Book VL THE BEAN. 771 



that depend on boys are horribly neglected, and thus the farmer suffers materially ; but 

 if the seed is deposited two and a half, or (better) three inches deep, it is not so easily 

 eradicated. In some districts, as Middlesex, Surrey, &c. the method is, to plant 

 this pulse in rows stricken out by a line, by which a great saving is made in the article 

 of seed, a circumstance which is thought to compensate for the extraordinary charge of 

 this mode of husbandry ; and thus far may be fairly acknowledged, that the method of 

 planting beans by the dibber is greatly to be preferred to that of sowing the seed at 

 random ; the economy of this agricultural process is thus explained : the rows are 

 marked out one foot asunder, and the seed planted in holes made two inches apart : the 

 lines are stretched across the lands, which are formed about six feet over, so that when 

 one row is planted, the sticks to which the line is fastened are moved by a regular 

 measurement to the distance required, and the same method pursued till the field is 

 completed. The usual price for this work is ninepence per peck, and the allowance two 

 bushels per acre. Great confidence must necessarily be reposed in the people who 

 transact the business of planting beans by the dibber, who, if inclined to fraud, have it in 

 their power to deceive their employer by throwing great part of the seed into the hedge, 

 from which their daily profits are considerably enhanced, their own labor spared, and 

 every discovery effectually precluded, till the appearance of the crop, when the frequent 

 chasms in the rows will give sufficient indications of the fraud ; and by this time, per- 

 haps, the villainous authors of the mischief may have escaped all possibility of detection, 

 by having conveyed themselves from the scene of their iniquity. 



4779. The quantity of seed allowed is very different in the southern and northern 

 parts of Britain ; in the former, even when the rows are narrow, only two bushels or 

 two bushels and a half; but in Scotland, seldom less than four bushels to the English 

 statute acre, even when sown in ridgelets twenty-seven inches distant, and a bushel more 

 when sown broad-cast. We seldom have seen thin beans turn out well, unless the 

 soil is particularly rich ; nay, unless the rows close, weeds will get away after the cleaa- 

 ing process is finished, thereby disappointing the object of drilling, and rendering the 

 system of little avail towards keeping the ground in good condition. Both irr the 

 broad-cast and drill husbandry, it is common to mix a small quantity of pease along 

 with beans. This mixture improves both the quantity and quality of the straw for 

 fodder, and the pease-straw is useful for binding up the sheaves in harvest. 



4780. The after culture of the bean crop commences with harrowing just before the 

 young plants reach the surface. When sown in rows, in either of the modes already 

 mentioned, the harrows are employed about ten or twelve days after ; and, being driven 

 across the ridgelets, the land is laid completely level for the subsequent operations, and 

 the annual weeds destroyed. 



4781. u4fter the beans have made some growth, sooner or later, according as the soil 

 may happen to be encumbered with or free from weeds, the horse-hoe is employed in the 

 interval between the rows ; and followed by the hand-hoe for the purpose of cutting 

 down such weeds as the horse-hoe cannot reach ; all the weeds, that grow among the 

 beans beyond the reach pf either hoe, should be pulled up with the hand. The same 

 operations are repeated as often as the condition of the land, in regard to cleanness, may 

 require. 



4782. Before the introduction of the horse-hoe, which merely stirs the soil, and cuts up 

 the weeds, a common small plough, drawn by one horse, was used in working between 

 the rows, and is still necessary where root-weeds abound. This plough goes one bout, 

 or up and down in each interval, turning the earth from the beans, and forming a ridge- 

 let in the middle ; then hand-hoes are immediately employed ; and after some time, a 

 second hand-hoeing succeeds to destroy any fresh growth of weeds. The same plough, 

 with an additional mould-board, finally splits open the intermediate ridgelet, and lays up 

 the earth to the roots of the beans on each side. The benefit of laying up the earth in 

 this manner, however, is alleged to be counterbalanced by the trouble which it occasions 

 in harvest, when it is difficult to get the reapers to cut low enough, and may be properly 

 dispensed with, unless the soil be very wet and level. 



4783. In vioist warm seasons, this grain hardly ever ripens effectually ; and it is ex- 

 ceedingly difficult to get the straw into a proper condition for the stack. In such cases, 

 it has been found of advantage to switch off the succulent tops with an old scythe blade 

 set in a wooden handle, with which one man can easily top-dress two acres a day. This 

 operation, it is said, will occasion the crop to be ready for reaping a fortnight earlier, and 

 also, perhaps a week sooner ready for the stack-yard after being reaped. 



4784. Before reaping beans the grain ought to be tolerably well ripened, otherwise the 

 quality is impaired, whilst a long time is required to put the straw in such a condition as 

 to be preserved in the stack. In an early harvest, or where the crop is not weighty, it is 

 an easy matter to get beans sufficiently ripened ; but, in a late harvest, and in every one 

 where the crop takes on a second growth, it is scarcely practicable to get them thoroughly 

 ripened for the sickle.. Under these circumstances, it is unnecessary tp let beans stancj 



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