196 Mistalce in Beans. 



bJes, in particular warm sallads, and are 

 extremely fond of seeds. Tares, and the 

 SMALLEST kind of HORSE-BEANS, commonly 

 called pigeon beans, are both the best and 

 cheapest food for pigeons, but the pulse 

 should always be old, that is to say, of the 

 previous year ; as the new will scour pigeons, 

 as well as any other kind of live stock. 

 Seeds are occasionally given to pigeons, 

 as a warming and stimulant diet ; but ac- 

 cording to my experience they greatly pre- 

 fer rape and canary to hemp-seed. It has 

 been remarked, that beans, sodden in salt- 

 water, scour pigeons equally with new 

 beans, and, in *a voyage, suffering them to 

 drink sea-water will soon kill them ; although 

 so generally benefited by salt, an excess of 

 it is fatal, as it is also to vegetation, promo- 

 ted as that is, by a moderate quantity. In 

 most publications on the subject of pigeons, 

 a dangerous mistake has been made in a 

 term applied to beans. Small tick beans, 

 are recommended, instead of small horse- 

 beans. Now, the ticl^ or kidwell (in the 

 western phrase), are the larger of the two 



