CULTIVATION OP PLANTS. 



rope, from whence some of the best varieties have been intro- 

 duced into this country. Of the beans which form the subject 

 of cultivation in this country, there may be said to be, with 

 respect to their uses, two general characters those cultivated 

 in the fields, and are thence termed field-beans, and those which 

 are cultivated in gardens, and so termed garden-beans. 



The varieties most commonly selected by our farmers, as a 

 field crop, are known as the large and small white dwarfs, and 

 the China bean. The two former are entirely white, and the 

 latter has a spot of deep red upon it. The two former have 

 more spreading vines, and do not ripen so soon as the latter, 

 which grows with less vine or bush, yields well, and ripens 

 early. 



Light sandy lands are generally preferred in this country 

 for beans; for upon such lands they do not run so much to 

 vines, ripen earlier, and are more easily tended. English au- 

 thorities state that it is well suited to the stiffer clays; that it 

 is an exhausting, but cleansing crop. General ARMSTRONG, in 

 his Treatise on Agriculture, states that the bean has a tendency 

 to fit and meliorate a stiff soil for the succeeding crop. 



There are three methods of planting the bean. The first in 

 hills, the second in drills, and the third sowing broadcast. The 

 adoption of either of these methods must be left to the judg- 

 ment of the farmer, as the advantage of either will depend upon 

 circumstances, the nature of the soil, whether it is free from 

 weeds, and what crop is designed to follow.* The produce 

 per acre varies according to circumstances; from twenty-six 

 to forty bushels as many as sixty have been raised in this 

 country, but the crop was properly attended to. In England 

 the average is about thirty bushels. 



Cultivation of the Bean. An enlightened agriculturist,t 

 furnished for the Agricultural Tracts, the following brief but 

 comprehensive account of the method he adopted in the field 

 culture of the bean. 



Beans may be cultivated in drills or in hills. They are a valuable crop; 

 and, with good care, are as profitable as a wheat crop. They leave the soil 

 in good tilth. The China bean, with a red eye, is to be preferred. They 

 ripen early, and are very productive. I cultivated beans the last year in three 

 different ways, viz. in hills, in drills, and sowed broadcast. 



I need not describe the first, which is a well known process. I had an acre 

 in drills, which was the best crop I ever saw. My management was this: on 

 an acre of light ground, where the clover had been frozen out the preceding 

 winter, I spread eight loads of long manure, and immediately ploughed and 

 harrowed the ground. Drills or furrows were then made with a light plough, 

 at the distance of two and a half feet, and the beans thrown along the furrows, 

 about the 25th of May, by the hand, at the rate of at least a bushel on the acre. 

 I then gauged a double mould-board plough, which was passed once between 



* Genesee Fanner, vol. ii. p. 82. t JESSE BUEL, Esq. 



