26. For succession crops, sow in January, and thence every three or four weeks, till the end of May; or with a view to have a constant succession of peas, a good general rule during the spring will be to sow another crop, as soon as the one last sown shall be fairly above ground. Just as the peas emerge, and show their tips, cover them with evergreen boughs, to protect them from the sparrows. These birds attack the peas about the time they rise from the ground, cat off the pea, and leave the young shoot, as if to mock the sower. The boughs may be safely removed when the shoots have attained an inch or two in height. As to winter-sown peas, it is not improbable that those sown in November will be as backward, nearly, as those that are sown in February. For the earlier sowing, the drills should be an inch and a-half deep, and four or five feet asunder. The frame and Charltons may be sown two or three in an inch: the Prussian blue, three in two inches; and the large marrowfats a full inch apart. A pint of the small sorts may sow a row of twenty yards; and the same measure of the large sorts is sufficient for thirty-three yards.

27. For late crops, the frame, Charlton, or Warwick, may again be sown from mid-June to the first week in August; but the best sort is said to be Knight's marrowfats, which may be set at intervals of ten days, where there is plenty of spare ground, from the beginning to the end of June. "The ground is digged over in the usual way, and the spaces to be occupied by the rows of peas are well soaked with water. The mould upon each side is then collected, so as to form ridges seven or eight inches above the previous level of the ground; and these ridges are well watered. The seeds are now sown in single rows, along the tops of the ridges: the plants grow vigorously, owing to the depth of soil, and abundant moisture. If dry weather at any time set in, water is supplied profusely once a week. In this way the plants continue green and vigorous, resisting mildew, and yielding fruit till subdued by frost." (Loudon, 3608.)

Peas, as well as beans, should not be set in plots of ground, row behind row: the peas are injured, if there be more than two rows, because they draw each other into long, straggling haulm; and where the extent and situation of the garden will admit of the practice, advantage will be gained by always sowing in long single rows. Suppose, for example, that six rows, four feet asunder, be set in a plot of ground; it is evident that not less than twenty-six feet must be occupied, allowing for three feet on each side of the two exterior rows, between the peas and any other sort of crop that is standing, or to be planted. Thus, ground will be lost; for when one, or at the utmost, two rows only are planted, cabbages, and any other short

vegetable, may be grown to advantage, at a very small distance from the peas; and even between the two rows, if required; whereas, this could not be done without great risk of their being much drawn up, if planted between the six rows; particularly in wet summers. This I was convinced of in 1828, when several rows of cabbages and savoys were much injured, by being set out between rows of peas in plots. The Gardener's Magazine has also given satisfactory proof of the propriety of departing from the old method of planting peas in successive rows.

28. Subsequent culture of peas. When they have advanced in growth to the height of two or three inches, draw earth to the stems of the plants, and keep the ground entirely free from weeds. In frosty weather, protect the rows by fern-leaves, long litter, or branches of evergreens; but remove all coverings whenever the return of mild and open weather shall have effectually thawed the ground, but not before. In dry parching seasons, some recommend watering. If this be undertaken, it must be done effectually, as in the case of Knight's pea (No. 27), otherwise an occasional sprinkling does harm. The peas should be sticked when about eight inches high. Nothing so effectually secures peas from drought as prepared trenches, in which is worked some half reduced leaves,-they contain the elements of water, and yield them to the roots. I proved the result in 1835, when peas were burnt up generally. One thorough watering of the trenches will be very effectual. The Charltons and dwarf imperials will require branchy sticks, of about four feet; those for the taller growers should be six or seven feet; and for Knight's, full ten feet high. On the sunny side of each row, i. e. east or south, place the sticks sufficiently close to keep the peas compact in the row, without falling through. Half the number will suffice for the north and west sides, as they are not so much exposed to the sun's attractive influence.

29. The soil best suited to peas is one that is moderately rich, and not manured with recent hot dung. A compost of light sandy loam, and vegetable mould, is good manure. "The soil for the early crops should be very dry, and rendered so, where the earth is moist, by mixing sand with it in the drills. For early crops, put in from October to the end of January; let the situation be sheltered, and the aspect sunny. For the middle crops after January, let it be open; and for the late, or autumn crops, return to a sunny border." Peas, however, delight in an open exposure: hence, the benefit of field culture.

Subject 3. THE KIDNEY-BEAN. Leguminosa. Phaseolus Vulgaris. Class xvii. and Order iv. Diadelphia Decandria, of Linnæus.

30. The dwarf kidney-bean is the Haricot of the French. It is a half-hardy annual, native of India; and introduced, says Loudon, in 1597, or earlier. The species termed the runner (Phaseolus multiflorus of Wildenow), is a tender annual, and a native of South America, introduced in 1633. It flowers from July to September or October. The stems of both species are more or less twining— that of the dwarf but little so. The leaves are ternate, on long footstalks; the flowers papilionaceous, in racemes, produced from the axils of the leaves: those of the dwarfs are usually white, lilac, or pale purple; and of the runners, bright scarlet or white. The carina, or keel of the flower, is singularly contort or twisted, forming one of the essential generic characters of the plant. The pods are oblong, swelling slightly over the seeds, which are kidney-shaped, smooth, shining, and in colour white, black, buff, red, or spotted, according to the variety. The pods may be had in perfection from June to October; those of the runners, in very favourable seasons, till November. Speechly, in his Practical Hints on Domestic Economy, p. 15, suggests that the kidney-bean might become an object of national culture in the country, and be particularly useful in times of scarcity; more especially, as in good lands it will flower and grow luxuriantly, even in a dry, parching season; in which respect it differs from most other culinary vegetables. "It is an article of field culture in most warm countries; especially in France and America."-Loudon, 3629.

31. Varieties of the dwarfs. The early yellow, black, and red spotted, are among the most hardy; the early white is later. Growers for sale are said to depend on the Canterbury and Battersea, for the main crops. All kidney-beans are liable to decay from moist and cold ground; therefore it is perfectly useless to sow the seed till the season become genial, and the ground warm by the sun's influence. No time of any consequence can be gained by sowing before the end of April, or the first week in May.

Varieties of the runners. The scarlet and the large white are the best bearers. The painted lady, with variegated red and white flowers, is a beautiful and prolific variety: being tender, and more liable to rot in wet ground than the dwarf, the runners should not be sown till about the middle of May; and thence, to the beginning of July. Mr. Cobbett, in his American Gardener, No. 197, observes very justly, that for main crops of kidney beans, "it is by no means advisable to sow very early. If you do, the seed lies long

in the ground, which is always injurious to the plant. The plants come up feebly; the cold weather makes them look yellow, and they then never produce a fine crop."

Runners are not strictly annual; like the dahlia, the processes of the roots are fleshy, and the collar is furnished with eyes. If these be covered in the soil, so as effectually to protect them from frost, a row of plants may be produced in the spring; a layer of leafy, linings' manure, nine inches thick, is an excellent guard, and will finely enrich the earth.

32. Culture of both species. The dwarf kidney-beans should be sown in a warm border for the early crops, in drills two and a-half or three feet asunder, and two inches deep. Drop the beans at regular distances, of about four inches-some say three inches; and rake the earth neatly over each drill, to the full depth of two inches. Sow, for succession crops of the different sorts, about once in three weeks, to the close of July, or even a month later; and in very dry weather, immerse the beans in water for seven or eight hours prior to sowing. Keep the earth occasionally well stirred with the hoe, and draw a little to the stems, as the plants attain five or six inches in height. Gather the pods in rather a young and tender state. The runners for the principal crops should be sown in drills, in an open bed, two inches deep, five feet apart at least, and four inches asunder in the rows. The beans may be planted also against walls, fences, and buildings, or along the sides of walks. They require tall sticks or cords, or trellis, to run on or over. A shady walk may be made by forming an arch with laths, or light materials, planting the peans on each side of the supporters. Some persons are very skilful at this sort of fancy work; and the effect produced by the transparent green of the leaves, and the rich scarlet of the blossoms, is particularly beautiful, when illumined and brought out by the sunbeams. Scarlet-runners will produce till stopped by frost; but it should bẹ made an invariable rule to gather every pod as it attains a proper age, and by no means to leave one on the stalks to approach to maturity. If all be pulled off, the blossoms and beans will be produced in regular and continued succession; but if any of the podst remain ungathered, and verge towards ripeness, an important physical change (discoverable by the microscope) is effected in the cellular structure, and the vital energy of the plant appears to be directed solely to the process of maturing the seed.

"It deserves notice," says Abercrombie, "that in their voluble or twining habit of growth, the tendrils turn in a direction contrary to the apparent course of the sun. This aberration from the common habits of plants has been accounted for, by supposing that the

native climate of the scarlet-runner will be found to be south of the équator," (where the sun would be seen to the north at noon-day,) "and that the plant, although removed to a northern hemisphere, is still obedient to the course assigned to it by nature, turning in a direction which, in its native climate, would correspond with that of the sun."

Kidney-beans of both species will bear forcing in frames, previously to transplanting; and they bear transplanting remarkably well; and as they are very liable to damp off, and to be destroyed by slugs, it will be desirable to form a seed bed for each species, in some dry and protected spot. Let some hundreds of the beans be set, about four inches apart every way, and at about the same time as those in the drills; there will then be plants ready to fill up blank spaces in the rows, where such occur, or to form new plantations from the seed beds, according to the directions above given.

33. The soil for kidney-beans should be light and mellow, inclining to sandy rather than to stiff loam, for the early sowings; but for the summer crops, the soil may be much moister. It should be well digged, and properly manured, with moderately rich compost. The quantity of seed may be estimated at half a pint for 80 feet, to allow for planting at the distance of two and a-half or three inches.

34. Saving the seed. Select the earliest and finest pods, when ripe and mature, and lay them in the sun to dry; then clear them from the husks, and preserve them in bags or drawers, in a situation that is perfectly dry, but not exposed to the influence of artificial heat from fire. By the same means, the seed of all the leguminous tribe may be preserved.

FORCING THE KIDNEY-BEAN.

The dwarf varieties force extremely well in pots, and become a delicious treat to those who possess the convenience of a vegetable, plant, or strawberry-house. Sow five or six seeds of the yellow, or buff beans, in a 48-size pot, having previously inserted a loose, fibrous turf, at the bottom of each pot, to act as drainage, and filled it with light, rich loam. Place the beans near to the sides, one inch under the soil; and set the pots in a forcinghouse, where the fire heat is never below sixty degrees. When the plants have filled their pots with roots, remove them, with entire balls, of which the turfs form the bases, into "twenty-fours," prepared as the "forty-eights." Place them rather deeply, so that as the beans grow, earth may be gradually applied higher on the stems; finally, leave an inch space to admit of a due supply of 'water. If the plants run high, they must be stopped at an upper