Cultivation of Arable Land=—Beuns. 595
ftantly pafs off from the portion of root above the feed to the upper part of the ground, large fupplies of nousifhment may be conveyed to the plants, which could not be the cafe when put in more fuperficially, as that part of the root below the feed is not furnifhed saith fuch fibres*.
The putting in of this kind of feed by the drill is a praCtice that may be per- formed with the moft benefit and fuccefs on the drier and more mellow kinds of bean lands that have been fome time in a ftate of cultivation; but on the wet and{trong grounds it is frequently a difficult and troublefome procefs: it is therefore probably a better method to dibble them in upon the feed earth, efpe- cially in breaking them up from a ley, as where they have been previoufly ploughed, early tillage in the fpring, however neceflary, is impoffible, it being only capable of being accomplifhed ona ley. In thefe cafes a row may be put in by the dibble on every fecond furrow, by which they will be equidiftant eighteen inches, or by dibbling two furrows together and miffing one they will be in double rows at nine inches, with intervals of eighteen, which is equal to one row at every thirteen and a half inches f.
After-culture.—W here the broadcaft method of putting in the crop prevails, little or no advantage can be afforded to it afterwards, which is a circumftance that renders that pra€tice improper in moft cafes, as few crops derive more benefit from after-management than thofe of beans. In fome inftances, indeed, the large weeds are removed by a hoe or hook, and in others fheep have been turned in for the fame purpofe, as from their diflike to the bean plant they are faid not to injure the crop either by eating the young plants or breaking them off{. The praétice is however too hazardous to be attempted except in particular cafes. But where the crop is planted in rows, either by the drill, dib- ble, or other methods, the ground admits of being frequently ftirred and laid to the roots of the plants by the hand or horfe hoe, and of being kept perfectly clean by weeding; upon the proper performance of all which the perfection of the bean hufbandry confifts.
It has indeed been well obferved by a corre&t and attentive cultivator, that thefe different operations are abfolutely effential, and that where a wheat crop is to follow, the more money there is beftowed in this way, the better it is for the farmer; thofe of Kent being diffatisfied if it does not amount to from feven- teen to twenty fhillings the acre, as their wheat crop is fure to fuffer where
* Vancouver, in Annals of Agriculture, vol. XXV. p. 65. + Young’s Correéted Report of Lincolnfhire. ¢ Mufeum Bufticum, vol. III.; Synopfis of Hufbandry; and Modern Agriculture.