40 On the Comjxirative Advantages of 



of horse-hoeIng and a free course of Iiand-boeing in all directions. 

 When land is of a very adhesive nature, and contains a good deal 

 of couch, the only chance of getting it cleaned in summer is to 

 ridge it up in winter, in rows from 24 to 28 inches apart. The 

 winter's frost will then so loosen it, that in the spring the ridges 

 should be divided, new ones formed, and the beans be either 

 drilled or dibbled on the top. By this system the horse-hoe 

 can be set early to work between the rows without injuring the 

 beans, and may be kept at work late also : and, in addition, 

 hand-lioeing and picking off the couch will, if well followed 

 up, entirely clear the land of weeds, and permit of a good crop 

 growing also. The cultivation of beans by such method is the 

 same as for roots grown on ridges ; and without ridges foul land 

 cannot be cleaned at the time that a crop of corn is growing 

 upon it. 



In ordinary cases, when land is free, or nearly so, from couch,^ 

 the cultivation of beans upon the flat surface is most usual and 

 ansvv'ers very well. The rows should never be less than from IS 

 to 24 inches apart to allow the horse-hoe to work freely between 

 them without smothering the plants. The common horse-hoe 

 used for turnips does well in general, and if the ground get very 

 hard a plough divested of the Turnfurrow and coulter should 

 be used. Tlie left-hand side should go as near the plants as 

 possible, so as not to interfere much with the roots or smother 

 the plants ; and if a turn of the plough is thus given betweerj 

 every two rows, the soil is so loosened and broken up that many 

 weeds are killed in fine weather by this operation, which also 

 allows of ready hand-hoeing afterwards on the surface, and the 

 spreading of the roots when horse cultivation is suspended. 

 Beans can be dibbled in straiglit lines by hand equally true as 

 by the drill, however long the length may be. AVe have had 

 them dibbled by hand in lines nearly 20 chains long without any 

 apparent deviation from a straight line. 



Beans cannot be properly drilled on newly broken-up grass- 

 land. The coulters become choked and cannot go deep enough 

 to deposit the seed. Neither does the drill woi'k well on land 

 when very stiff or Avhen pieces of dung and bundles of stubble 

 lie aljout the surface. Dibbling is then preferable. The seed 

 should be put in from 2 to 3 inches deep — the deeper the better 

 in general. The quantity of seed used for both winter and 

 spring beans ranges from 3 to 4 bushels per acre. 3 bushels 

 should in general be sufficient, but on poor land in rough condi- 

 tion 4 bushels are not too much. A two-horse drill should get 

 over 8 acres a day. A horse-hoe should get over 3 acres a day 

 if the rows are about 2 feet apart. A man can dibble from one- 

 third to one-half an acre a day. I give 65. per acre for dibbling 



