Vegetable Growing for Market 81 



4 . BEANS 



The Broad Bean (Vicia Faba or Faba wdgaris). The Broad Bean 

 is an annual supposed to have been introduced originally from Egypt. 

 According to the Standard Cyclopaedia of Modem Agriculture, nearly 

 600,000 ac. of land were devoted to Bean culture in 1873 in the British 

 Islands. In 1897, however, the area had dropped to 230,000 ac. Ten years 

 later, in 1907, the figures rose to 311,000 ac. Beans are grown but very 

 little in Ireland or in Wales, and only 12,000 ac. are returned for Scotland. 

 England, \vith 296,000 ac., therefore grows about 95 per cent of the total 

 Bean crop. Of this more than three-fourths (76 per cent) is grown on the 

 eastern side of the country, the counties of Essex, Suffolk, and Lincoln 

 alone accounting for over 100,000 ac. The average yield of seeds of a 

 Bean crop is quoted as 29J bus. to the acre. 



The Broad Bean is a crop that is favoured both by farmers and market 

 gardeners the latter chiefly growing the plants for the pods, the former 

 for the corn or stems and the ripened seeds. Owing to the fact that the 

 Broad Bean is a strong grower, and, like other leguminous plants, possesses 

 the remarkable power of securing free nitrogen from the atmosphere and 

 storing it up in the bacterial nodules on the roots, it may be grown to 

 advantage in comparatively poor soil. This will be rendered richer in 

 nitrates for a crop of a different nature. If the stems and leaves are dug 

 in they will act as a very excellent manure when decomposed, and yield up 

 a supply of nitrates, potash, lime, and phosphoric acid. Indeed, the esti- 

 mated value of manure obtained by the consumption of 1 ton of Bean stems 

 of average composition amounts to about 15s. at current unit prices. The 

 ash contains 30 to 35 per cent of potash, 20 to 25 per cent of lime, 5 to 

 8 per cent of phosphoric acid, and 2 to 4 per cent of silica. 



There are no published figures as to the yield of pods from Broad 

 Beans, but the following; notes made by the writer may be useful. 



t/ t/ 



Taking 50 plants, 1 ft. apart every way, the average number of pods to 

 each was 20, and each pod average 4 seeds, making 80 for each plant. In 

 a fresh state 70 of these seeds weighed 8 oz. without the pods. As these 

 would weigh at least another 8 oz., it may be taken that the average yield 

 from each plant would be 1 Ib. Reckoning 30,000 plants to 1 ac., the gross 

 yield would be about 13 tons of pods to the acre, and as many more for 

 stems and leaves. An average crop under market-garden culture, how- 

 ever, is from 7 to 8 tons of pods per acre. The average prices for Broad 

 Beans in July and August vary from 2s. to 3s. a bushel, but drop down 

 later on to Is., although in exceptional cases the prices occasionally rule 

 much higher and lower. [j. w.] 



For market-garden purposes the first to consider is the Long Pod, which 

 can be planted in early November on w r arm soil. If shelter is available 

 it will help; if not, it is a good plan to put the land up in balks or ridges 



running east and west, and to plant the Broad Beans along the south side 

 VOL. IV. 51 



