840 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. 



and the seed planted in holes made two inches apart : the lines are stretched across the lands, which are 

 formed about six feet over; so that when one row is planted, the sticks to which the line is fastened are 

 moved by a regular measurement to the distance required, and the same method pursued till the field is 

 completed. The usual price for this work is ninepence per peck, and the allowance two bushels per acre. 

 Great confidence must necessarily be reposed in the people who transact the business of planting beans 

 by the dibber ; for, if inclined to fraud, they have it in their power to deceive their employer, by throwing 

 a great part of the seed into the hedge ; by which means their daily profits are considerably enhanced, their 

 own labour spared, and every discovery effectually precluded till the appearance of the crop. Then, in. 

 deed, the frequent chasms in the rows will give sufficient indications of the fraud ; but by this time perhaps 

 the villainous authors of the mischief may have escaped all possibility of detection, by having conveyed 

 themselves from the scene of their iniquity. 



5239. The quantity of seed allowed is very different in the southern and northern 

 parts of Britain : in the former, even when the rows are narrow, only two bushels or 

 two bushels and a half; but in Scotland, seldom less than four bushels to the English 

 statute acre, even when sown in ridgelets twenty-seven inches distant, and a bushel more 

 when sown broad-cast. When beans are sown or planted thick, the top pods only fill 

 to the number of three, and four, and half a dozen ; when thin, the plants will pod and 

 fill to the bottom. Both in the broad-cast and drill husbandry, it is common to mix a 

 small quantity of peas along with beans. This mixture improves both the quantity and 

 quality of the straw for fodder, and the pea straw is useful for binding up the sheaves in 

 harvest. 



5240. The after culture of the bean crop commences with harrowing just befoi'e the 

 young plants reach the surface. When sown in rows, in either of the modes already 

 mentioned, the harrows are employed about ten or twelve days after ; and, being driven 

 across the ridgelets, the land is laid completely level for the subsequent operations, and 

 the annual weeds destroyed. 



5241. After the beans have made some groivth, sooner or later, according to the state of the soil with 

 regard to' weeds, the horse-hoe is employed in the intervals between the rows ; and followed by the hand- 

 hoe for the purpose of cutting down such weeds as the horse-hoe cannot reach ; all the weeds, that grow 

 among the beans beyond the reach of either hoe, should be pulled up with the hand. The same operations 

 are repeated as often as the condition of the land, in regard to cleanness, may require. 



5242. Before the introduction of the horse-hoe, which merely stirs the soil, and cuts up the weeds, a com- 

 mon small plough, drawn by one horse, was used in working between the rows, and is still necessary 

 where root-weeds abound. This plough goes one bout, or up and down in each interval, turning the earth 

 from the beans, and forming a ridgelet in the middle ; then hand-hoes are immediately employed ; and, 

 after some time, a second hand-hoeing succeeds, to destroy any fresh growth of weeds. The same plough, 

 with an additional mould-board, finally splits open the intermediate ridgelet, and lays up the earth to the 

 roots of the beans on each side. The benefit ol laying up the earth in this manner, however, is alleged to 

 be counterbalanced by the trouble which it occasions in harvest, when it is difficult to get the reapers to 

 cut low enough ; and it may be properly dispenseil with, unless the soil is very wet and level. 



5213. In moist toarm seasons, this grain hardly ever ripens effectually ; and it is exceedingly difficult 

 to get the straw into a proper condition for the stack. In such cases, it has been found of advantage to 

 switch off" the succulent tops with an old scythe blade set in a wooden handle, with which one man can 

 easily top dress two acres a day. This operation, it is said, will occasion the crop to be ready for reap- 

 ing a fortnight earlier, and also, perhaps, a week sooner ready for the stack-yard after being reaped. 



5244. Before reaping beans the grain ought to be tolerably well ripened, otherwise the 

 quality is impaired, whilst a long time is required to put the straw in such a condition as 

 to be preserved in the stack. In an early harvest, or where the crop is not weighty, it is 

 an easy matter to get beans sufficiently ripened ; but, in a late harvest, and in every one 

 where the crop takes on a second growth, it is scarcely practicable to get them thoroughly 

 ripened for the sickle. Under these circumstances, it is unnecessary to let beans stand 

 uncut after the end of September, or the first of October ; because any benefit that can 

 be gained afterwards, is not to be compared with the disadvantages that accompany a late 

 wheat seed-time. 



5215. Beans are usually cut with the sicltle, and tied in sheaves, either with straw ropes, or with ropes 

 made from peas sown along with them. It is proper to let the sheaves lie untied several days, so that the 

 winning process may be hastened, and, when tied, to set them up on end, in order that full benefit from 

 the air may be obtained, and the grain kept off" the ground. {Brown.) 



5246. Beans are sometimes mown, and, in a few instances, even pulled up by the roots. They should in 

 every case be cut as near the ground as possible, for the sake of the straw, which is of considerable value 

 IS fodder, and because the best pods are often placed on the stems near the roots. They are then left for 

 a few days to wither, and afterwards bound and set up in shocks to dry, but without any head sheaves. 

 {Supp. ^c.) ^ , . . , 



5247. Beans are stacked either in the round or oblong manner; and it is always 

 proper, in the northern counties at least, if the stack is large, to construct one funnel or 

 more to allow a free circulation of air. 



5248. The threshing of beans is nearly as easy as that of peas. Threshing them by 

 a machine may be considered advantageous as breaking the coarser ends of the straw, 

 and separating the earth from their root-ends, or roots, if they have been reaped by pulling. 



5249. The produce of beans, when proper management is exercised, and where diseases 

 have not occurred, is generally from twenty-five to thirty-five bushels per acre. Donaldson 

 says, that a crop of beans, taking the island at large, may be supposed to vary from six- 

 teen to forty bushels, but that a good average crop cannot be reckoned to exceed twenty. 

 In Middlesex, Middleton tells us, that bean-crops vary from ten to eighty bushels per 

 acre. They are rendered a very precarious crop by the ravages of myriads of small black 

 insects of the A''phis kind. The lady-birds (Coccinella) are supposed to feed on them, 

 as they are observed to be much iniong them. Foot says^ the average produce is from 



