G4 
The Mechanical Condition of the Soil 
<)f seed for the drill, and the beans are thus deposited about three 
inches from the surface. 
The practice of dibbling the seed is quite as general as the 
employment of the drill, and it has many advantages : one of 
these (besides the saving of seed), is the earlier sowing which 
it enables us to make upon the strong land ploughed up be- 
fore winter ; for such ground will often admit of hand-labour 
of this kind when it would suffer much from the working 
of a drill. Beans are dibbled and drilled at various widths 
from 9 to 27 inches, but I prefer double rows at the dis- 
tance of 6 or 8 inches, with 20 or 24 inch intervals. This 
width between the rows is especially important if we consider 
the bean crop (as we ought) to be a fallow-crop. When the 
seed is sown, nothing more is required but to cover the seed, 
either by hand or by harrow ; but after the beans are well above 
the ground the roller is serviceable, as it consolidates the soil and 
prepares the bean for an early commencement of the blossoming. 
This may be advantageously followed by the use of the horse- 
hoe and stirrers in the intervals, when the beans have sufficiently 
firm hold upon the land which is immediately beneath them. 
The time of sowing beans extends throughout February and 
March, but, as far as climate will allow, an early preparation, 
followed by an early sowing, will produce the most satisfactory 
results. 
In the growth of winter beans the same objects should be 
aimed at. The ploughing of the land should be finished by the 
middle of September, and a month allowed for the ground to 
settle. The seed should be drilled as near the middle of October 
as possible, after due care has been taken to get the ground firm. 
It is want of firmness in the soil, and late sowing of winter-beans, 
that have prejudiced the minds of many against their more 
extended growth. A firm seed-bed is as important for the 
stability of the bean as we have seen it to be for the wheat crop, 
but this point is frequently overlf)oked. In sowing this varietv 
of bean, the wider intervals are eventually necessary for the 
purpose of horse-hoeing. 
Grass and Clover Seeds. — Under this head we may include both 
natural and artificial grasses. These seeds are small in size, 
and proportionately weak in their powers of growth ; for whicii 
reason they require the greater care to secure their healthy ger- 
mination. A depth and condition of soil which may be suitable 
lor larger and more vigorous seeds is really destructive to their 
growth. Some experiments which have been reported* on the 
germination of seeds are so satisfactory and conclusive that I 
♦ Morton's 'Encyclopedia of Agriculture,' vol. i. p. 999. 
