BEAM. 



BEANS. 



met with, although it was a hardy, and alto- 1 name of Fabii from some of their ancestors 

 gether a vermin-loving breed, and very strongly j having cultivated the bean called Faha. The 

 formed. (Blaine's Encyclopaedia of Rural | meal of beans is the heaviest made from pulse, 



Sports.") 



BEAM. The principal piece of timber 

 which supports a building. 



BEAM OF A PLOUGH. The upper prin- j bruised it first; it was considered a strung 

 cipal timber into which the handles and all the ; food, and was generally eaten with gruel or 



and was called in Latin lomentum. This was 

 mingled with frunientii corn, whole, and so 

 eaten bv the ancients ; but they sometimes 



other parts of the tail of the plough are fixed. 

 It is most commonly made of ash wood, some- 

 what bent in its form, and of different lengths 

 according to the nature of the plough. (See 

 PLOUGHS.) 



BEAM-TREE. The Pyrus aria of botanists. 

 The white beam-tree or wild pear-tree, is a de- 

 ciduous British tree of small growth inhabiting 



pottase. Many superstitious customs and 

 notions were in 'olden times attached to this 

 pulse. The ancients made use of beans in 

 gathering the votes of the people, and for 

 electing tho magistrates. A white bean signi- 

 fied absolution, and a black one condemnation. 

 From this practice, no doubt, was derived the 

 plan of black-balling obnoxious persons. The, 



the mountainous parts of the country, and re- Roman husbandman had a religious ceremony 

 sembling a small apple-tree with berries like respecting this pulse, somewhat remarkable: 

 those of the mountain ash. Its leaves are when they sowed corn of any kind, they took 

 strongly veined, in a plaited manner, and white care to bring some beans from the field for 



ijierstitiouslv thinking that 

 by such means their corn would return home, 

 asrain to them; the>e b,-an> were then called 

 KtfrinK or Kefcrinse. The Romans carried 

 their Miperstitn-n even further, for they thought 

 that beans mixed with ijoods offered fur sale 

 at the ports would infallibly bring good luck to 

 the .seller. 



In some places bean meal is still mixed with 

 other meal in making coarse bread; or the 

 beans are boiled into a mess with fat meat, in 

 which Matt; they are very nutritious. Bean 

 meal given to oxen soon makes them fat; 

 mixed with water and given as a drink to 

 cow>, it trreatlv increases their milk. A small 

 quantity of beans is generally mixed with new 

 wheat when ground to flour : the millers pre- 

 tend that soft wheat will not grind well with- 

 out beans, and they generally contrive that 

 there shall be no deficiency in the necessary 



underneath ; the wood is hard, compact, and 

 tonsil, and is used for axle trees, n;< 

 wheels, and cogs of machinery. (Brandt's 

 Dirt. Mmce.) 



BEANS ( Viela Faba). A well-known vege- 

 table of the pulse species, largely cultivated 

 both in gardens and li-liU. Sax. bean ; ricia is 

 the Latin name for the tare or vetch ; derived, 

 according to Varro, a vicinrdo, because its ten- 

 drils entwine or bind round other plair 

 bean was called in Greek Ki/*/uic; by the Fa- 

 lisci, a people of Etruria (now Tuscany), l(tibu, 

 whence the name Fulm set-ms t.. }< 

 Martinius derives the word from n-a, to feed, 

 as if it were Paba , Isidortis from pay*, to eat. 



Its cultivation is of much importance in rural 

 economy, inasmuch as it has gone far to super- 

 sede fallows on strong loams and clays. The 

 bean is a plant of considerable importance to 

 the farmer, as affording him a valuable food for 



both horses and swine; its varieties are nu- proportion. Thus a quantity of beans is con- 

 mcrous, but as it is cultivated both for airricul- verted into what is considered as wheaten 

 tural and horticultural purposes, it will tie ne- tl,>nr. 



TV, in treating of its cultivation, to adopt The bean came originally from the east, and 

 the following arrangement: 1. Field beans; | was cultivated in Egypt arid Barbary in the 

 2. Garden beans. The English growth of beans earliest a ires of which we have any records. 

 has of late years diminished, a hir-e portion It spread thence into Spain and Portugal, from 

 of the consumption of this country i. * cmn- whence some of the best varieties have been 

 ing from abroad ; yet I am of opinion that beans introduced into this country. The proportion 

 or peas, according to the soil, should enter of nutritive matter in beans, compared with 

 into the rotation of the crops of all English j other grain, is, according to Einhof, as fol- 

 farms : for if drilled and well horse-hoed, it is lows: 

 one of the finest preparations for wheat And 



Wheat 



Rye 



Barley 



it may be well to observe, that the Ku^ian or 

 winter bean may be successfully cultivated on 

 moist soils. 



The flowers of the bean emit a most agree- 

 able perfume. Of all the pulse kind, this was 

 held in the first rank in ancient times. We 

 find the Athenians used beans sodden, in their 

 feasts dedicated to Apollo; and the Romans 

 presented beans as an oblation in their solemn 

 sacrifice called Fabaria. Pliny informs us 

 that they offered cakes made of bean meal j 

 unto certain gods and goddesses in these an- ' 

 cient rites and ceremonies. Lempriere states ; 

 that bacon was added to the beans in the offer- 

 ings to Cama, not so much to gratify the pa- j 

 late of the goddess, as to represent the simpli- 

 city of their ancestors. One of the most noble ( 

 and powerful families of Rome derived the ! 



Oais 



Beans 



Peas 



By we'uht. 



74 per cent. 

 70 



65 

 58 

 68 



75 



French beans 84 



Or in a bu.hel. 

 - about 47 Ibs. 



39 



33 



23 



45 



49 



54 



The same chemist obtained from 3840 parts 

 of marsh beans (Vicia Fuba), of 



Starch 1312 



Albumen 31 



Other matters, nutritive, fummy, starchy, 

 fibrous, analogous to animal matter - 1204 



from kidney beans (Phaeseolus vulgaris) 



of 



Btarchy matters ------ 1805 



Albumen, and mattnr approaching to ani- 

 mal matter in its nature - 851 



Mucilage 799 



(Davy, Ag. Chem., p. 132.) 

 151 



