24 



face, was an ingenious contrivance, likely to be use- 

 ful in clay soils, free from stone and gravel, but which 

 could be little used in Massachusetts. In general, he 

 thought the English utensils of husbandry were un- 

 necessarily cumbrous and heavy. The ploughs, es- 

 pecially, required a great strength of draught. But 

 as drill husbandry was extensively practised in Eng- 

 land, and very little with us, the various implements, 

 or machines, for drill sowing, in that country, quite 

 surpass all we have. He did not remember to have 

 seen the horse-rake used in England, although he had 

 seen in operation implements for spreading hay, from 

 the swarth, to dry, or rather, perhaps, for turning it, 

 drawn by horses. 



There were other matters connected with English 

 agriculture, upon which he might say a word or two. 

 Crops were cultivated in England, of which we knew 

 little. The common English field bean, a small 

 brown bean, growing not on a clinging vine, like some 

 varieties of the taller bean, ran in what is called with 

 us the bush form, like our common white bean, upon 

 a slight, upright stalk, two or two and a half feet 

 high, and producing from twenty to forty bushels to 

 the acre. It is valuable, as food for animals, especi- 

 ally for horses. This bean does not grow well, in 

 thin soils, or what is called a hot bottom.* A strong, 

 stiff, clayey land, well manured, suits it best. Vetch- 

 es, or tares, a sort of pea, was very much cultivated 

 in England, although almost unknown here, and is 

 there either eaten green, by sheep, on the land, or 

 cut and carried for green food.f 



* See Appendix,— Note F. t Ibid,— Note G. 



