B E A 



to a proper depth ; and many other objeftions miglit, he 

 thinks, be urged againll this method of fowing beans at 

 random, of which it is not one of the k-all, that fiich iire- 

 gular fown crops are in great danger of being injured by 

 \vc;ds, vh:eh cannot fo cafily be extricated when the beans 

 are fown at random as when they are planted regularly in 

 drills. 



In fome diftri(?\s, as Middlcfex, Surrey, 8cc. the method 

 is, to plant thispnlfe in rows ftricken out by a line, by which 

 a great faving is made in the article of feed, a circumftance 

 which is thought to compenfate for the extraordinary charge 

 of this mode of hvi(h;indry ; and thiu far it may be fairly ac- 

 knowledged, that the method of planting beans by the dib- 

 ble is greatly to be preferred to tliat of fowing the feed at 

 random. The o^conomy of this agricultural procefs he thus 

 explains : the rows are marked out one foot afunder, and the 

 feed planted in holes made two inches apart ; the lines are 

 llretched acrofs the lands, which are formed about fix feet 

 over, fo that when one row is planted, the fticl^s to vhieh 

 the line is fallcned are moved by a regular meafureniciit to 

 the dillance required, and the fame method puriiicd till the 

 field is completed. The ufual price for this work is Qd. p^v 

 peck, and the allowance two bufhels per acre. Gre;;t con- 

 fidence miiUnecelTarily be repofed in t!it. people who tranfaft 

 the bufinefs of planting beans by the dibble, who, if inclined 

 to fraud, have it in their power to deceive their tinploycr by 

 throwing great part of the feed into the hedge, from which 

 their daily profits are confiderably ei-hnnced, their own la- 

 bour fpared, and every difcovery effeilu,:!ly precluded, till 

 the appearance of the crop, when the fiiquent chafms in the 

 rows will give fufficient indications of the fraud ; and by 

 this time perliaps t!ie villainous authors of the mifchicf may 

 have efcaped aH poffibility of detection, by having conveyed 

 themfelves from the fccne of their iniquity. Such is the 

 method of planting beans by the dibMer ; but the neateft and 

 inofl; expeditious way of fowing this pulfe, tfpecially the field 

 bean, is, he obferves, that purfucd by the Kentifli farmers. The 

 ufual courfe in that county, is to plough up the oat or barley 

 grattcns, which are dcfigned forbeans,foon after the wheat fea- 

 lon is fiaiflied, in which candition the fallows are to lie till to- 

 wards Candlemas, or later, as the (late of the weather, or the 

 fai-mer'soccafion may require, and then to ftrikeoutthefurrows. 



About eleven furrows to a row's breadth is the ufual 

 width of fetting out the rows, though fome prefer a wider 

 fpace, whilll others ftrike them (lill narrower ; and this dif- 

 ference in the width of the rows is the caufc why the farmers 

 vary fo effentially in rtfpect to the quantity of feed to be 

 fown on the fame given fpace of ground ; for, v.diilft fome 

 will content themfelves with an allowance of two bufheli per 

 acre, others will throw a fack of beans upon the fame 

 compafs of land. When the furrows are (truck at ihe dif- 

 tance mentioned before, two buflicls and a half cf middle- 

 fized tick-beans are fuffijient to feed an acre, and on good 

 land (for if the ground be not cither rich in itfelf, or ren- 

 dered fertile by art, it is of little confequence to attempt the 

 cultivation of this crop,) a perfon, in his opinion, (lands a 

 much fairer chance for a crop when the. beans are thinly 

 planted, than when a more liberal quantity of feed is allowed; 

 for, when beans (land fo very thick in the rows, they never 

 pod fo ki.dly as when the llalks are Icfs crowded; and al- 

 though the crop of hauhn may be more abundant, the in- 

 creafe will lot be adequate to the large bulk of ftraw. 



In Suffolk, according to Mr. Young, beans have been 

 dibbled by fome a row on every (lag ; by others, on every 

 other (lag. He has found it more advantageous to plant in 

 chillers four or five beans in every hole ; and eight or nine 

 i.iches from iio-e to hole, which admits of much better hoe- 



4 



B E A 



ing than when more thickly fct. Dibbling, fays he, is the 

 bell and moil cffeftive method of cultivating beans. In tlie 

 Svnopfis of Hnfbandry it is further obferved, that in Kent 

 fome people make ufe of a drill plough at bean feed time ; 

 but as thefe pulfe, tfpecially the larger ticks, are very une- 

 qual in fize, thty cannot be let out of the hopper with fuf- 

 ficient regularity ; for by this inequality in fize, many yards 

 of ground in the length of a furrow will be left vacai.t from 

 the cafual obflruc5lion of a large bean, and when this is re- 

 moved, numbers of a fmaller fize crowd to the chafm, and 

 (hoot out of the hopper for a confiderablc Ip'Jce, till another 

 large bean intervenes to obllruCl the paffage, and thus the 

 crop makes a very unfightly appearance in the ro\A'S, and at 

 the time of harveit is very unequal ; the injury in large Rthls 

 being not inconfiderable : for, in thofe parts of the furrows, 

 where no beans had been fown, an increafe cannot be ex- 

 pected ; and thofc which are huddled together by a quart 

 or more in a fpot, will, from the thicknefs of their growth, 

 in courfe come to little. Some farmers are fo nice as to pick 

 and cull their fi.ed before it goes into the hopper, in order 

 to render the beans more even, and prevent the injury above 

 mentioned ; but this is a very tedious pradlice, and after ail, 

 he believes, very fcldom anfvvcrsthe expence. The bell me- 

 thod of fowing this crop, according to this writer, is from 

 an indrument called a box, which is held by a man who fol- 

 lows the (biking plough, and who, by (liaking the box filled 

 W'itli beans, drops them willi regularity in the furrow, keep- 

 ing even pace with it ; fo that by two men, and two or three 

 horfes to the llriking plough, a man to box, and a boy and 

 two horfes to harrow down the ground after the plough, 

 three acres may be finilhed o(f in a day, and the whole con- 

 duced with reguhiritv. , 



The writer of the Agricultural Survey of Middleftx 

 thinks that beans (houid be manured for, and kept perfedtly 

 clean while growing, by ploughing, horfc or hand-hoeing, 

 and hand-weeding ; and that where th.cy are fo managed, 

 t!iey are an excellent preparation for either wheat or cats. 

 They have a tap root, and hfnce they are more likely to 

 fucceed after crops that have fibrous roots ; though he never 

 heard that they would net grow after any crop. They are 

 generally fown after wheat, barley, or oats ; and ought, as 

 has been already obferved, to be planted on ridglets, efpeci- 

 ally on wet thin-(l<inntd foils. 



In the Synopfis of Hu(bandry it is recommended as a 

 good method to roll and harrow beans in the latter end of 

 March. By the roll, fays this writer, the clods are broken 

 fo as to afford frefii uourifiiment to the roots ; and the har- 

 rows following this operation pulverize and Icofen the fur- 

 face, which had been flattened atid baked dov.m by the rains 

 in the preceding month, by whiv:h the beans T.re co'.ifidcrably 

 alTilled in the future progi'efs cf their growt'^. Soon after 

 this the crop (liould he tdge-lioed, and afterwards braked ; 

 which method of braking is a piece of hulbandry peculiar to 

 the county of Kent, and in every refpetl claims the prefer- 

 ence to that of hoein'.!; the whole fpace between the rows ; not 

 only becanfethe braking is performed at an inferior expence, 

 but it is likewifc more elScacio'js, as wcil for extirjjaling the 

 weeds that may have fprnng up between the rows, as in 

 furthering the advances of the beans in growth, bv loofeninc 

 the foil, and conveying frelh earth to the (Ulks. This ope- 

 ration of braking may be continued at the ir^terval of three 

 weeks or a month, fron the beginning of May till the crop 

 becomes in. bloom. AVlien it is propofed to earth up the 

 beans, this may be elTecled with great facility by fixing a 

 fmall block of wood on the ^r'lg of the brake ; the manner 

 of doing which is fd:i:iliar to every Kentifh ploughman ; and 

 according to the diameter of this block, tl)e earth may be 



fhrown 



