FEB.] IT- FOR BEANS. 



SOIL FOR BEANS. 



Every one knows, that all the sorts of strong 

 and heavy soils arc the common ones generally ap- 

 plied to this crop. In Kent they wisely cultivate 

 them to great extent, upon rich dry sound loams; 

 but it is not generally known, and very rarely prac- 

 tised, to venture them on light turnip loams and 

 middling sands. I have, however, seen them succeed 

 so well on such, that a note of it ought to come into 

 this work ; and as this is the month in which a farmer 

 will first turn his thoughts to beans, it deserves his 

 attention to consider, whether he has not land 

 upon his farm which would do for that crop, al- 

 though he never before thought of venturing k. 

 The soundness of a man's farming practice may be 

 fudged of by this cultivation, as well as by any 

 other criterion ; for he ought to have beans whcre- 

 ever it is possible to have them. They do not ex- 

 haust the soil they prepare it better for wheat than 

 any other crop they stand erect to harvest, ad- 

 mitting horse-hoeing to the last ; they shade the 

 ground from the sun, and the straw is valuable, if 

 harvested in a favourable time, or, if not so har- 

 vested, makes excellent clung. The favourable cir- 

 cumstances attending this crop are so many, that 

 every man who can have them ought to determine 

 on the culture. A bad crop of pease fills the 

 land with weeds, but a bad crop of beans may 

 be as clean as a garden. Some of the greatest pro- 

 ducts of this plant, which I have seen, were on a 

 rich sand ; but I have known beneficial ones on a 



sand 



