(Note F.— p. 24.) The Bean. 



The Bean ( Vicia Faba.) — "The bean is a valuable field plant, as affording 

 food for live stock and in part for man. The varieties of the bean are two, garden 

 and field beans, the white and the grey beans. The best soils for beans are clay and 

 strong loams. On sucli soils they generally succeed wheat or oats, but sometimes 

 also clover leys. Turnip soils or sands are by no means proper for them. The cli- 

 mate most favorable to the bean is one neither very dry nor very moist; the first 

 brings on the fly; and the last prevents the setting of the blossoms. The flour of 

 beans is more nutritive than that of oats, as it appears in the fattening of swine." 

 Dr. Darwin thinks them a cheaper provender for horses than that of oats; but being 

 of an oily nature, more difficult of digestion than oats, and he would therefore hesi- 

 tate in giving them the preference for this object. 



The bean is considered as an exhausting crop; but on account of the clean culti- 

 vation which is given to it, it often favorably precedes wheat. My own experiments 

 in the cultivation of the English field bean, which I have tried two or three years, re- 

 sulted in disappointment, as they were in every instance destroyed by a little black 

 fly. This is the great enemy with which they have to contend abroad. Forty bush- 

 els to the acre must be regarded as a large yield. From twenty to thirty-five is 

 more common. 



The cultivation of the white bean among us, is pursued to a very small extent and 

 in a very slovenly and negligent manner. Land that is under a curse and considered 

 fit for nothing else, is usually selected for a crop of white beans; and a farmer would 

 as soon think of dressing his children in peacock's feathers, as of giving any manure 

 to his white beans. The result is exactly what, under such circumstances, is to be 

 expected. We have no doubt, that under proper cultivation, beans may be made 

 a highly productive and valuable crop. For feeding sheep, especially fatting- 

 wethers, I have tried and know their value. Intermixed and ground or alternated 

 with Indian corn, they are exceeedingly favorable for the thrift of sheep, and may 

 be to a degree profitably used, notwithstanding the customary difference in price. 

 We can hardly expect, however, that they should take the place of Indian corn; a 

 crop which cannot be grown in England, which is not more exhausting than any oth- 

 er grain crop allowed to perfect its seeds, which when consumed on the farm u ntler 

 good management, returns a large amount to the land; and the rough fodder of 

 which, when well cured, is almost an equivalent for the cost of cultivation. — H. C. 



(Note G.— p. 24.) The Tare. 



TnE Tare or Vetgh (vicia sativa) is a plant which we have sometimes seen 

 growing, but rarely cultivated among us. There is no hindrance in our climate to 

 its cultivation ; and perhaps the great reason why the cultivation of the tare or field 

 bean has been neglected or not introduced, has arisen from our capacity to produce 

 Indian corn; and our high estimation, which can hardly be extravagant, of its value 

 as food for the brute and the human animal. As green feed especially, and for the 

 purposes of soiling, undoubtedly the tares might be introduced to great advantage. 



" The Tare," says Low, " is one of the most esteemed of the leguminous plants 

 of this country, (England.) When used as green forage, they are cut after the pods 

 are formed, but long before the seeds are ripe. Being in the class of crops not al- 



