broad 
Spanish, and the Turkey, are so nearly allied to 
the white Windsor as to be readily confounded 
with it in regard to both character and habit. 
The broad Spanish was known, highly esteemed, 
Sn 
