In England, the crops of beans vary from 20 to 40 bushels per acre; but in dry and warm seasons the produce often falls below the first-named quantity. The weight per bushel is from 60 to 64 lbs. On some of the best soils in Fife, and in the Lothians, as many as 60 bushels per acre are obtained in favorable seasons, and the weight of the bushel is sometimes as much as 60 lbs. In Scotland the straw is more abundant than in England. It forms good fodder both for cattle and horses, as well as supplying material for the dung-heap. Beans are usually cut by the sickle, allowed to lie a few days unbound to winnow, and when bound, put up into stooks. In late seasons, when there has been a considerable growth of leaves, they are often long before they are ready for carrying to the stack. Notwithstanding the relatively high price of beans, the breadth under this crop has been diminishing also in Scotland. It is said that the draining of the soil has not been so beneficial to the B. as to other crops. The greater returns which the land gives under potatoes in the B. soils of Fife and the Lothians since
the opening of the railways, has encroached upon the extent formerly assigned to it in the six-course rotation. In the Carse of Stirling and Falkirk, it retains its hold much better, and forms the chief preparation for the wheat crop. The field B. is now little used as an article of human food. It is considered to be specially adapted for the feed ing of horses which are subjected to hard work. For this purpose, it is usually roughly ground, and mixed with a little bran. In the whiter season, a portion is often boiled, and given to them at night. When the price is moderate, a mixture of ground beans and oilcake, or linseed, is much esteemed for milch cows, as well as for fattening cattle and sheep. Special or light manures are less applied to the B. crop than to any other. In many instances, nitrate of soda and sulphate of lime have been used with advantage, but farm-yard manure is almost essential to its free growth.