Beans, which we are thankful to note among the obsolete uses: "They are
bought up in great quantities at Bristol for Guinea ships, as food for
the negroes on their passage from Africa to the West Indies."

As an ornamental garden plant the Bean has never received the attention
it seems to deserve. A plant of Broad Beans grown singly is quite a
stately plant, and the rich scent is an additional attraction to many,
though to many others it is too strong, and it has a bad
character--"Sleep in a Bean-field all night if you want to have awful
dreams or go crazy," is a Leicestershire proverb:[34:3] and the Scarlet
Runner (which is also a Bean) is one of the most beautiful climbers we
have. In England we seldom grow it for ornament, but in France I have
seen it used with excellent effect to cover a trellis-screen, mixed with
the large blue Convolvulus major.

FOOTNOTES:

[34:1] Chaucer, "The Marchandes Tale," 19.

[34:2] Ibid., "The Man of Lawes Tale," prologue.

[34:3] Copied from the mediaeval proverb: "Cum faba florescit, stultorum
copia crescit."

BILBERRY.

_Pistol._

Where fires thou find'st unraked and hearths unswept,
There pinch the maids as blue as Bilberry--
Our radiant Queen hates sluts and sluttery.

_Merry Wives_, act v, sc. 5 (48).

The Bilberry is a common British shrub found on all mossy heaths, and
very pretty both in flower and in fruit. Its older English name was
Heathberry, and its botanical name is Vaccinium myrtillus. We have in
Britain four species of Vaccinium: the Whortleberry or Bilberry (_V.
myrtillus_), the Large Bilberry (_V. uliginosum_), the Crowberry (_V.
vitis idaea_), and the Cranberry (_V. oxycoccos_). These British species,
as well as the North American species (of which there are several), are
all beautiful little shrubs in cultivation, but they are very difficult
to grow; they require a heathy soil, moisture, and partial shade.

BIRCH.

_Duke._

Fond fathers,
Having bound up the threatening twigs of Birch,
Only to stick it in their children's sight
For terror, not to use, in time the rod
Becomes more mock'd than fear'd.

_Measure for Measure_, act i, sc. 3 (23).

Shakespeare only mentions this one unpleasant use of the Birch tree, the
manufacture of Birch rods; and for such it seems to have been chiefly
valued in his da