B E A 



80 



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arc used in the soft young state for the table, and in the 

 hard dry state for domestic animal* chiefly, either wh >!< <>r 

 ground into uu-.il. In tome place* bean-meal i* mixed with 

 other meal in making coarse bread ; or the bean* are boiled 

 into a mess with fat meat, in which stale they arc very 

 palatable and nutritious. The bean came originally tr->m 

 the east, and was cultivated in Egypt and Borbary in the 

 earliest ages of which we have any records. It spread 

 thence into Spain and Portugal, from whence some of the 

 best varieties have been introduced into this country. The 

 most common varieties of garden beans ore the Windsor, 

 the Toker, the long-pod, and the Magazan, all productive 

 and well tasted. In the field the tick Kan, the common 

 hone bean, and the small Dutch* or Heligoland bean, arc 

 preferred, being hardy as well as productive. The long-pod 

 is occasionally sown in the field, the Magazan and broad 

 Windsor bean seldom. 



There is no plant in which the transformation of the 

 cotyledons into seed leaves is more readily traced than in 

 the bean. The Windsor bean, in particular, from the size 

 of its lobes and distinctness of its vessels, is admirably 

 adapted for observation, the parts being readily distin- 

 guished by the naked eye. If a bean is planted in moist 

 earth or soaked in water, in a moderate temperature, the 

 cotyledons will swell and soon burst the skin which enve- 

 lopes them, separating into two lobes, which open like the 

 shells of an oyster. In the part which forms the joint an 

 oblong body will appear, which is the embryo stem of the 

 plant. This increases rapidly in the earth, and pushes a 

 root downwards, and a stem upwards, which latter carries 

 the lobes with it till they rise above the ground, when 

 they expand, and are transformed into seed leaves. It is 

 curious to observe the force of vegetation in the young bean 

 when it is, as it were, imprisoned in a strong soil hardened 

 at the surface, as may be seen when a path crosses a field 

 of beans newly planted ; the cotyledons, under these cir- 

 cumstances, are drawn into the crevices made by the young 

 stem, where they often remain held fast till the first shower 

 releases them. The change in the cotyledons deserves 

 particular attention. As soon as the seed swells by imbibing 

 moisture, the oxygen, which is always present in the at- 

 mosphere and in water, acts upon the farinaceous substance 

 iti the seed, and takes a portion of carbon from it producing 

 carbonic acid, which is absorbed by the surrounding plants, 

 or (lies off in the state of gas: by this loss the remaining 

 substance becomes a mild fluid emulsion, analogous to the 

 milk of animals, which, being taken up by the minute 

 vessels of the radicle, nourishes and increases them. It 

 is thi alone which produces the first growth ; the earth is 

 the mere cradle to protect the young plant and to keep it 

 moist, by preventing the too rapid evaporation which the heat 

 and light of the sun would otherwise produce : when the 

 ground is entirely deprived of moisture, vegetation necessarily 

 ->. The cotyledons are the reservoirs of nature to sup- 

 ply proper food for the plant in its infant state, as the 

 mother's milk does in animals of the class of mammalia, 

 and the yolk of the egg in birds and oviparous animals. 

 In proportion as the farina in the lobes is gradually ex- 

 hausted new vessels appear through the substance of the 

 lobes, conveying the newly formed juice from every part of 

 them into the root and stem, and, at last, the cotyledons ore 

 transformed into seed leaves. The fibres of the roots are by 

 this tune completely formed, and their extremities, called 

 ipongioles,* from their appearance when minutely examined, 

 have acquired the power of absorbing nourishment from 

 the soil. The plant may now be said to be weaned. The 

 stem is then considerably advanced in growth, having put 

 forth new leaves of a different form from the seed leaves : 

 these last, having now performed their part, wither and 

 soon fall off; if they are removed before this period, the 

 plant, having lost its nurse, languishes and dies. 



The bean at this stage of its growth requires particular 

 attention. If the soil is rich and well prepared, it will grow 

 rapidly and luxuriantly, and bo soon out of reach of insects 

 or weeds, and capable of resisting the varying influences of 

 the atmosphere; but if the soil is poor and parched, ami 

 the supply of nutritive juices it scanty, the plant will soon 



*Spo*pulii. At the rxtr'tmtlri of the tmalb-tt rumilicaliorn of the root! 

 My be tern, by meani of lllh muniltrn, (mill todiea, which r, 

 BltnraaOTU of the mipulr tbree of llir rout : they are called Ifvitgi;' 

 Iheit rrtrmblaocr to a ip-mft. Their lueji to draw in the juicci. by which 



lite plant ii >iUlnnl anil incieaaM. They poneti a Thai power, by "h-h 

 they more reMdiljr alnorb aume fluids than other*. Mid are by tome thought 

 to have a |*>"ei of (election, w the lacteal* lure iu the wteitiuei of animals. 

 [Sea Root.] 



show weakness and disease, and the only way to prevent a 

 total failure of the crop, is to supply by :irt t',.e deficiency of 

 nature. In very poor guilt manure may be applied in a 

 liquid state, or as a tupdrcmg: in those which arc nut 

 exhausted, tillage alone will enable the roots to spread, and 

 uive them a wider range to seek their food in. The weeds 

 destroyed, the whole powers of the soil are reserved 

 for the crop; and the air charged with fertilizing vapour* 

 being allowed to penetrate the surface, and hcini: retained 

 in the interstices of the soil, greatly assists in invigo- 

 rating the vegetation. These are the principles on 

 is founded the whole culture of leguminous plants, 

 whether in the garden or the field. Where labour is nut 

 spared and the produce is valuable, as where vegetables 

 arc raised as a kind of luxury for the tables of the nch, 

 the greatest attention is paid to the cultivation of I 

 o as to have them carlv and in regular succession during 

 the whole summer. They are even occasionally i 

 by artificial heat. In general they are sown or planted, 

 at various times, from the beginning uf winter to the 

 middle of summer, but they must be protected from 

 frost in the first case, and from too great lic.it and drought 

 in the latter. They are set in rows with wide intervals, 

 which are kept dug and clean, and in which les-or vegeta- 

 bles are advancing in growth, to be sheltered by the I < 

 and to succeed them when removed. In order to strengthen 

 the pods already formed, as soon as those which arc m-ar 

 the bottom of the stem are filled, the tops of the plants 

 are cut off, and the beans are gathered when the seed has 

 acquired sufficient consistency to be taken from the shells, 

 before they have acquired 'any farinaceous qualities. One 

 crop is made to succeed another by regulating the tin 

 sowing ; and thus beans are gathered for the table from May 

 to November, or till the frosty nights check the growth of the 

 plant. The cultivation of the field bean is only as perfect 

 an imitation of the garden culture as circumstances will 

 permit. As only one crop is required, and that in a per- 

 fectly ripe state, when the seeds are fully formed and hard, 

 they are sown at one particular season, so as to avoid the 

 danger from frosts and ungenial weather in spring, and at 

 the same time to have the crop ripe in good time to be har- 

 vested before the cold and wet season sets in. The Usual 

 mode is to drill them by a machine, at the distance of from 

 twenty to thirty inches, according to the richness of the 

 soil, or to dibble them by hand, either singly or by putting 

 four or five beans in each hole, increasing the distance of 

 the holes from six to twelve inches. Beans are tolerably 

 hardy, and will bear moderate dry frosts ; but they suffer 

 much from alternate frosts and thaws, which in this cli- 

 mate are so common in February. The end of February, 

 or the beginning of March, is therefore generally preferred 

 for bean-sowing. When the season is remarkably mild, as 

 was the case in 1834, early sowing is a great advantage. 

 The writer of this article planted a field of beans on the 1 st 

 January 1834, in a soil duly prepared ; they were reaped 

 in August, and produced a very ^ood crop: his neighbours, 

 who planted their beans in March, had not half the quan- 

 tity on equally good land, owing to the dryness uf the sum- 

 mer. But this was an experiment which succeeded : had 

 severe weather come on in February, the whole crop might 

 have been lost. As a general rule, beans may be sown 

 from the middle of February to the middle of March. The 

 sorts usually cultivated in the fields are the tick bean, 

 the horse bean, and the small Dutch or Heligoland bean. 

 In some situations the Mugazan and the long-pud have 

 produced good crops in the field : the first three arc how- 

 ever best suited for general cultivation. There arc several 

 varieties of these, which differ but little in their appear- 

 ance ; experience is the best guide in choosing the seed 

 which suits particular soils and situations. The small 

 round regular-shaped beans are generally preferred, as ob- 

 taining the best prices in the markets, especially in largo 

 towns, where there is a great consumption of beans by 

 hard-working horses. 



The soil best adapted for beans is a rich strong loam, 

 such as produces good wheat. In such a soil the produce is 

 sometimes fifty or sixty bushels per acre, but an average 

 crop, on moderate land, is about half that quantity. On 

 very rich land beans have produced extraordinary crops, by 

 being sown broad-cast and very thick, the stems being drawn 

 up to a great height in favourable seasons. A small field 

 of very rich land, in the county of Sussex, was sown in 

 the year 1832 with four bushels of the small tick bean. 



