OF SCOTLAND.

515

SECT. V.

OF BEANS *.

§ 1. Soil and preparation.—In the well managed districtsof Scotland , the cultivation of beans in drills has become a ge-neral practice, wherever soil and climate allow it to be follow-ed. Beans have been long cultivated in rich clays and strongmoist loams, which were formerly considered as the only soilsin which they could be grown to advantage; but their culti-vation. has been extended of late to soils of a much lighterdescription, such as free loams and rich turnip soils, thoughon all dry friable soils, turnips are still considered a prefera-ble crop by the best farmers. Formerly beans were allsown broadcast, in which mode of culture they were ma-nifestly injurious, by the encouragement thus given to thegrowth of weeds, which often, in dry seasons, overtoppedand ruined the crop by their luxuriance, as the open-ness of the bean crop, in the early stages of its growth, allow-ed them to grow without interruption. Of late years, in everywell managed farm, beans are uniformly grown in drills,either alone or with a small mixture of peas; and when culti-vated judiciously and industriously in this manner, they forman excellent auxiliary to summer fallow, which by their as-sistance requires less frequent recurrence, and is more easilyexecuted. Though beans are a precarious crop, and ra-ther troublesome to manage, yet they are extremely valuablein many respects, both in regard to the grain and the fodderwhich they produce, especially in favourable seasons. But

* As the substance of this section is almost exclusively extracted fromBrown’* Treatise on Rural Affairs, and the Berwickshire Report, chap, vii,* cc l > >x, p. 2 52 , it were unnecessary to give minute references to these works.