No. 11. 



Evglish Bean. — Jjge of Sheep. 



357 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 English Bean. 



Sir, — I find mention made in some of the 

 agricultural papers, of tlie English field or 

 horse-bean ; — Mr. Webster has noticed it 

 also in one of his addresses, as a valuable 

 crop ; and others have given their opinions 

 that it might one day become a staple article 

 of field culture in this country. I have grown 

 largely of this crop, and from what 1 have 

 observed, I do not belies'e that it can be cul- 

 tivated here to any good purpose, as it de- 

 lights only in stiff and naturally cold soils, 

 which, after high cultivation however, pro- 

 duces and supports very large crops of this 

 plant ; and the careful hoeing and cleaning 

 which it always obtains, fits the land for the 

 finest seed bed for wheat, imaginable. 



In the wealds, or clays of Essex and Kent, 

 it forms a very large portion of their routine 

 or course of crops ; and the yield is some- 

 times very great, but upon the whole, it is 

 an uncertain crop, being liable to a blight 

 while in bloom, which will at once deprive 

 it of half its yield, and often more. I have 

 known the crop to grow to the height of six 

 feet, and be covered on both sides the stalk 

 with the finest pods; while I have seen thou- 

 sands of acres not more than eighteen inches 

 in height, with not a pod scarcely in a yard. 

 The yield depends much on the state of the 

 atmosphere, and the plants love moisture, 

 and a cool heavy soil, two things that this 

 country — I am now speaking of the latitude 

 of Pennsylvania — does not naturally supply. 

 It is a very valuable crop when free from 

 blight; I was accustomed to cut it up for 

 chaff for hard working horses without thrash- 

 ing the stalks, when cut very small, yield- 

 ing a most hearty and palatable food, espe- 

 cially when mixed with the bean in pod ; 

 and with them too, I have cut oats in the 

 straws ; this mixture was the best and cheap- 

 est food I ever used, excellent as an accom- 

 paniment with turnips or beets for cows and 

 sheep in the winter. 



The horse-bean requires veVy early plant- 

 ing in drills in the spring, on a stiff and well 

 manured soil, and after the most careful cul- 

 ture, with two hoeings, does not always pay 

 the cost. It is always late in harvesting; I 

 have often known the crop, after being cut 

 in the field, covered with a foot or more in 

 thickness with snow ; and once in particular, 

 I remember seeing the last of a crop of them 

 carried to the barn on the 24th day of De- 

 cember — the day before Christmas day ; — 

 they are not apt, however, to be injured by 

 exposure. 



I believe the idea entertained in this coun- 

 try, that the horse-bean is a particularly ex- 

 hausting crop, is erroneous; its large and 



woody tap-root is supposed in England to 

 draw its jiriiicipal nourishment from the sub- 

 soil, leaving the surface in a degree unex- 

 hausted, and in a fine pulverized state, aris- 

 ing from repeated hoeings and cleanings, a 

 capital seed-bed for wheat. 



Here is an extract from Boys' Survey of 

 Kent (England), on the alternate crops of 

 beans, with which — as practised in the 

 Island of Shepey — Mr. Boys cultivates the 

 fine farm of Betstoanger, coiisistiii<r of thir- 

 teen hundred acres of stiff land. 



" The general rotation here is, beans, 

 wheat, alternately : and when the land gets 

 foul, or the farmer thin/cs it ivaiUs red, he 

 substitutes a fallow for the bean crop, but 

 which is not oftener than once in six or eight 

 years. The land is ploughed in the winter 

 for beans, which are planted as early as pos- 

 sible in the spring, in rows about twenty 

 inches asunder, and the crop is well horse 

 and hand hoed. They are harvested as in 

 other places, and the sXuhh]e, plini<j;fu'd only 

 once, is sown with wheat as early as the 

 beans are removed. The wheat which is 

 thus produced, is the best which goes to the 

 London market, and frequently weighs 61 lb. 

 per Winchester bushel ; and from its early 

 harvest, is of a fine bright colour, the bean 

 being remarkably thin. The beans are also 

 a first-rate sample, and both are large crops, 

 when the land is kept clean and in good 

 order." 



Judging from the above, it is not believed 

 that the English horse-bean is a crop that 

 will ever be adapted to this country and cli- 

 mate. 



John Kennet. 



May 24th, 1840. 



Age of Sheep. 



The age of a sheep may be known by ex- 

 amining the front teeth. They are eight in 

 number, and appear during the first year, all 

 of a small size. In the second year, the two 

 middle ones fall out, and their place is sup- 

 plied by two new teeth, which are easily 

 distinguished by being of a larger size. In 

 the third year, two other small teeth, one 

 from each side, drop out and are replaced by 

 two large ones ; so that there are now four 

 large teeth in the middle, and two pointed 

 ones on each side. In the fourth year, the 

 large teeth are six in number, and only two 

 small ones remain, one at each end of the 

 range. In the fifth year the remaining small 

 teeth are lost, and the whole front teeth are 

 larore. In the sixth year, the whole begin to 

 be ''worn; and in the seventh, sometimes 

 sooner, some fall out or are broken. 



Praise large farms, but cultivate small ones. 



