244 CULTURE OF FARM CROPS. 



the variety is from three to four feet high ; the seed is 

 very small, smaller than the tick, but weighs very heavy, 

 65 to 70 Ibs. per bushel. Mr. Vallentine, in his Prize 

 Essay in the Journal of the Eoyal Agricultural Society on 

 the cultivation of beans and pease states, with reference to 

 the kind or variety of beans he has cultivated, that the horse 

 bean, the " tick," and mazagan are the only kinds he has had 

 experience in cultivating. Of these, he says that he has 

 found the common horse bean suited more for heavy clay 

 soils than for light or loamy soils ; it requires a firm soil, 

 and runs up to a considerable height ; in favourable sea- 

 sons he has found it more prolific than any other. The 

 English and French " ticks, ' ; Mr. Vallentine says, he has 

 found to thrive best upon light soils ; they grow less straw 

 under similar conditions, yet the grain per bushel weighs 

 some pounds more. On foul land, he says, it is better to 

 grow the " tick " variety than those varieties which run 

 more to straw. Of the winter beans, the French and 

 Russian are those of which Mr. Vallentine has had ex- 

 perience, and of these he prefers the Russian as being 

 rather larger in size, and affording a heavier yield per acre. 

 As to the comparative merit of the winter and spring- 

 varieties, this authority states that he sees no decided 

 advantage in sowing winter in place of spring beans. But 

 when the condition of the labour or work of the farm 

 admits of it, he would prefer to sow winter beans ; at the 

 same time he would not interfere with the sowing of the 

 wheat, in order to get the winter beans in. In any case, 

 he says that winter beans should never be sown unless 

 the land is clean, or nearly so, as the autumn ploughing 

 assists the spread of couch, much more than if ploughed 

 for spring beans at a later period of the year. Mr. Crother, 

 in his Prize Essay in the Journal of the Bath and West 

 of England Society, gives some interesting information as 

 to the intermediate mazagan and the long-podded varieties, 

 Windsor and the like. Of the mazagan so called from 

 the Portuguese settlement of that name, on the Morocco 

 coast near Gibraltar he states that it is hardy, well 



