used at table, should not be planted till after Christmas, but especially the Windsor, which are more liable to injury from cold than any other kind. These beans require an open ground, and should be set at the distance of three feet and a half between the rows, and five or six inches from each other.
The Sandwich Beans are hardier than the Windsor, and may be planted so early as to be fit for use between these and the early crops. This species, however, has lately been much neglected. Windsor beans should first be set about the middle of January, and a new plantation made every three weeks, till the middle of May, to ensure a succession of crops. Another kind much planted at present, on account of its great produce, is the Toker; it comes to perfection about the same time as the Sandwich. The black and white blossomed beans are also much esteemed; but unless their seeds be preserved with care, they are apt to degenerate.
The Horse Bean is the only kind propagated by the plough. It delights in a stiff and moist clay; three bushels are sufficient to sow an acre, which ought to be performed in February; and the general produce of an acre is about twenty bushels. But it is worthy of remark, that by the new improvements in husbandry, less than one bushel of seed is sufficient to plant an acre of land, and the produce has sometimes been found to exceed that of the old method, by ten bushels per acre. The beans should lie some time upon the ground after they are cut. To keep the soil clean from weeds, when intended for a crop of beans the next year, dung should be laid on the land as soon as the wheat stubble, or haulm, is carried off; this method having been found more effectual in preventing the growth of weeds, than by ploughing in the haulm, and laying the dung upon fallow lands.
As soon as the beans have acquired six leaves, sheep should be turned in, to feed among them; they will eat all the young weeds, even the melilot, but will not hurt the beans, provided they are not suffered to lie down.
A writer in the Gentleman's Magazine for 1764, recommends the planting of horse beans by the following method:—Take a plank of oak, of such a size as a man can easily manage by a handle fixed upright in the middle of it, and of such thickness as not to give way in working; in the under part of this plank let there be fixed wooden pegs of such length, and at such distance from each other, as may form proper holes or beds in the ground for the beans.
When the land has been properly prepared, the workman must thrust the pegs of this instrument into the ground, and proceed sideways, managing it so, that there may be the same distance between the last row of holes made by the first impression, and the first row made by the next, as there is between the rows of any one impression. The youngest children may be taught to follow the instrument, and drop a bean into every hole that it makes.
As the topmost blossoms seldom come to perfection, they should be taken away when those toward the bottom of the stalks first appear, which may be done by garden shears with long handles: the furrows being left wide enough for a careful person to walk in them, without damaging the crop; and
