9 



1851 



THE AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE. 



139 



The best soils are also more 



, ~H iflVivnt results on the b«* and interior Ian 



ft^n the tvs methods of sowing the crop, the later 



elimat requiring he dung to be more collected and to 



eitrt a greater for- 



friable, and permit the dung to be minutely mixed with 

 the land by the operations of the grubber. The quan- 

 tity of land to be sown with Beans on any farm, in the 

 precarious weather of the spring months, often deter- 

 mine* the method that is pursued, a large amount of 

 a?rea requir ; the stubble dunging, and a smaller 

 quantity allowing more time for the performance of work. 

 When the drills are harrowed len; hwise or cross- 



greater 



wise the weeds torn up by the harrows are carefully 

 picked by hand, and removed. When the young plants 

 are all fairly grown above the ground, the intervals of 

 the drills are wrought by a scufhVr, provided with tines 

 and knives, which tear and cut the ground in successive 

 operations. A small plough drawn by one, horse has 

 been used and rejected, as the sole plate "glazes" the 

 ground by the slipping movement along the earth. This 

 glistening consolidation is most hurtful on all clay lands, 

 and particularly to Beans, which delight in deep culti- 

 vation and extensive loosening of the ground. The 

 scarifying of the intervals is deeply done, and about three 

 times in the season, all weeds being removed by hand v : 

 and at the end of the season a light furrow is in some 

 oases laid to each side of the row of Beans by a light 

 plough for the purpose. This last operation is not a 

 general rule. 



Of all preparations of land, the cultivation of Beans, 

 now described, constitutes the best precursor for 

 Wheat, which is ever earliest in maturity, and fullest in 

 the ear and pickle, from the tilth which has been left by 

 the Bean. This fa< has been tried to be accounted for 

 by the theory of fecal exudation, which supposes that 

 the excrementitious voidances of any plant of one class 

 are food or aliment t another plant of a different class, 

 as are Beans and Wheat. Be this as it may, the fact 

 was known as rtaiu before the theory was dreamed of. 

 A close crop of Beans shades the ground by a thick 

 umbrage of leaves, which retains moisture, prevents 

 exsiccation, and commences a decomposition on the 

 surface of the earth, in the terrestrial elements that 

 there exist. The main or tap root of the plant pene- 

 trates and divides the ground, and all fleshy roots 

 exude a juice that blackens the earth in contact, and 

 has a very fertilising effect. These natural reasons 

 may be able to account for the benefits which the land 

 receive- trom a crop of Beans, without having recourse 

 to the doubtful theory of fecal ejectments. 



The above method of cultivating Beans applies to 

 lands of sufficient loaminess to admit cultivation in the 

 spring, and enjoying a climate of earliness to favour 

 the operations. The clay lands that can be used in 

 that way are comparatively of small extent, and' on the 



amount a very different process becomes 

 necessary. The plastic clays that overlie the chalk 

 hills of Sun w, and the clay of the London basin, are 

 both of them formations possessing an adhesive 

 stubbornness that almost defies cultivation. On 

 these lauds no spring cultivation can be attempted. 

 The ploughing of the land at any season of the year 

 requires the strength of four stout horses, and should only 

 be wrought in the driest season. Beans are generally, 

 and almost of necessity, sown in broadcast, and occupy 

 the place of a corn crop in the rotation, as the land 

 is not subjected to any working, and does not produce 

 a fallow crop of any kind. During the earliest growth 

 of the Beans the weeds are checked by one or two 

 hand-hoeings, as the plants are thinly planted, and 

 cover little ground. But as the plants rise to height, 

 the weeds grow in the vacant places, and broadcast 

 Beans are most generally a specimen of very foul 

 farming. Wheat cannot be sown till the land undergoes 

 the bare summer fallowing process ; consequently 

 Beans are not an eligible crop. 



On some few soils of the more loamy descriptions of 

 these clay lands, where the deposit joins the iron sands, 

 the spring cultivation is practicable, and the treatment 

 of the Beans falls under the foregoing statement. 

 A rather stiffer sort, but which does not fall under the 

 most tenacious kinds, admits the Beans to be sown by 

 dibbling on the alternate furrow slices of the winter 

 ploughing, after the surface has been very severely 

 narrowed by heavy implements, and the utmost possible 

 tilth raised from the pulverisation of the winter's ex- 

 posure. This method admits the horse and hand- 

 hoeing, though the former operation is done more 

 lightly than when the land is stirred by the grubber, 

 and consequently the cultivation is much less complete. 

 Sometimes the rows of Beans are placed on each 

 furrow slice, and then the hand-hoe only is admitted. 

 The wide drilling cultivation prepares the land for 

 >V heat, more or less effectually, as the soil is friable, 

 or obdurate. But on the most obdurate and plastic of 

 these clay lands the drilling on the surface of the 

 winter ploughing is wholly impracticable, as well as 

 moving the ground by any implement. The operation 

 of harrowing will not produce any quantity of tilth on 

 these waxy soils, and the trampling of the dibbliii" 

 operation will do much damage by consolidation ; con* 

 sequently a broadcast crop is indispensable, and gene- 

 rally makes very foul farming. Beyond it, modern 

 improvements have not yet gone in cultivating Beans 

 °n these most unruly soils. 



A*!?t lia t C,ay ' vmch forms the base of the ooliti 

 vafw V J* eh ,T h " ^ which o^P^ the moist 

 IS 2 • the mid(,,e oolites > and the kimmeridge clay, 

 Iiu* ! f r erl ? oke . d by the higher rocks of the upner 



ic 



of Beans as the clays above described. Tiie stinest kinds 

 are sown broadcast ; while the greater part admit the 

 dibble on the harrowed surface, or the sowing in rows 

 by the coulters of the machine, or in drills m le by the 

 one-horse plough. The loamy modifications of these 

 clays admit a pretty deep cultivation of the intervals, 

 nd consequently a very fair preparation of the land for 

 Wheat, which, as a grain crop, should always follow the 

 Bean cultivation, whenever the land can be manured, 

 and wrought in some tolerable degree. 



The gault clay, as seen near Godstone in Surrey, is 

 very stiff and adhesive, and prevents any spring stirring 

 of the land, and also, in many cases, the drilling on the 

 harrowed surface of the winter ploughing ; consequently, 

 the cropping in broadcast is used, with a check of the 

 weeds by an early hoeing, which does not form a pre- 

 paration for Wheat but for a crop of Oats that is fol- 

 lowed by fallowing. On the modifications of the gault in 

 the Tets worth clay of Oxfordshire, and in the deep 

 valleys of Huntingdon, where the debris of the chalk 

 forms a mixed ingredient ; the first-mentioned culture 

 of Beans is practised on the more friable description of 

 land, while the drilling or dibbling on the spring har- 

 rowed surface is the more general method on the greater 

 part of the soils of that description. Broadcast sowing 

 is not necessary on these modifications of the gault clay. 



In the county of Essex, where Beans are produced in 

 great perfection, the clay lands are formed of a mixture 

 of the plastic and London clays, with occasional ap- 

 pearances of the chinch or fen formation of that body. 

 Dry, gravelly, clay grounds are found on the undula- 

 tions of the surface, which rise in loaminess and reach 

 to Turnip soils, while the stiff* lands yield good crops of 

 Beans. The alluvial lands are very extensive along the 

 estuary of the Thames, and the soil is very suitable 

 for Beans. These soils and the gravelly clays admit 

 the spring cultivation for Beans by the grubber, and 

 the manure to be applied on the autumn stubble, or in 

 drills in the spring. The true clay lands of Essex are 

 planted with Beans by the dibble on the alternate slices 

 of the furrows of the winter ploughing, as before men- 

 tioned, and the farm-yard dung laid on the stubble and 

 loughed under by a deep furrow. The intervals of the 

 drills are cultivated during summer as deeply as pos- 

 sible by the grubber, the weeds are carefully cut by 

 hand-hoe, and the land is thus well prepared for Wheat, 

 which is sown in broadcast on the furrow of one plough- 

 ing, or drilled in rows by machine on the harrowed 

 surface of the gathered ridges. 



The Wealden formation of clay is so aluminous as to 

 forbid any spring movement of the land, and in 

 many cases: also the drilling or dibbling on the narrowed 

 surface of the ground. In the county of Kent, modifi- 

 cations of that clay are found overlying the lower 

 ledges of the limestones and sandstones of the tertiary 

 formation, and on these soils Beans are cultivated as on 

 the best lands that have been mentioned. But on the 

 lower deposits of the Wealden formation, where no ex- 

 traneous bodies are adjacent to mix the composition, the 

 clammy adhesiveness and stiffness of the soil compels 

 the broadcast cultivation of Beans in which the crop is 

 small in the return, and confers little benefit on the land. 

 In that way it neither defers the fallowing process, nor 

 renders it easier of accomplishment. 



Over much of the extent of England, and largely in 

 Durham and Northumberland over the coal deposits, 

 soils are formed of thin arid clay, on which Beans 

 can only be cultivated in broadcast, and are little used, 

 on account of the foul state of the land which follows 

 the crop. The quality of the soil is much below the 

 power of the Bean plant, and the insertion of it in the 

 rotation of cropping is very judiciously rejected. In 

 these counties, the soil and the climate are both adverse, 

 the quality of the one not correcting the deficiency of the 

 other, for the growth of Beans. 



Beans are sometimes grown on Grass layers, when the 

 seed is best deposited by dibbling, on the well harrowed 

 surface of one ploughing. The drills may be wide, on 

 alternate slices, for the grubber, or narrow on single 

 slices for the hand-hoe ; and if the firm state of the land 

 does prevent the deep working of the grubber, the weeds 

 will be completely checked by the hand-hoe, either in 

 wide or narrow drills, and assisted by the shallow ope- 

 ration of the drill cultivator. 



The shrivelling leaves of the haulm, and the black 

 colour of the pod or legume, with the hardened state of 

 seeds, give notice of the maturity of the Bean plant. 

 The crop is most generally cut by the sickle, tied into 

 sheaves, and built into ricks, thatched with straw, or 

 lodged in barns. The straw and the grain are very 

 easily separated, by flail or by machine, and winnowed 

 for use. The sheaves are tied by straw ropes, or tarred 

 twine, which will last for many seasons, on being kept 

 from year to year. The straw of Beans, when well 

 harvested, is very particularly relished by horses, and 

 the husks of the legumes by sheep, and it forms, in any 

 shape, very useful litter for swine in sties, and for sheep 

 confined in eots. In a good state, it is reckoned equal 

 to the best hay, of any kind or quality. 



The chief use of Beans in this country is, to feed horses, 

 for which purpose they are very usefully mixed with Oats, 

 as they contain a large proportion of nitrogenous ingre- 

 dients, and therefore feed the muscular parts of animals. 

 They are also used in feedingswine, bruised and unbruised; 

 they make the flesh very firm. Bean-meal is used in 

 fattening oxen ; mixed with water, and given to cows, 

 it greatly increases both the quantity and quality of the 

 milk. Some Beans are also mixed with new Wheats in 



proportion, pretending mat the new , lamwy WaJaui 

 will not grind without some such mixture. 



On the best Bean lands, which admit the drilling and 

 manuring in the highest perfection, the average" pro- 

 duce of Beans per acre may be stated at 4 A qrs., and 

 on the remaining inferior soils at 2 J qrs., making the 

 general average 3£ qrs., which may be fully equal to 

 the truth. 



The proportion of nutritive matter in Beans, com- 

 pared with other grains, is thus given by Einhof : — 



i$y weight ; or, bv bushel*. 

 74 per cent. 47 lbs. 



Wheat 



jvy© ,,, ... ... ••• 



70 „ 





39 M 



xjuripy ... ... »•• ... 



65 „ 





33 M 



**cLtS ... ... ... ... 



68 „ 





23 „ 



JjpftDS ... ... ... ••• 



63 „ 





45 „ 



i ^as , .. .., ... ... 



75 ,. 





4* „ 



French Beans 



84 „ 





54 „ 



The ashes of Beans contain — 



-% 







Phosphate of pota*h and soda 



• t • 



• » t 



63.59 



,, of linie 



• • • 



• • • 



935 



, t of magnesia 



• *• 



• • • 



19.11 



Sulphate of potash and common salt 



... 



1.84 



Silicate of potash 



• • * 



• • • 



1.11 





100.00 



The ashes of Bean straw contain — ] 







Carbonate of potash 





• *• 



3.32 



„ of soda 



• •• 



• • • 



6.<>6 



Sulphate of potash 



• • * 



• • . 



82.04 



Common salt 



« • • 



« i • 



24 



Carbonate of lime 



*•« 



• • • 



3D.50 



Magnesia 



• • ■ 



« • • 



192 



Phosphate of lime 



ft • • 



• • • 



6.48 



M • of magnesia 



• •• 



• tt 



6 66 



,, of iron and alum ... 



• •• 



• • • 



349 



Silica 



• • « 



a . • 



7.97 



Beans contain in 10,000 parts 



i about 



200 parts 



potash. J. D. 















a 



of 



Home Correspondence. 



Brewing. — I gladly comply with the request of 

 u A. B." as far as I can, and I do so the more willingly 

 because in reading over the article to which he refers 

 I detect a mistake, not in the receipt itself (for the tem- 



tly as far as precept goes), 



peratures are given cor 



but in the phenomena of the process, viz., the tempera- 

 ture which the mash tun will attain at the commence- 

 ment of the first mash, if the directions which I then 

 gave are followed. I stated the addition of the second 

 quantities of water at 182° would bring the tempera- 

 ture of the mash up to 165° to 167 p . Those figures 

 ought to have been 155° or 157°., which is »he tempe- 

 rature which results from the preceding quantities and 

 heats. I find from my notes that this temperature 

 varies from 155° to 157° in cold weather in March, and 

 from 157° to 159° in summer or autumn. The tempe- 

 rature of the second mash is correctly stated, and ranges 

 from 168° to 172 Q . I do not know that much practical 

 error would occur from this mistake, as any one who 

 followed my directions in other respects would discover 

 that it was a mistake, but I am glad to have the oppor- 

 tunity of correcting it. Thus much premised, I pro- 

 ceed to " A. B.'s n queries. I have no experience of 

 German yeast, and should be afraid to use it, except it 

 were in a small brewing of strong beer, for the purpose 

 of procuring beer yeast for a further process. Rain 

 water I consider best for brewing, and I use none other ; 

 but I should hesitate to use it if sooty or otherwise 

 offensive. It will throw off much filth by boiling, and 

 afterwards by fermentation ; but if really foul it could 

 not fail to affect the flavour of the beer. That which I 

 use is preserved in a large tank, and is toler- 

 ably pure, containing only a little lime, which is de- 

 rived from the Roman cement. To " A. B.V last 

 query I can give no very satisfactory answer. 

 If he possessed a knowledge of chemistry, he would 

 hardly ask such a question ; and without such know- 

 ledge^ he will hardly understand any answer I can give, 

 lie probably knows that the same Potato will be waxy, 

 mealy, ropy, and paste-like, according as it is boiled for 

 a longer or a shorter time ; somewhat analogous to 

 this fact is the process which produces sugar or gum 

 from the same materials. If " A. B." has some know- 

 ledge of chemistry, he will find some of the information- 

 he seeks in p. 943 of the seventJi edition of " Turner's 

 Elements of Chemistry," by Liebig and Gregory, 1842 ; 

 and he will collect more by consulting different Cyclo- 

 paedias on the subjects of Diastase, Gum, Sugar, &c. ; 

 but I cannot now exactly recollect or refer to the 

 various sources from which I have picked up the little 

 information which I possess on this subject. Suffice it 

 to say, that as far as it has been investigated, between 

 158^ and 148^fappears to be the temperature at which 

 Grape-sugar is formed most {freely ; and it is not 

 destroyed below 170° or 172°. The best temperatures, 

 therefore, would seem 158° for the first mash, and 168H 

 for the second. Another year's experience has con- 

 firmed the excellence of the receipt which I ventured to 

 give in March last ; and by the addition of a false 

 bottom to my mash-tun, and the accurate fitting of it* 

 wooden cover; my mash seldom loses more than 3 Q per 

 hour, that is to say, that commencing at 158°, it does 

 not fall to 148° in less than 31 hours : so that I can 



*hift is overlool-Pd fc v ilVT w i T V ^ y ' S^auy increases uox-n me quanuiy anu quanry oi me seconu. i wisti 1 could answer his inquiry into t 



oolites fall ««^2 * . f ™ 8 , * the «Pper milk. Some Beans are also mixed with new Wheats in rationale of the process, by which I am converted ir 

 tes, fall under the same treatment m the cultivation I grinding, and millers generally contrive to use a due a palatable and refresh 



maintain the mash fully 3 hours, between the limits 

 which Pay-en and Persoz state to be most favourable to 

 saccharification. In conclusion, I will remind " A. B." 

 of Virgil's lines ; 



■* Felix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causaa, 

 F. rtu atus at iile Deos qui novit agrestes, 



Panaque Sylvanumqsie sen em." 



If we cannot attain to the first and highest "rank of 

 knowledge, we must be contented and thankful in the 

 second. I wish I could answer his inquiry into the 

 rationale of the process, by which I am converted into 



I 



