BEAN, in agriculture. The B. was cultivated to a small extent at least in ancient times, both in Palestine and Egypt. The Roman family of the Fabii are said to have derived their name from this plant. It requires a rich or alluvial land to grow the B. in perfection, and hence it is only found entering into a regular rotation of cropping upon soils of the best class. Since the introduction of maize into the s. of Europe, the land under this plant has been considerably restricted. The maize thrives better, and is far more productive than the B., in warm climates. In the n. of Europe, too, the potato, flax, beet, and other fallow crops are more productive and certain. Indeed, the high summer temperature of the continents of Europe and America is by no means favorable to the growth of the B. In the w. of England, the summers are rather too moist for its yielding its seeds in abundance. The straw and haulm are apt to be developed too much, and the blossoms do not set well. Beans are largely cultivated on all the better descrip tions of clay soils in the eastern counties, such as lent and Suffolk. The variety most generally grown there is the common tick or field B., having much resemblance to the Scotch or The modes of cultivation are very various, and a large breadth is still sown broad cast. The great objection to this mode is the liability of weeds to spring up and check the growth of the crop. Beans are considered one of the fallow crops; but the soil, after it has borne a crop of beans, is little fitted for a cereal crop, unless it has been hoed and kept clean in summer. To effect this end, beans are usually sown in rows, and hoed during their early growth either by the hand or horse-hoc. In preparing the land for a B. crop in England, the stubble, after being liberally dressed with farm-yard manure in autumn, receives a deep furrow, so as to expose the soil to the winter frosts. The surface is then scarified, and after being harrowed, the beans are sown in drills of 18 in. in width, at the rate of 3 to 31 bushels per acre.* The sowing begins as soon after the month of Jan. as the soil admits of the necessary operations, and may be practiced up to the middle of March. The earlier the crop is put in, the better in general is the chance of its being productive. The greater liability of the eastern counties to drought, renders the crop more subject to the attacks of insects, such as the "black dolphin," or B. aphis, which usually makes its appearance as soon as the plant suffers from the want of moisture. For this reason, the B. crop is rather an uncertain .one in the climate of the eastern coun
ties, and other crops are gradually encroaching on the breadth which it used to occupy. The Russian or winter beaus are sown in these counties to some extent in autumn, and from ripeuing earlier, often escape the attacks of vermin, and suffer less from the drought.
Perhaps East Lothian is as favorable, in respect both of soil and climate, to the culti vation of the field B., as any part of Europe. The summers are comparatively cool, and the rains generally moderate, and pretty well diffused over the growing season. The crops - are less liable to depredations of the "black dolphin," and the period over which the growth of the plant is extended, is favorable to large crops. Sometimes the crop is sown broadcast, when the land is clean and well manured; and it is said that as large crops have been raised in this way as by sowing in rows. The produce by this mode of cultivation, however, is much more irregular, and the land is often left in a foul condition. Drilling is therefore the general pmetice in cultivating this crop in the Lothians. The stubble is usually manured and plowed in autumn, and when the weather admits, in spring it is plowed again, and the beans are sown by a small machine in every third furrow- or the land is merely plowed in autumn, and farmed into drills or ridges by the double mold-board plow in spring. Into these the farm-yard manure is put and spread, and the beans are sown above it either broadcast or by a three-barreled machine. The seed is then covered by the double-molded plow, as in the planting of potatoes. By this mode, the plants receive a plentiful supplyof nutriment in their early stages of growth. When land is out of condition, or when the crop is sown upon lighter and inferior descriptions of soil, this is perhaps the most advisable method to follow. Mr. Hope, during his tenancy of Fentonbarns, introduced the Euglish method of culti vation into East Lothian. The stubble is dunged and plowed in autumn, and as soon as the land is dry in spring, about three bushels of beans are drilled, 18 in. apart, by means of Garrett's machine. As soon as the crop appears above ground, Garrett's lever horse hoe is put over the ground, to stir the surface, and keep it free from weeds. During the spring and early summer, the horse and hand hoeing are repeated as often as it is deemed advisable, until the crop covers in the land by its abundant foliage, and keeps down all weeds. Mr. Ho_pe's experiments indicated that the yield of grain is greater by the nar row than by wide drilling.