40 
BEANS. 
inches apart, according to their size, and the drills may be 
from two to three feet asunder. * A strong clayey soil is the 
most suitable*; but they often do well in moderately light 
ground, provided it be well trodden, or rolled, after the 
Beans are planted. 
As soon as the Beans are three or four inches high, they 
will need a careful hoeing; and if some earth be drawn up 
to their stems, three or four times in the course of their 
growth, it will greatly refresh and strengthen them 
When they arrive at full bloom, and the lower pods begin 
to set, the tops may be broken off. If this be done at the 
proper time, it will promote the swelling of the pods, as 
well as their early maturity ; for having no advancing tops 
to nourish, the whole effort of the root will go to the support 
of the fruit. 
Broad Beans are particularly subject to green bugs. To- 
bacco water, or salt water, will sometimes destroy them, 
but the most certain way is to watch their first appearance, 
and pick off that part on which they first settle, and burn it ; 
or if such plants be cut down close to the ground, they will 
produce fresh shootf, which may bear a good crop. 
One quart of -seed Beans will be required for every shtty 
feet of row, allowing the smallest sorts to be planted about 
two inches apart, and the largest four inches. 
The beans should be gathered young, and shelled while 
fresh. After having been washed, let them be boiled in 
plenty of water with a little salt and a bunch of green parsley. 
They take from thirty to forty ‘minutes to boil, according to 
age, and may be served up with melted butter, gravy, &c. ; 
but they are very good when cooked and eaten with fat pork, 
or good old-fashioned Hampshire bacon. 
