Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 1.djvu/387

Rh CROPS.] AGRICULTURE corn crop; but in opposite circumstances it is sure to get into utter confusion. It is found advisable, therefore, to take beans after the white crop that has succeeded roots or a bare fallow. In Berwickshire, where a five-years course, consisting of turnips, wheat, or barley, two years seeds, and oats, has long prevailed, beans are now not unfre- quently introduced by substituting them for the second year s grass. A four-years course with beans instead of a portion of the seeds is certainly preferable. In cultivating this crop the land is ploughed with a deep furrow in autumn, a dressing of dung being first spread over the surface and turned in by the plough. As early in March as the state of the soil admits, it is stirred by the grubber and harrowed. The seeds are then deposited either in narrow rows 14 inches, or in wider rows 27 inches apart. The latter width has long been preferred in Scotland, because of its admitting of the free use of the plough and the drill-grubber, in addition to the hoe, during the early stages of the plant s growth, and also from a belief that the free entrance of light and air, of which the wide rows admits, increases the productiveness of the crop. We shall describe both modes of culture, and then state the grounds upon which, after long sharing in the opinion just noted, and following that practice, we now give a decided preference to sowing in narrow rows. In sowing at the wider intervals, the soil, having been prepared as already stated, is formed, by a single turn of the common plough, into shallow drills 27 inches apart. Ten or twelve such drills being formed to begin with, the seed is scattered broadcast, at the rate of 3 bushels per acre, by a sower who takes in six of these drills at a time, and gives them a double cast, or by a drilling-machine, which sows three rows at once. The beans either roll into the hollows as they fall, or are turned in by the ploughs, which now proceed to open each a fresh drill, in going down the one side of the working interval, and to cover in a seeded one in returning on the other side. If tares are cultivated on the farm, it is usual to sow a small quantity (say a peck per acre) amongst the beans, on which they are borne up, and so ripen their seeds better, and yield more abundantly, than when trailing on the ground. When the crop comes to be thrashed the tares are easily separated from the beans by sifting. Ten days or so after sowing, the drills are partially levelled by a turn of the chain harrow ; and if the land is cloddy, it is smoothed by a light roller. If showers occur when the bean plants are appearing above ground, or shortly after, the common harrows may be used again with the best effect in pulverising the soil and destroying newly-sprung weeds. A horse and hand hoeing is then given, and is repeated if weeds again appear. When the plants have got about 6 inches high it is beneficial to stir the soil deeply betwixt the rows by using Tennant s grubber, drawn by a pair of horses. For this purpose the tines are set so close together as to clear the rows of beans, and the horses are yoked to it by a main tree, long enough to allow the horses to work abreast in the rows on either side of the one operated upon. The soil is thus worked thoroughly to the depth of 6 or 8 inches, without reversing the surface and exposing it to drought, or risk of throwing it upon the plants. Just before the blooms appear some farmers pass a bulking- plough betwixt the rows, working it very shallow, and so as merely to move the surface soil towards the plants. This may do good, but a deep earthing up is hurtful. When the blooms open all operations should cease, as otherwise much mischief may be done. Such an amount of culture as has now been described may be thought needlessly costly and laborious, but unless a bean crop is kept clean, it had better not be sown. And it is to be remembered that the benefit of this careful tillage is not confined to it, but will be equally shared in by the wheat crop that follows. The culture of winter beans differs only in this, that they require to be sown as early in autumn as the removal of the preceding grain crop admits of. When it is determined to sow in 14-inch rows, the seeds are deposited by any of the corn drilling-machines in common use, set for the specified width of rows, or (which we prefer) the soil is formed into narrow ribs or drills by means of the one-horse plough, the seeds are scattered broadcast by hand or machine over this corrugated surface, and they are covered by a double turn of the common harrows, and rolled by a light roller. As soon as the bean plants appear, care must be taken to keep down weeds by diligent hoeing. Two good hoeings will usually suffice, for by the time that the second is accomplished, the crop will speedily so close in as to render any further hoeing impracticable and unnecessary. After repeated trials of these two modes of cultivation, made alongside of each other, we have found that the produce from the narrow rows has been at the rate of from 4 to G bushels more per acre than that from the wide rows, and that the soil has been left decidedly cleaner after the former than after the latter mode. It is certainly somewhat startling to find results so opposed as these are to preconceived opinion and approved practice. And yet, when the matter is well considered, it becomes obvioiis enough why it should be so. The wide rows admit of a most effective process of tillage and hoeing up to the time when the beans come into bloom, when, however, it must wholly cease. But when farther culture is precluded, the need for it by no means ceases,, seeing that the rows of bean plants usually remain suffi ciently apart to admit of the continued growth of weeds during the long period which intervenes betwixt the blooming and the ripening of the crop. And hence it happens especially if the spring prove cold and parching^ that although the vide-rowed beans have been kept scrupulously clean up to the time of blooming, their upright habit of growth renders it impossible that they can so close in upon the wide space betwixt the rows, as to preoccupy and overshadow the ground sufficiently to keep it clean during the long period that the crop must neces sarily be left to its own resources. By sowing in narrow rows the crop is soon in a condition to defend itself against weeds and drought, and hence the saving of labour, the more bulky crops, and the cleaner stubble, which result from sowing beans at 14 rather than 27 inch intervals. In Scotland the haulm of beans is esteemed an excellent fodder for horses and other live stock, whereas in England it is thought unfit for such a use. The reason of this appears to be, that in the southern counties beans are allowed to stand until the leaf is gone and the stems, blackened before reaping ; whereas in Scotland they are reaped so soon as the eye of the grain gets black. When well got, the juices of the plant are thus, to some extent, retained in the haulm, which in consequence is much, relished by live stock, and yields a wholesome and nutritious fodder. A good crop of beans yields about 1 ton of grain and 1 1 ton of straw per acre. Section 6. Pease. Pease are sown in circumstances similar to those just detailed, but they are better adapted than beans to light soils. They too are best cultivated in rows of such a width as to admit of horse-hoeing. The early stage at which they fall over, and forbid further culture, renders it even more needful than in the case of beans to sow them only on land already clean. If annual weeds can be kept in check until the pease once get a close cover, they then occupy the ground so completely that nothing else can live- under them ; and the ground, after their removal, is found I. 46