Ch. XV.] ON BEANS. 215 



The thrashing is usually performed with the flail, though it may be also 

 done by the mill, and the mode of dressing is the same as in the common 

 process with other grain ; but, in riddling, the light grains and broken 

 shells are carefully separated. The first is, however, the plan generally 

 preferred by those farmers who give the haulm as food to their working 

 horses, as its succulence, when thus gradually thrashed, is better preserved 

 than when a large quantity is prepared together. The hauhn, when not 

 allowed to stand too long, and when harvested in good condition, is a hearty 

 kind of winter food ; but, if not got up in perfect order, it is only fit for 

 lilter in the straw-yard. It must also be observed, that whatever may be the 

 advantages, in point of the produce of g-rain, by sowing beans in rows, yet, 

 in regard to the quality of the haulm, there is a loss ; for the stem becomes 

 more hard and woody at the bottom, and more of the leaves fall off" than 

 when sown broad-cast: its feeding- properties are thus rendered inferior, 

 and the value of the crop should, therefore, be always estimated with re- 

 ference to the mode of culture. It has been known to yield two tons per 

 acre ; and we have heard of the crop, if cut when green, being found very 

 profitable in the feeding of pigs. 



The produce of beans depends more upon tlie state of the soil and 

 weather than any species of white corn, and is so exceedingly various, that 

 while six quarters per acre are not an uncommon crop on rich alluvial soils, 

 twenty bushels are considered a fair average on those of an inferior quality ; 

 and, even on the best land, the crop, notwithstanding the most arduous 

 attention to its cultivation, will sometimes turn out a complete failure; for 

 it is exposed to injuries which arise wholly from the temperature of the season. 



The diseases to which the plant is subject somewhat resemble those of 

 rust or mildew : the first showing itself on the leaves, the points of which 

 become brown, but it extends over the whole leaf until it becomes black, 

 and finishes by destroying the plant itself. The mildew, or, as it is some- 

 times termed, the " honey-dew," manifests itself generally about the middle 

 of May upon tlie tops, and is accompanied by swarms of a black insect, 

 known to entomologists as the aphis^ and in some parts of the country 

 called the " bean-dolphin," or the " collier." It is something in the form 

 of a louse, and spreads over the whole stem, to which it clings until the 

 entire juice is consumed, and the vegetation of the fruit is prevented ; but so 

 little is known either of its propagation, or its habits, that no means have 

 been discovered to prevent its ravages*. Endeavours have indeed been 

 made to destroy the insect with the smoke of sulphur, but it was ineffectual, 

 unless of such strength as to destroy the plant ; and the only known remedy 

 is to nip off" the buds, which is done by a person walking through the 

 rows with a sword-blade, or a small scythe set in a handle, with which 

 he cuts off" the heads of the plants ; it is said that not only is the progress 

 of the aphis thus arrested, but that the blossoming of the bean — which is 

 the crisis of its future growth — is thus much invigoratedf. 



It has indeed been recommended to watch the course of the flowering, 

 and, whenever ants are seen about the plants, then to immediately have the 

 buds cut off without loss of time, as they commonly precede the appearance 



* An interestinf^ treatise on the subject of " British Plant-Lice," — to which class of 

 insects the aphis belongs — has just been published by Proi'essor Rennie ; from which 

 they would appear to be propagated without pairing ! Whether this singular deviation 

 from the common laws of nature can be established by future proof, remains to be seen ; 

 but according to some calculations made upon nine generations, proceeding, in the 

 same seasni, from one mother, the births would amount to the incredible number of 

 350,970,489,000,000,000. See the Quart. Journ. of Agric, No. xxx. 



f Gen, Rep. ot Scotland, vol. i. p. 523. Malcolm's Mad, Husb., vol. ii. p. 359. 



