Ch. XV.] ON BEANS. -213 



peatec], until tlic jilaiils become so high as to endanger tlieir being broken. 

 Tiie plan is certainly, to some extent, beneficial to the crop both by the ma- 

 nure deposited upon it, and by the destruction of a portion of the weeds ; 

 but it can be only regarded as a poor substitute for the use of the hoe. 



Although the culture of beans contributes greatly to the profitable manage.- 

 ment of heavy soils, by enabling the farmer to occasionally dispense with 

 the recurrence of a naked fallow, yet their growth is attended with the 

 serious inconvenience of being so slow, that the harvest is seldom com- 

 pleted until the latter end of September, or not unfrequently until late in 

 October. This prevents all furlberjpreparation for the sowing of wheat 

 than merely that of one ploughing ; and if the bean stubble be foul, or the 

 season be unpropitious, the seed cannot be got into the ground either in 

 proper time, or without great additional labour. The getting in of the crop 

 is also attended with extraordinary delay, in consequence of the great 

 length of time which they take in drying ; and in Iiumid climates — like, for 

 instance, that of Ireland — they are therefore rarely grown. Mr. Parkinson, 

 indeed, who farmed largely in that country, says that the crops when cut 

 were sometimes rotted by the wet, and that, " taking one season with 

 another, he does not there think them worth cultivation*." It is therefore 

 almost unnecessary to say that, when grown as a fallow crop, the earliest 

 species should^be sown. 



The harvesting of beans is always an object of anxiety, in consequence 

 of the danger to be apprehended from the changes of weather which may be 

 expected to occur about that season, and the serious injury to which the 

 crop may be thus exposed by wet before it can be got into a fit state for 

 carriage. Loss may be also sustained in hot weather by the shedding of 

 the pods, if the crop be allowed to stand upon the ground until fully ripe ; 

 and care must also be taken in the binding up, stooking of the sheaves, 

 and stacking, in order to secure the whole produce. The period of 

 ripening is also, in many cases, unequal; for, in late seasons, the plant 

 sometimes takes on a second growth, and the cutting must be determined 

 by that portion which is first ready. Indeed, although if not tolerably 

 well ripened, the pods will shrink, and their quality will be impaired, yet, 

 if allowed to become fully ripe, an equal loss may arise from the scattering 

 of the grain: therefore, when the greater part of the pods become nearly 

 black, or when the eye of the bean is thoroughly blacked, and the skin has 

 acquired a yellowish, leather- like colour and appearance, not a moment 

 should be lost in submitting the crop to the sickle; for, even if the 

 produce be thus diminished, yet advantages will be gained in the superior 

 quality of the haulm, tlie greater probability of the continuance of good 

 weather for carrying the crop in good condition, and the certainty of an 

 earlier seed-time for the wheat. 



Beans are commonly " bagged " close to the ground — which is done by 

 an instrument much in the form of a sickle, only wider in the blade and sharp 

 as a scythe, or they are cut with tlie sickle ; though sometimes they are mown. 

 Some farmers who occupy small holdings, if the haulm be short — as is 

 the case with the Mazagan bean — in some cases pull them up by the roots; 

 which certainly leaves the ground in a better tilth than when they are cut, 

 but it requires a iiumber of hands, and can only be done when the land is 



* On the Blanagement of a Farm in Ireland, p. 54. Mr. Lambert, however, who 

 is a resident in the country, and has pntili.shed Ubservations on the Rural Affairs of 

 Ireland, afcriles the neglect of beans to the superior value and utility of the potatoe, 

 which seems to liave tliere set aside the desire of cultivating any other leguminous or 

 green crop. p. 122. 



