Cut off the stalk-end, and strip off the strings, then cut thorn into shreds. If not quite fresh, have a basin of spring-water, with a little salt dissolved in it, and as the beans are cleaned and stringed, throw them in: put them on the fire in boiling water, with some salt in it; after they have boiled fifteen or twenty minutes, take one out and taste it; as soon as they are tender take them up, throw them into a co-lander or sieve to drain. Send up the beans whole when they are very young. When they are very large they look pretty cut into lozenges