162 THF, COMPLETE FARMER 



that the Avhite kind, which is most generally approved of in 

 New England, will produce pretty good crops on poor, 

 sandy, or gravelly soils ; but, when p'anled on such ground, 

 it is good husbandry to wet and rcU them in plaster before 

 planting. They may be planted in hills or drills, the rows 

 two and a half or three feet apart, according to the strength 

 of the soil, and cultivated like other hoed crops. They may 

 be planted the latter end of May, or beginning of June, or 

 about the time of planting Indian corn. If planted in hills, 

 they may be placed from fourteen to twenty-four inches apart 

 in the rows, and the rows the distance before mentioned. 

 Five beans are quite enough to remain in a hill. Hogs' 

 dung, mixed with ashes, is said to be the best manure for 

 them ; and it is said to be very injurious to beans to hoe 

 them while the dew is on, or in wet weather. 



Judge Buel, of Albany, has given the following notices 

 of some experiments in the field culture of this vegetable : 

 ' 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 difierent ways, viz. in hills, in drills, and sowed 

 broad-cast. I need not describe the first, which is a well- 

 known process. I had an acre in drills, w^hich 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 fur- 

 rows, 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 the rows, and 

 was followed by a light one-horse roller, which flattened the 

 ridges. The crop was twice cleaned of weeds, by the hoe, 

 but not earthed. The product Avas more than forty-eight 

 bushels, by actual measurement. The beans brought me 

 one dollar the bushel last fall. The third experiment was 

 likewise upon a piece of ground where the clover had been 

 killed. It was ploughed about the first of June, the seed 

 sown like peas, upon the first furrow, and harrowed in. The 

 drought kept them back ; but about sixty-five rods of ground, 

 on which the experiment was made, gave a product of twelve 



