The mystery is made clear by the illustration. It will be seen at once how the two pieces slide together in a diagonal direction.
[425.—JACK AND THE BEANSTALK.—solution]
The serious blunder that the artist made in this drawing was in depicting the tendrils of
the bean climbing spirally as at A above, whereas the French bean, or scarlet runner, the variety clearly selected by the artist in the absence of any authoritative information on the point, always climbs as shown at B. Very few seem to be aware of this curious little fact. Though the bean always insists on a sinistrorsal growth, as B, the hop prefers to climb in a dextrorsal manner, as A. Why, is one of the mysteries that Nature has not yet unfolded.