212 THE BEAK CROP. 



oats, for instance. In this case, they are always well 

 manured, sown widely apart, and kept well cleaned, and 

 thus act entirely as a fallow crop in the rotation, as the 

 mineral requirements of the beans differ greatly from those 

 of the cereals; while, at the same time, it leaves a large 

 amount of organic matter (leaves and roots) on the land. 

 On some of the strong loams of Warwickshire and the 

 Midland Counties, the beans are taken between two crops 

 of wheat. On the rich alluvial soils of Nottinghamshire, 

 Lincolnshire, and Yorkshire, bordering the Humber and 

 its tributary rivers, beans usually follow oats ; and on the 

 strong soils of Bedfordshire and neighbouring counties, the 

 same practice exists, the beans being succeeded by wheat. 

 In the farming of the north, beans are considered a good 

 preparation for wheat, and consequently we find them 

 generally preceding the wheat crop, or in some cases fol- 

 lowing it, as the season, markets, or other circumstances of 

 the farm, may render most convenient. In the Lothians, 

 where the soils suitable to bean cultivation are farmed on 

 the six-course system, we generally see beans occupying 

 the fifth place in the rotation, following the oat and pre- 

 ceding the wheat crop. In all cases, this practice of treat- 

 ing beans as a fallow crop, by placing it between two 

 straw crops, manuring it, and keeping it perfectly clean 

 from weeds, is to be recommended as most philosophical, 

 and as likely, in the long run, to be the most successful 

 and remunerative. In the lax farming of some parts of 

 the south, beans are taken after seeds ; sometimes, if the 

 season be favourable, a good crop is obtained; but it 

 would very rarely prove a profitable one if its produce 

 were compared with the probable returns of the cereal 

 crop which it had displaced. 



The two principal kinds of beans Winter and Spring 

 and their respective periods of sowing offer great in- 

 ducements for extending their cultivation, by introducing 



