950 THE COMPLETE GRAZIER. BOOK x. 



are occasionally sown in autumn, but the greater part of the field peas 

 are sown in early spring. February is the best month, though the season 

 may continue until the end of March. The last-named is a good 

 month for some of the White sorts, but the more tender wrinkled 

 varieties should not be put in before the beginning of April, unless 

 very early picking is desired. In choosing a variety, the nature of the 

 land has to be considered, and a good guide is to take a long-strawed 

 variety on weedy ground, and a short-strawed kind on clean ground. 

 They should be cut by means of a pea-hook with a long handle, and 

 not by the scythe, which cuts off and opens too many pods, thereby 

 causing great loss of corn. When they are being hooked it is con- 

 venient to leave them in heaps or wads, as they are more easily dealt 

 with subsequently. They require frequent turnings, as they are very 

 succulent, and have great capacity for retaining moisture. They 

 should be very dry before being stacked, especially in the case of the 

 soft varieties. 



Peas are chiefly used in fattening swine and sheep, and are better 

 adapted for this purpose than beans. They should first be ground 

 into meal for pigs, and split for sheep. When bruised and given to 

 cows, in conjunction with other succulent meal, they give a flush of 

 milk ; pea-mjeal stirred in milk may likewise be given to calves with 

 advantage. The haulm, if carefully gathered in a favourable season, 

 affords a wholesome and valuable fodder for neat cattle, and is 

 particularly relished by sheep ; it is also usefully given, as rack-meat, 

 to farm-horses, but it should always be chopped. It has, moreover, a 

 special value for cows, as it produces the best-coloured winter butter. 



BEANS. The only kind of bean usually cultivated for feeding 

 domesticated animals is the Horse-bean (Faba vulgaris, L. ; nat. ord. 

 Leguminosse), of which there are several varieties : the large ticks or 

 negro beans, the small ticks, and the common sort. The horse-bean 

 is taller than the tick-bean, but it is not so full of pods. They will 

 all grow under the same system of culture, only requiring more or less 

 room, according to their height. Beans are more hardy than peas, 

 and also a more certain crop ; but they require a stronger soil, well 

 manured. The best soils for the field bean are, generally speaking, 

 the stiffer kinds of clay and strong loams. It is an exhausting crop, 

 but a cleansing one, and often precedes the corn crop. Beans are 

 most commonly spoken of as winter or spring beans, to distinguish 

 those which, being more hardy, are planted in the autumn, from the 

 tender varieties, which cannot stand severe frosts, and are therefore 

 planted in spring. Those sown before winter should be put in as soon 

 after harvest as possible : those planted in spring should be the first 

 of the corn crops sown after the beginning of the year. They should 

 be sown in wide drills from 18 to 24 inches apart, to permit the full 

 use of the horse-hoe and the hand-hoe. About 6 to 8 pecks of seed 

 are required per acre. Dibbled beans are the most likely to succeed 

 as they come up more regularly, but beans should never be broadcasted 

 as they cannot then be horse-hoed, and it is essential that they should 



