68 FEBRUARY. 



double rows, with intervals of nine and eighteen 

 inches have, I think, been most productive. But 

 this point will entirely depend on the fertility of the 

 soil ; for in proportion as the land is rich, whether 

 from Nature or from manuring, the distance should 

 be large. 



In Berkshire they have a ei>stom, which, in this 

 respect, varies from all other countries with which 

 I am acquainted : it is, to plant in clusters four or 

 five beans in a hole, and nine inches from hole to 

 hole; the space between the rows varied according 

 to soil. Their crops are large. This method ad- 

 mits effective hand-hoeing in the rows, and the 

 intervals are horse-hoed. It maybe combined with 

 de chateaux vieux well-known experiment on plant- 

 ing barley in clusters, which seems to have been 

 very carefully made, and in which four, five, or 

 six grains in a hole, produced more than the same 

 number of grains singly, in as many holes as grains, 

 It is in vain to reason about such results ; but it 

 appears as if the germination of the grains, in such 

 fc'lose contact, caused a fermentation in the soil* 

 Ground, that was beneficial, even in the pro- 

 duce at harvest. In the case of the Berkshire 

 beans, something is certainly to be attributed to 

 the hoeing being more effective than in common 

 rows. 



BEANS AFTER CLOVER, & c . 

 To put in beans after clover and other seeds, is 

 most excellent husbandry, and preferable to sow- 

 ing wheat, which docs better after beans, and also 



enables 



