( 207 ) 



Chapter XV. 



ON BEANS, PEASE, AND VETCHES. 



Although buck-\vheat, Indian corn, and millet sLould, in a botanical 

 arrangement, more properly follow those species of corn of wliich we have 

 just treated, yet we give these pulse precedence, as being more generally 

 cultivated under our common system of farming ; and we omit tlie mention 

 of kidney-beans, chick-peas, and lupines, tbough belonging to the same 

 class of vegetables, and extensively grown on the continent, because they 

 are only known in this country as garden plants. 



Both peas and beans were formerly more commonly grown by farmers 

 than at present ; for, under the old method, they formed almost the only 

 intermediate crops between those of white corn, and the grain was also 

 much used by the peasantry for bread ; but since the more general intro- 

 duction of clover, turnips, and the other artificial grasses and roots into 

 our alternate system, and the universal adoption of wheaten bread, they 

 have been much superseded by other green crops. They are also objected 

 to, as being so dependent upon the state of the weather as to be extremely 

 precarious, and as promoting the growth of weeds when not carefully 

 managed. In favourable seasons they are, however, very valuable, both 

 in regard to the grain and fodder which they produce, and beans still hold 

 their ground on tenacious soils, when drilled as a fallow crop ; while vetches 

 are extensively grown, as green food, under the common name of tares, 

 but the grain is seldom used for any other purpose than seed. 



Require the same kind of soil as that which best suits wheat, and are 

 therefore very generally sown as a preparatory crop upon heavy clays. 

 Botanists only notice one species; there are, however, many varieties 

 cultivated by gardeners, but those grown as field crops are confined to the 

 long-podded commion horse-bean, or " large tick," the seeds of which are 

 flat, broad, and of a brownish colour ; and the " small tick," which is 

 nearly round, hard, and almost black, but is the most esteemed in the stable, 

 and bears the highest price in the market. The " large ticks " are, how- 

 ever, generally preferred by farmers, on strong lands, both as covering the 

 ground better, and becoming ripe nearly a fortnight sooner than the 

 smaller sort : they also yield heavy crops, and although their coarseness 

 reduces the price, yet the quantity more than compensates for the differ- 

 ence. There are also the " Mazagan," which though not usually a produc- 

 tive kind, yet of which, in some instances, great crops have been ob- 

 tained, and which was formerly the most early sort in cultivation ; and the 

 " Heligoland," which has been more lately introduced as a rival variety, 

 and has been found very early and productive. They are all much used 

 as food for cattle, particularly for draught horses, being very heartening 

 to those which have to perform hard work ; but they should be given 

 in moderate quantities, as they are of a heating quality, and they should 

 not be used until they are full a year old. They are then usually broken 

 in a mill, and either mixed with oats and bran, or with cut straw and hay, 

 and for other cattle and pigs they are commonly ground into coarse meal. 

 If the millers be not much belied, it is indeed said, that, when ground fine 

 and properly boulted, the flour is not uufrequently mixed with that of 

 wheat. 



