838 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. 



5220. In the saving of any j)articular sorts of peas for seed, they should be carefully 

 looked over while in flower, in order to draw out all such plants as are not of the right 

 kind ; as there will always be, in every sort, some roguish plants, which, if left to mix, 

 will cause degeneration. As many rows as may be thought sufficient to furnish the 

 desired quantity of seed should then be marked out, and left till their pods turn brown, 

 and begin to split, when they should immediately be gathered up, with the haulm ; and 

 if the farmer has not room to stack them till winter, they may be threshed out as soon as 

 tliey are dry, and put up in sacks for use : but particular care should be taken not to let 

 them remain too long abroad after they are ripe ; as wet would rot them ; and heat, after 

 a shower of rain, makes their pods burst in such a manner that the greater part of their 

 seeds would be lost. 



5221. The diseases of peas are few, and chiefly the worm in the pod and the fly on the 

 leaves and flower. They are also liable to be mildewed or blighted. None of these 

 evils, however, are very common ; and there is no known way of preventing them but by 

 judicious culture. Late sown peas are particularly liable to be injured by the mildew 

 and A'^phis ; and should either of these attack the plant before the pods are filled, they 

 invariably fail. In 1826 almost all the crops of peas were destroyed by the A'phides, 

 so that they were mown for the haulm only. 



Sect. II. The Bean. Ytcia Fdba L. ; Diadelphia Decandria L., and Leguminosee J. 

 Feverole, Fr. ; Bohn, Ger. ; Fava, Ital. ; and Alverjanas, Span. 



5222. The bean is a valuable field plant, as affording food for live stock, and in part 

 for man. It is said to be a native of Egypt ; but, like other long domesticated plants, 

 its origin is very uncertain. It has been cultivated in Europe and Asia time out of 

 mind. Beans have been long known in Britain ; but it is only of late years that they 

 were extensively cultivated upon general soils, being formerly considered as adapted only 

 to rich and moist clays. At that time they were all sown according to the broad-cast 

 system ; in which way, instead of benefiting the ground, they were of incalculable detri- 

 ment. Weeds got away at the outset, and in dry seasons often ruined the crop ; whilst 

 in every season the grass or perennial weeds which happened to be in the ground in- 

 creased in strength and in quantity, the openness of the bean crop at bottom allowing 

 them to thrive without interruption. 



5223. The drilling of beans with a small mixture of peas is now become a general 

 practice in every well cultivated district of the north, more particularly in those where 

 soil and climate permit the practice to be successfully executed. In this way not only 

 heavy crops are raised, but, what is of great importance, the ground is kept constantly in 

 good order, provided suitable attention is bestowed upon the cleaning process. This is 

 generally carried on by horse-hoeing the crop at different times, so long as the hoe can 

 be used without doing damage ; and in this way an able auxiliary is brought forward to 

 the assistance of summer fallow, whereby less stress need be laid upon that radical process 

 than otherwise would be indispensably necessary. [Broivn. ) 



5224. The varieties of the bean may be included under two general heads, the white 

 or garden beans, and the grey or field beans. 



5225. Of the white or garden beans {Feve de marais, Fr.) sown in the fields, the mazagan and long-pod 

 are almost the only sorts. Of the grey beans, that known as the horse bean, the small or ticks, and the 

 prolific or Heligoland, are the chief sorts. New varieties are procured in the same manner as in other 

 plants. A variety is in use in some parts of Lincolnshire, called the winter bean {Feverole d'hiver, Fr.). 

 It is planted in October in the usual manner, and is ready to harvest in the last week in July or the first 

 week in August. They are said to have been introduced from the Continent in 182.5. We have lately 

 seen a field of this beaii at the Oaks Farm, near Woking, in Surrey, which was planted in October 18v'9, 

 and in full bloom May 12th following. This circumstance, after so severe a winter, is a proof to us that 

 this is a most valuable variety. {Gard. Mag. vol. vi.) 



5226. In the choice of sorts, tick beans are supposed by some farmers to be more pro- 

 ductive than horse-beans ; but the latter grow higher in the stem, and produce a more 

 stagnated state of the air, or smother the land more, consequently are the most suitable 

 for the stronger sorts of soil ; and Young remarks, that " the common little horse-bean 

 has the advantage of all others in being more generally marketable ; for in certain 

 situations it is not always easy to dispose of ticks, Windsors, long-pods, and various 

 other large sorts. They also grow higher, shade the ground in summer more from the 

 sun, and yield a larger quantity of straw, which makes excellent manure. But some of 

 the other sorts are generally supposed to yield larger products. In purchasing beans for 

 seed, care should be taken to choose such as are hard and bright, without being shrivelled 

 in their appearance." 



5227. The best soils for beans are clays and strong loams. On such soils they generally 

 succeed wheat or oats, but sometimes also clover leys. Turnip soils or sands aie by no 

 means proper for them. 



5228. In the preparation of the soil much depends on the nature of the land and the state of the weather; 

 for as beans must be sown early in the spring, it is sometimes impossible to give it all the labour wliich a 

 careful farmer would wish to bestow. It must also be regulated in some measure by the manner of 



