double drilled in spring, it will be ready for the seed. But should the manure be applied in spring, the drills should be of the single form (2388,) in the first instance, the manure deposited in them, and then covered with the double drill (2397,) when they will be ready for the seed.

Hav

2433. As this last method is the one in which I think the bean ought always to be sown, I shall describe the remainder of the operation more in detail. On the supposition that the manure is to be applied in the spring, it is taken either from a dunghill, into which the dung has been wheeled, and not trampled down, such as is mentioned in (2013,) or from the dung-shed in the field in which the beans are to be sown, into which it had been wheeled when taken from one of the courts in the course of winter, and forked up into a dunghill without being trampled. ing been brought out in winter, when little fermentation goes on, and being applied only in spring, the dung will be in a good state for spreading on the bean land. On the land being drilled up in the single Fig. 217. form, as directed above, the dung is taken by the tilt cart, fig. 175, along the drills, the horse occupying the centre hollow of three drills, and each wheel going into the hollow of the drill on each side. The horses are led from the dunghill by field -workers, while the ploughmen remain at the dunghill filling the carts. The steward takes off the back board of the cart, and slips it on edge upon the nave of the wheel, to carry it, and keeps it there by putting the pin which fastens it usually into the slit of the stud ordinarily occupied by the pins. He then tilts the cart-body a little up in front, which depresses the THE DUNG-DRAG. hinder part as much; and taking the dung-drag, fig. 217—which is 5 feet long, and may have two or three prongs he pulls out a small heap of dung into the hollow of the centre drill, and so on, heap after heap, until the cart is emptied, the horse being led along the drill

by the field-worker who drives him. The moment the heap of dung is pulled out of

Fig. 218.

THE THREE PRONGED DUNG

the cart, and the horse has advanced a few steps, a field-worker divides the heap into three, putting an equal portion into the hollow of each drill on each side of the heap, with a small graip like fig. 82; and then 3 field-workers follow, one in each hollow, having each a small three-pronged graip, fig. 218, which is 3 feet long, by which she divides the heap left by the preceding field-worker, and spreads it along the drill until it reaches the next heap dragged out by the steward, who is the sole judge of the quantity of manure to be applied.

2434. Immediately that GRAIP. three drills are thus manured by the cart, and spread by the field-workers, a man wheels along the top of the dung in each hollow, the bean drill or bean-barrow, and sows the seed with it. The bean-barrow is one of the simplest in its construction. It is made in a form resembling a wheel-barrow, and hence its name. Fig. 219 is a view in perspective of the machine in its most common form; a a b c are a pair of stilts, that, when joined to form the bed-frame of the barrow, has the portion from b to c parallel; while the parts from b to a spread out to form the handles of the barrow. The portion from c to dis open for the reception of the wheel e. A small axle carries a small chain-wheel f. The principal wheel e also carries a chain-wheel g upon its axle, and the pitch-chain fg is stretched over the two wheels, by which means the progressive motion of the machine on the wheel e gives motion to the seed-cylinder on the axle of f. A seed-chest b d h i is raised upon the bed-frame, and is sometimes covered with a jointed lid, but this is not essential. A spout k, is attached to the bed-frame, for the purpose of directing the seed to the furrow in which the machine is moving; and the legs are attached to the handles to prevent the latter from falling to the ground when the barrow is

seed cylinder. The entire fabric is generally of very slender and light construction.

2435. Besides the method here exhibited, of driving the seed-cylinder by means of a pitch-chain, there are other modes of effecting the same purpose. One of these is by attaching short cranks to each end of the axles of the principal wheel and the seed-cylinder, the pair on each axle standing at right angles to each other; and a light connecting-rod passes from the one to the other on each side of the machine. This forms a very perfect communication of the motion from the principal to the minor axle, and is very certain in its operation, but it is more expensive than the pitch-chain. The same is also effected by employing two pairs of small mitre-wheels; but it is equally expensive as the cranks and connecting-rods. Common chain may also be adopted, along with acutely grooved pulleys; but the action of this is less certain than either of the others.

2436. On the seed being sown, the ploughs split the drills formerly made into two, covering the dung with their mould, and finishing the work with the drills in the double form.

2437. When it is determined to manure the land in spring, and sow the seed in rows in the flat, the harrows are first sent over the surface a double tine if it

is rough and cloddy, and has not been reduced by the winter's frost, and then the dung is spread broadcast upon the surface. The dung of course has been prepared in the same manner as related for that used in drills. The dung is ploughed in; but as the largest and rankest portions of the dung may not be easily buried by the plough, it is proper to make a field-worker follow each plough, and press down the prominent portions of the dung into the plough-track with the small graip, fig. 218. At every third furrow, a man sows the seed along it with the bean-barrow, fig. 219; and the most convenient and expeditious mode to keep the barrow at work in sowing, is to cause three ploughs to go before it, one following the other at a short distance, and turn over the three furrows; and as the furrows are about 9 inches in breadth, the three furrows will place the rows of beans at 27 inches apart. This ploughing finishes the operation.

2438. An apparatus for sowing beans in drill is attached to one of the ploughs employed in giving the seed-furrow. It consists of a seed-cylinder, placed in a small case or frame, having an axle passing through the case, which last is surmounted by a small hopper to contain the seed. This apparatus is attached to the plough immediately behind and within the line of the mould-board-in the bosom of the plough, as it is termed-having a conductor or spout, from the seed-cylinder to the

bottom of the furrow, to conduct the seed to its bed. The motion of the seed-cylinder for the delivery of the seed, is produced in two different ways; first, the axle of the cylinder may be extended from the case to the land-side handle of the plough, or tail of the beam, where it will have a bearing in which it turns round. Upon this extension of the axle, a light iron loop or shears is loosely fitted, and in the shears is placed an iron wheel, whose axle is borne at both ends by the shears. A grooved pulley is fixed upon the end of this axle, and a corresponding pulley upon the prolongation of the axle of the seedcylinder, while a chain or band encircles the two pulleys. The iron wheel, which is so placed as to run in the bottom of the furrow, will thus, when the plough is in motion, be made to revolve by its contact with the ground, and, through the pulleys and chain, will also cause the seed-cylinder to revolve and discharge the seed as the plough advances; and this will continue as long as the iron wheel remains in contact with the ground. In order to produce a cessation of the sowing process, when required, a cord is attached to the hind extremity of the shears, and is passed backward between the handles of the plough, till it comes within reach of the ploughman, who, by pulling the cord, and hooking it upon a stud provided for that purpose, raises the iron wheel from the ground, and thus stops further motion of the seed-cylinder, and consequently the sowing process. When the plough has again reached the third furrow from the last sown-and this plough should be the hindmost of the three mentioned abovethe ploughman relaxes the cord, when the wheel again settles down upon the ground, and the sowing process proceeds as before.

2439. The other method of giving motion to the seed-cylinder is accomplished by giving the extension of its axle a universal joint, and continuing the extension a few inches to landward of the land-side of the plough, but without a bearing upon it. Upon this extremity of the extended axle the iron wheel is placed, which in this case will be required of larger diameter, so that the axle may run clear of the tail of the plough-beam. By this arrangement the wheel will run upon the unbroken land. It will also require a stay of rope,

or of light iron rod, extending from a collar upon the axle, forward to an eye-bolt attached to the side of the beam, near the coulter-box. From the collar on the axle also a cord extends backward to the hand of the ploughman, whereby he has the same command over the wheel in this position for setting on and off the sowing process, as just described for the first method-the universal joint in the shaft serving in the present case the same purpose as the shears in the former.

2440. When the land is to be manured in the spring and the seed sown broadcast, the dung is prepared as in the two modes formerly mentioned, and spread broadcast upon the surface, the future part of the operation depending on the state of the weather. Should the weather promise to be fair until the bean-sowing is finished, the dung may be ploughed in, a field-worker burying the prominent portions with the small graip as described above, the seed sown upon the ploughed surface, harrowed in with a double tine, and the ridges water-furrowed. Should the weather seem precarious, which is its ordinary state in spring in this country, the safest plan is to sow the seed broadcast upon the spread dung, and plough in both seed and dung together, when the surface will be safe from further danger.

2441. The ordinary sort of bean cultivated in the fields is the horse bean, shown by fig. 189. I have seen a small white bean, called the Heligoland, tried in the fields, and it might answer as to yield in favourable seasons; but the straw is deficient compared with that of the horse bean, which is an important consideration in a crop whose fodder is valuable, and the yield of whose grain is precarious.

2442. The quantity of beans usually sown is 5 bushels per acre. On inferior soils a little more is allowed, say 6 bushels; and it is considered that the broadcast mode of culture requires more seed than the drill system.

2443. I have said that as the drills, when made up in the double form, are necessarily unequal in their sides (2400,) the germ of the young bean plant would find its way to the air through the upper part of the side

harrow, of the arched form and direction of the tines, and the adaptation of their form to the drills. In the front bar gg, the right hand tine may be left out, as its place may be taken up by that of the third bar, leaving 5 tines. In the second cross-bar there are also 5 tines, and in the third, 5. The two leaves are connected and kept at due distance by the coupling-rods k, which may be placed wider or closer if thought necessary. This construction of the coupling-rods affords the means of adapting the harrows to any width of drills.

2446. Triangular drill-harrows are considered by some farmers as superior in effect to the rectangular form; with due attention to the division and placement of the tines, they may no doubt be rendered equally effective, and probably more so, but the advantages are not prominently

marked.

2447. When land intended for beans is foul, it should certainly not be dunged in autumn, unless there is time to work and clear it with two ploughings and harrowings. Land not well suited for beans, and unable to be dunged in autumn, on account of its state of foulness, or in spring by reason of wet weather, should not be sown with beans for that season.

2448. Cross-ploughing before winter is approved of by some, as a preparation of the land for beans, under certain circumstances. Thus the late Mr Brown, Markle, East-Lothian, after intimating that the first furrow in early winter, for beans, should be a deep one, proceeds to say that "the first furrow is usually given across the field,

which is the best method when only one spring furrow is intended; but as it is now ascertained perhaps the one in winter ought to be given in that two spring-furrows are highly advantageous, length;" and Professor Low's opinion bears a similar meaning, on light land, when he says, "When the bean is to be sown in spring after a corn-crop, the land should receive a deep ploughing before winter, generally in the direction of the former ridges, so as to keep the land dry. Sometimes, in case of dry land, the ploughing may be across the ridges; and then the plough, passing along the former open furrows, is to form new open furrows in the same place. In either case, care is to be taken to prevent the stagnating of water on any part of the surface."* I would deprecate the permitting any sort of land to lie in the crossfurrow all winter, and especially that of such a character as might bear a crop of beans. Having little fear of the consequences, I crossploughed a field of 25 acres of hazel loam, resting on a moderately retentive clay subsoil, immediately after harvest, with the view to ridge up the land again before the winter, and to forward the spring-work for the potatoes and turnips, for both of which crops the soil was well adapted. But the weather completely changed, and, instead of being ridged up, the land was only water-furrowed in the open furrow of every ridge, and gaws cut where requisite, in the hope that it would lie in a safe state all winter. In this, howe however, I was mistaken; it worked very unkindly for the potatoes and turnips, and it never forgot, during the whole course of the rotation, the souring it had received in the cross-furrow;

and yet the land was of so pleasant and light a character that I should never have thought of sowing beans upon it.

2449. I cannot agree with Mr Brown, when he recommends sowing beans in every third furrow, instead of in drills, when the season is unfavourable, because, if land cannot be drilled, neither should it be ploughed, nor will it become so soon dry after common ploughing as after drilling. Nor do I agree with him that inconve