132 PEAS AND BEANS. 



stances amount to the very large proportion of about 

 20 per cent, of gum to 13 or 14, and of oil to about 11. 

 This, from the above results, is one of the most nou- 

 rishing crops grown. If it can be made to yield as 

 much per acre as the harder varieties, it is well worthy 

 of a trial on a large scale. 



We now come to a different class of crops, remark- 

 able for their nutritious properties. The best known 

 of these are peas and beans. The most complete 

 analyses yet made, which are French, give the per- 

 centage of starch at about 40. The amount of oily 

 matter is small, and of sugar only about 2 per cent. 

 The nitrogenous bodies are of a peculiar nature, and 

 are usually called legumin or albumen; they contain 

 about as much nitrogen as gluten, and, in the dried 

 peas or bean meal, amount to from 25 to 30 per cent. 

 The meal, in its ordinary condition, contains from 15 

 to 20 per cent of water. 



Both peas and beans are, according to the above 

 statements, extremely nutritious. Experience in 

 France, Germany and England, sustains this theoreti- 

 cal view. They are in all of those countries highly 

 valued for feeding to stock, and are also a chief reli- 

 ance as food among the lower classes, with whom they 

 take the place of bread. They occasionally come into 

 a rotation with great advantage, and their field culture 

 will probably be gradually extended in this country. 



There is one class of seeds, such as linseed, rape 

 seed, etc., which abound in oil, amounting in some 

 cases to from 18 to 25 per cent; this may be, and is, 

 separated by simple pressure. Beside the oil, they are 

 uncommonly rich in nitrogenous substances, containing 

 about as much as peas or beans. These seeds, then, 

 are of great value for feeding to fattening animals. A 

 few pounds per day increases their growth remarkably. 

 The linseed cake, from which the oil has been mostly 

 expressed, is a most admirable food, and is nearly all 



