Season intermediate. Plants from seeds sown after settled warm weather will blossom in six weeks, and green pods may be plucked for use in fifty days. For shelling in their green state, pods may be gathered in ten weeks, and the crop will ripen off in ninety days. For its young pods, or for green beans, plantings may be made to the last week in June; but the crop will not mature, unless the weather continues favorable till the 1st of October.
The ripe seeds are variegated with deep-red and pale-drab, the red predominating; kidney-shaped, nearly straight, three-fourths of an inch long, and three-tenths of an inch deep. A quart contains fourteen hundred and fifty seeds, and will plant a row of two hundred and twenty-five feet, or a hundred and fifty hills.
The variety is hardy and productive. It is extensively cultivated as a garden-bean in England and France, and has been common to the gardens of this country for nearly two centuries. The young pods are of medium quality; but the seeds, green or dry, are mealy and well flavored. On account of the parchment-like character of the pods, the seeds seldom suffer from the effects of wet weather.
Refugee.
Thousand to One.
Plant sixteen to eighteen inches high, and readily distinguished from most varieties by its small, smooth, deep-green, and elongated leaves; flowers purple; pods five inches long, nearly cylindrical, pale-green while young, greenish-white streaked with purple when sufficiently advanced for shelling, yellow when ripe, and usually yielding five beans.
The Refugee is not an early sort. The plants blossom in seven weeks, produce young pods in eight weeks, and ripen in eighty-seven days, from the time of sowing. Plantings for the ripened product may be made till the middle of June; and for the green pods, to the middle of July.
The ripe seeds are light-drab, with numerous spots and broad patches of bright-purple, nearly straight, cylindrical at the middle, tapering to the ends (which are generally rounded), five-eighths of an inch long, and three-tenths of an inch thick. Eighteen hundred and fifty are contained in a quart, and will plant a row two hundred and fifty feet in length, or two hundred hills.
The variety is hardy, yields abundantly, and the young pods are thick, fleshy, and tender in texture. As a string-bean, or for pickling, it is considered one of the best of all varieties, and is recommended for general cultivation. The seeds are comparatively small, and are rarely used either in a green or ripened state.
Rice. Vil.