272 Of CROPS USUALLY CULTIVATED. 



ing plan; When the beans are ready for binding and 

 stocking, he carts them off to an adjacent stubble field, if 

 nearer to the stack-yard so much the better. The beans 

 are kept there till they are ready to be stacked, and the 

 farmer's anxiety in regard to his wheat seed, can be no ex- 

 cuse for harvesting his beans too early. It may be object- 

 ed to this plan, that it occasions a great additional labour, 

 and that there must be a certain loss in loading and un- 

 loading. To the first of these, the answer is, that ten 

 hands, with six horses, if the fields are at a moderate dis- 

 tance, will shift ten acres in a day ; no great sacrifice, con- 

 sidering the motive; and, with regard to the second objec- 

 tion, beans recently cut, are not very apt to husk out, and, 

 with ordinary attention, the damage is inconsiderable. 

 This plan is strongly recommended by the experience of 

 Mr Brown of Markle, who informs me, that in the bad har- 

 vest of 1799, he had 75 Scotch acres of beans and peas in 

 drills,* few of which were harvested till the middle of De- 

 cember. He removed a considerable part to an open stubble 

 field, and by employing a servant to keep the sheaves on 

 their feet, the whole were safely stacked a few days before 

 Christmas, in excellent condition. 



Mr Blane of Blanefield, in Ayrshire, tried a most suc- 

 cessful experiment with the culture of beans in 1810. He 

 was prevailed upon by a new ploughman, who had lived in 

 a district where beans were much cultivated, to try two 

 acres and seven falls Scotch measure, with that crop. The 



* That excellent plan of drilling beans was, it is said, begun at North- 

 Berwick about the year 1770, in the neighbourhood of which place, 

 weighty crops of this article are still cultivated. Some farmers, how- 

 Bver, still prefer the broad-cast system, upon very strong stubborn clays, 

 but erroneously. It is remarked, that beans cannot be planted too near 

 the surface ; if merely covered, it is sufficient.. 



