216 
Farming of Oxfordshire. 
t';e neighbourhoocl of Watlington, and is now very common all 
<,'ver the county. As it ripens early in August, the crop is 
cleared in ample time for any preparation the stubble may 
require for wheat. Although the winter beans may not produce 
t'le large crops sometimes obtained from those sown in spring, 
on the average of years it is certainly more, as they are not so 
liable to be attacked by the aphis and other insects, as they 
blossom before those pests commence depredations on a large 
scale. The old-fashioned plan of dibbling across the ridges is 
still extensively practised on clay soils. The operation is per- 
.Cjrmed mostly by women, who, having a short wooden dibble, 
punch the hole between the furi'ow with one hand, and drop the 
seed with tlie other. A line is placed across the ridge to make 
a straight row, and before it is removed the dibble or foot is 
scratched across the holes ; and the land sometimes receives a 
harrowing. About 2 or 3 bushels of winter beans are used for 
seed, and 3 or 4 bushels in the spring. The usual cost of 
dibbling is bs. per acre, but many are set by the bushel. When 
drilled, the rows are from 16 to 24 inches apart. They are 
horse and hand hoed ; and not unfrequently after the last hoeing, 
turnips or rape are sown from a little hand-drill, to which a 
small harrow is attached to cover the seed. Directly the beans 
are cut, the turnips are hoed, and may be intended for autumn 
feed, to be followed by wheat, or are saved for the spring, to be 
succeeded by barley or oats. It is also a good plan to sow 
trefoil with beans on light land ; it makes a little sheep-feed, 
and renders the land more solid for wheat. Winter beans are 
sown in October and November, and yield 4 or 5 charters per 
acre. Spring beans are planted in February and March ; their 
produce varies from 3 to 6 quarters. A singular disease, similar 
to the potato blight, attacked some of the winter beans in 1852. 
The leaves and haulm turned quite black, and many acres were 
ploughed up. Those that were left nearly recovered the attack, 
and the loss was not half so serious as was at first imagined. 
Beans and peas are sometimes planted together, and called 
" pulse." The peas attach themselves to the beans as to sticks ; and 
if a peck of peas is sown with a sack of beans the increase of the 
peas will amount to an eighth of the whole. Tliis is considered 
the proper proportion of pulse : but on light lands the quantity 
(vf peas sown is greater. Should the peas blight, then the produce 
of pulse is small ; yet 4 or 5 quarters is about an average crop. 
Pulse are always sown in tlie spring, but vetches are often 
planted in the same way with beans in the autumn, and produce 
a much larger yield than if sown separately. The vetches being 
so much smaller, are easily separated from the beans when win- 
nowed ; but should a few remain, it is not objected to for seed. 
