Page:Willich, A. F. M. - The Domestic Encyclopædia (Vol. 1, 1802).djvu/234

206] bean, is more generally cultivated: it never grows very high, and, on account of its moderate growth, the air can easily pass between the rows. It bears abundantly, and is the most savoury kind, except the Tree kidney-bean. This is also a plentiful bearer, never rambles far, and grows up in the form of a shrub; its beans are broader than those of the Battersea kind.

They are all propagated from seeds, which should be sown in dry weather, about the latter end of March, or the beginning of April, to produce an early crop; but they require a dry soil and warm situation. The best method of sowing is, to draw parallel lines over the bed, at two feet and a half distance, into which the seeds are dropped about two inches asunder, and the mould drawn over them to the depth of an inch, with the head of a rake. About a week after sowing, the plants will come up, when the mould should be raised round their stalks as they rise, they will require no farther care, except weeding, and when the beans appear, they should be gathered twice a week; for, if suffered to hang too long, they weaken the plant, and become of little value. The first crop of kidney-beans will continue a month; and to supply the table afterwards, there should be fresh sowings in March, April, May, and June, the last of which will be in season, till destroyed by the frost. Early crops may also be raised in hot-beds, in the same manner as early cucumbers.  BEAR, or Ursus, in natural history, a genus of curious quadrupeds, consisting of eight species, the most remarkable of which are:

1. The arctos, or black bear, an animal of a phlegmatic temperament, inhabiting the forests of the North, and also capable of living in a warmer climate, especially the brown bear, which is of the same species, though much larger. The white, or silver bear, is the smallest, and more rarely met with than any other. They differ from all other animals, by their strong ropy hair, a thick head, with a blunt snout, short tail, and waddling gait, though they can run occasionally with great speed. Fond of solitude, bears herd only during the rutting season: after a gestation of six months, the females produce one, two, or three young ones, scarcely eight inches in length, which they suckle six months. They grow till twenty, and live to the age of thirty years. The principal nourishment of the brown bear is animal food, particularly mackarel, ants, and honey. The black bear, on the contrary, subsists entirely on vegetables, and is peculiarly fond of honey, so that it is frequently taken by the Poles and Russians, who expose a bowl of that substance mixed with brandy, by which he becomes so intoxicated, as to fall an easy prey to the captor. Numbers of these animals are annually killed in America, both for their savoury flesh, which resembles pork, and their excellent skin, which forms a very considerable article of commerce.—The flesh of bears' paws are considered as a luxury, even on the Imperial table.

2. The maritimus, or polar bear, whose skin is sometimes thirteen feet long: it is confined to the coldest regions of the globe, and has been found by navigators beyond the 80° of north latitude. Fish, seals, and the carcasses of whales,