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thrown to ilitTerent heights on the bean llalks, as they ad- 

 vance ill growth. 



In dry fiimrr.ers, when eafterlv w iiuls prevail, beans are very 

 apt to be ftricken with the dolphin fiy, an infedl which in 

 a very fliort fpaceof time will dellroy the produce of a whole 

 field. In thi;; cafe it has been found very beneficial to take 

 off the tops with the fcythe, as the dolphin generally effecis 

 its firll lodgment in the upper part of the llalk. Where 

 this piilfe is fown broad-call, there remains no other way of 

 cleanfing the field, than by cutting up the weeds with a hook, 

 or by turning in a flock of flieep in May, where the grourid 

 is Yen' toul, as this animal will devour the weeds, at.d leave 

 the beans muouched. From this very partial method of 

 wee*ling, it may fairly be concluded little benefit can ac- 

 crue, and that the gralten will be abundantly ftnckcd with 

 weeds at harveft, and the ground be totally unfit for fowing 

 with wheat : and, indeed, the praftice of fowing bean grat- 

 tens with wheat i^ never attempted in thofe countries where 

 this method of fowing beans at random prevails ; and here, 

 therefore, the bean and pea grattcns generally come In courfe 

 the next year for a fallow. This is a pradtice that cannot 

 be recommended. 



It is remarked in the Survey of Middlefex, that beans are 

 feldom ripe enough to cut till the latter end of Augull, and 

 the proper time is when the kitis are turning black, about 

 ten days before they would begin to open at the ends. 

 Though in fome parts of the field the kids may not be fo 

 black as in others, this Ihould not prevent their being cut ; 

 for they will ripen and harden after that is done, by fetting 

 the (heaves upright, and leaving them in the field for a week 

 or ten days. If they are cut long before they are ripe, they 

 will (lirink and flirivel ; and if too ripe, they will (hed con- 

 fiderably ; though there is much lefs danger in reaping them 

 too early, than in letting them Hand too long. Thofe that 

 are over-ripe (hould be cut with the dew on them, and car- 

 ried to the barn in the fame Hate ; the green parts of the 

 crop being cut in the middle of the day. When the inten- 

 tion is to fow wheat or tares after beans, they ought to be 

 fct up fo as to occupy as little fpace as pofllble, that the 

 vacant ground may be immediately prepared for the next 

 crop. The writer of the Synopfis of Hufhandry afierts, 

 that after a growing fummer, and on land which is in good 

 heart, there will be many gieen pods when the crop is upon 

 the whole fit for the hook ; for the llalks having run to a 

 ^reat length, and beuig very replete with moiilure, the up- 

 per part of the leaves, pods, and llalks, will appear to be 

 in a growing ilate king after the pods on the lower part 

 of the ilalk are fully ripened. To wait the ripening of 

 thefe upper pods would i;e very ill-judged, as by this de- 

 lay great part of the crop would be loft, from the fliedding 

 of thofe which were already come to maturity. The beii 

 method, therefore, is to cut the beans when the major 

 part have ripened, and by fuffering the fhocks to remain 

 fome time in the field, the upper part of the llalks will be 

 fulEcieutly withersd, fo as to prevent any ill efTtCts from 

 their humidiiy, when laid in the barn or Hack ; nor will the 

 beans from thofe unripened pods be of any injury to the 

 famplc. At harved time, the lame author informs us, that 

 in Kent thofe beans which were fown broaj-cail are mown 

 with a fcythe, and carried loofe into the barn ; a practice 

 which is fraught with many inconveniencies ; but that in 

 Middlefex, where the beans are planted in rows with a dib- 

 bler, as before mentionedj the Intervals are carefully eleanfed 

 during their growth by means of the hoe ; and to this pur- 

 pofe the farmers are under the neccnity of employing a num- 

 ber of hands ; the Kentifh method of cleaning the intervals 

 bv the brake not having vet been introduced into that countv; 

 'Vol, IV. 



B E A 



fince tlie whole ground between the rows mud be flat-hoed. 

 At harvell, the llalks are cut with a hook, bound into 

 flieaves, and fet up four together ; and as a fubditute for 

 ftrings, it is ufual to fow the headlands with peafe, the haulm 

 of which anfwers the pnrpofe of bands to tie up the (heaves. 

 The Kentifh mode of hufbandry is greatly to be preferred, 

 he thinks, to that of the Middlefex farmers, as is evident 

 from the confideration of the comparative difadvantages 

 which attend a crop raiftd and managed according to the 

 latter metho'l, with the fuperior benefits of the former. Al 

 feed-time the planting by a dibbler is infinitely more tedious 

 and expenfive than that of dropping the feed into the fur- 

 row after the fti iking plough ; and in the courfe of hulban- 

 dry required to cleanfe the intervals, the fevcral flat-hoeings 

 caufe a far heavier charge than what attends the braking 

 and edge-hoeing ; and after all, the ground is not fo well 

 prepared for a wheat feafon at Michaelmas, a method of 

 hulbandrj- generally piirfued by the Middlefex farmers. One 

 reafcm may be afiigned, he fays, why the Kentilh hufbandry 

 has not yet been adopted by the Middlefex f^irmers ; and 

 this is from the nature of the land in that oounty, which in 

 many parts is a deep heavy clay, fo that on thefe adlielive 

 fuils the ftvin^p/ot'gh is generally ufcd, and the ground di- 

 vided into partitions, or (as they are termed) lands, to guard 

 againft the contingency of a wet feafon. But ftirely, fays 

 he, this foil might be worked with a turn-rtil-foot plough, 

 and by proper drains be fecured from tiie ill effecls of a 

 moiil time ; and the field being thus laid on a level, the 

 rows might eafily be flruck out, and the fubfequent brakings 

 be executed to advantage during the lumm.er, as ufual with 

 the Kentifii farmers. It is added, that in thofe parts of 

 Kent where the round tilth hulhandry is purfued, the far- 

 mere are particularly attentive to the feveral operations of- 

 hocing and braking the ground during tnc growth of the 

 beans ; for, as the land in that county is of a nature fo fer- 

 tile as not to require the intervention of a fummer fallow, 

 they fpare no pains in the cultivation of their bean and pea 

 grounds, in order to render it as clean and well pulverized 

 as poffible by means of the hoe and brake, fo that this latter 

 inilrumcnt is fcarcely ever out of th.e field, from the begin- 

 ning of May till the time when the beans are advanced t» 

 that height, as to obllruift the working of it ; by which the 

 ground becomes fo intimately divided, that every particle of 

 foil in the iuterfpace is expofcd to the beneficial influence 

 of tlie fun and air, and at harvell fcarcely a weed is percep- 

 tible throughout the crop. In order to dtflroy what few 

 weeds may remain in the rows, and to give that part of the 

 ground its due Ihare of pulverization, and to cleanfe it from 

 the bean haulm, a plough is fet to work foon after harvtft 

 to fpuddle the gratten ; and for this purpofe a plate of iron 

 is fixed acrofs the Ihare at about four or five inches from the 

 point, and the fame axle-tree and wheels are made ufe of 

 that were before employed for ftriking out the furrows ; and 

 with this plough and two horles three acres of ground may 

 be fpuddled in a day, by fctting the fliare point in the inter- 

 val, fo that the iron or fin may embrace a row on each fide ; 

 and when the whole field is thus fpuddled, the harrows and 

 roller are to fueceeJ, by which the haulm and weeds will be 

 completely extricated at a trifling charge, and the ground be 

 laid ill readintfs for ploughing the feed furrows, at which 

 time thofe beans or peafe which may have been fhed will 

 have vegetated, and are deflroyed by the plough ; fo that 

 the farmer may, from this mode of hu'Tjandry, be not left 

 confidtut of growing a clean famplc of wheat, than if his 

 ground had been fummer fallowed. 



On thin, chalky, or gravelly ground?, notwithftandinj 



what has j«ft been urged of the good effect* oi fpuddling, he 



H * obfervet 



