GERMINATION MODE OF GROWTH. 219 



of industry is it good policy, or even just, when it can be 

 avoided, to place the interest of the employed in anta- 

 gonism to that of the employer. It offers temptation to 

 the good and naturally honest man ; and, in the long run, 

 it insures the ruin of the doubtful and the bad. Least of 

 all ought we thus to tempt the agricultural labourer, whose 

 moral perceptions are generally weak from want of develop- 

 ment and cultivation in early youth, and whose moral 

 principles are sadly undermined by the daily struggle he 

 has to undergo with the ordinary circumstances of his 

 calling, in order to obtain a bare sufficiency for the sup- 

 port of himself and his family. 



The only difference to be observed in sowing beans, is, 

 that they should be deposited in the soil at a greater 

 depth than that of the cereal crops. About two inches 

 is the depth recommended for the spring varieties, and an 

 additional inch for those sown in the autumn. The pro- 

 cess of germination in the bean is the same as that de- 

 scribed (p. 21) in reference to wheat a certain amount of 

 moisture, of temperature, and the absence of light, are 

 the conditions required, and these are secured by planting 

 the seed at a proper depth in a suitable soil. The young 

 plant is somewhat longer than wheat in making its ap- 

 pearance above ground ; and as its " plumule," or young 

 stem, is larger, and its mode of growth somewhat dif- 

 ferent, it meets with more resistance from the surface 

 soil, which frequently, if heavy rains have fallen after the 

 seed was deposited, has got battered down and formed 

 a sort of crust. Therefore, under ordinary circumstances, 

 it is recommended, directly any appearance of the plant 

 at the surface has been noticed, to send the light seed- 

 harrows on the land, and give it a turn up and down 

 the furrows, and across if necessary, so as to loosen the 

 surface and allow the young plant more readily to force 

 its way through. This may generally be done in from 



