BEAN, BROAD 



BEAN, BROAD 



213 



ten parts of corn. If the plants are grown for 

 their seeds, the seeds or grain should be allowed 

 thoroughly to ripen, when the plants may be cut 

 with an ordinary corn harvester. A fair yield of 

 beans is about thirty bushels to the acre. After 

 threshing, care should be taken to see that the 

 grain is thoroughly dry, otherwise it may heat in 

 the storehouse. 



Uses. 



The broad bean has a diversity of uses,^the 

 grain as food for man and stock, the fodder for 

 silage and soiling, and the plant as a cover-crop 

 and soil-renovator ; and "coffee" may be made from 

 the beans. The plant has been largely tested at 

 some of the Canadian experimental farms, and is 

 frequently mentioned in the reports of these exper- 

 imental farms. In the report for 1904 (pp. 125, 

 126) is the following discussion of its use as a 

 cover-crop : 



"In the report for 1903, experiments on the use 

 of the English horse bean and hairy vetch were 

 described. It was shown that horse beans and hairy 

 vetch sown in rows twenty-eight inches apart had 

 given very satisfactory results. These were sown 

 in this way because it is sometimes difficult to get 

 a good 'stand' for a cover-crop in the autumn, by 

 sowing about the middle of July and later, owing 

 to the dry weather which often occurs after seed- 

 ing, delaying the germination of the seed ; and in 

 the North it is very desirable to have the cover- 

 crop tall, so that it will hold the snow. By sowing 

 the seed in rows, it can be sown comparatively 

 early, and the soil cultivated between the rows 

 when the plants come up, thus conserving moisture 

 and making sure of a good cover-crop. Cultivation 

 may be discontinued about the middle of July or 

 a little later. The horse beans sown on June 18, 

 1903, were three feet six inches to four feet in 

 height on September 21, and it was estimated that 

 the green crop per acre was 7 tons 733 pounds 

 above ground and 2 tons 852 pounds of roots, or a 

 total of 9 tons 1,585 pounds per acre, containing, 

 according to the figures given by Mr. Frank T. 

 Shutt, Chemist of the Experimental Farms, in his 

 report for 1903, 78 pounds of nitrogen as compared 

 with 130 pounds from mammoth red clover, and 

 147 pounds from hairy vetch. These beans stood 

 up well all winter, holding the snow admirably, and 

 by spring were still two to two and one-half feet 

 in height. A land roller was put on as soon as the 

 Boil was in condition to work, and the beans were 

 rolled down. The disk-harrow was then used and it 

 was found that they broke up readily ; they were 

 then cultivated in with a spring-tooth cultivator. 

 Owing to the coarse nature of the stems, they vere 

 noticed in the soil longer than clover or vetch, 

 but in a comparatively short time they decayed 

 and gave practically no trouble. Horse beans were 

 again sown in drills, this year on June 16, and 

 were three feet five inches in height when frozen. 

 The advantage of horse beans is that they winter- 

 kill and are easily worked under in the spring, 

 while hairy vetch and clover are more difficult to 

 deal with, and if left until late in the spring will 



take considerable moisture from the soil. The dis- 

 advantage of the horse bean is that there is no mat 

 of vegetation close to the soil, and if there should 

 be a winter without show, it might not prove so 

 effective as red clover or hairy vetch. In order to 

 ensure a mat of vegetation which would cover the 



Fig. 304. Broad beans in the field. 



ground in winter, and which would be dead in the 

 spring, rape was used in one part of the orchard, 

 and it is thought that English horse beans and 

 rape grown together will prove one of the most 

 satisfactory cover-crops where they will succeed. 

 The horse beans will furnish nitrogen and humus, 

 and will hold the snow well ; the rape will cover 

 the ground, thus protecting the roots, and will also 

 add humus. At Ottawa, horse beans sown in the 

 last week of June, at the rate of one bushel per 

 acre, in drills twenty-eight inches apart, and culti- 

 vated two or three times, and rape sown broadcast 

 between the rows in the latter half of August, 

 should furnish a very satisfactory combination. 

 Both English horse beans and rape are moisture- 

 loving plants, and will not succeed so well in dry 

 soils as they will where there is a fair amount of 

 moisture. When the hairy vetch is grown for seed, 

 horse beans sown in drills at the same time as the 

 vetch should prove very useful the following sea- 

 son in holding up the vines, thus insuring a larger 

 crop of seed." 



In Canadian experiments with oats and barley • 

 after different crops, it was found that the broad 

 bean is an excellent crop to use in the rotation. 

 Many farms undoubtedly would be greatly benefited 

 by growing this crop as a soil-restorer. Following 

 is the yield per acre of oats grown after various 

 crops, in comparison with the broad bean : 



