wo to four feet and upwards in height. The
leaves are alternate, pinnate, and composed of from two to four pairs of
oval, smooth, entire leaflets; the flowers are large, nearly stemless,
purple or white, veined and spotted with purplish-black; the pods are
large and downy; the seeds are rounded, or reniform, flattened, and vary
to a considerable extent in size and color in the different
varieties,--they will vegetate until more than five years old.

_Soil and Planting._--As before remarked, the English Bean requires a
moist, strong soil, and a cool situation; the principal obstacles in the
way of its successful cultivation in this country being the heat and
drought of the summer. The seeds should be planted early, in drills two
feet asunder for the smaller-growing varieties, and three feet for the
larger sorts; dropping them about six inches from each other, and
covering two inches deep. A quart of seed will plant about a hundred and
fifty feet of row or drill.

_Cultivation._--"When the plants have attained a height of five or six
inches, they are earthed up slightly for support; and, when more
advanced, they are sometimes staked along the rows, and cords extended
from stake to stake to keep the plants erect. When the young pods
appear, the tops of the plants should be pinched off, to throw that
nourishment, which would be expended in uselessly increasing the height
of the plant, into its general system, and consequently increase the
bulk of crop, as well as hasten its maturity. This often-recommended
operation, though disregarded by many, is of very signal
importance."--_M'Int._

_Taking the Crop._--The pods should be gathered for use when the seeds
are comparatively young, or when they are of the size of a
marrowfat-pea. As a general rule, all vegetables are most tender and
delicate when young; and to few esculents does this truth apply with
greater force than to the class of plants to which the English Bean
belongs.

_Use._--The seeds are used in their green state, cooked and served in
the same manner as shelled kidney-beans. The young pods are sometimes,
though rarely, used as string-beans.

_Varieties._--

DUTCH LONG POD.

Plant from four to five feet high, dividing into two or three branches;
flowers white; pods horizontal, or slightly pendulous, six or seven
inches long, about an inch in width, three-fourths of an inch thick, and
containing five or six large white or yellowish-white seeds.

Not earl