The bean-harvest is seldom completed till nearly the end of September, owing to the bulk and succulence of the plants; and the produce is from two and a half to five quarters per acre. There are several varieties of field-beans; but the fine and very small ones usually bear the highest price. Bean flour is not only thought more nutritive, but is found to be more abundant than that of oats. Beans are chiefly applied to the feeding of horses, hogs, and other domestic animals; and it is supposed that meal-men often grind them amongst wheat, the flour of which is to be made into bread. By some persons they are roasted, and adopted as a substitute for coffee. With the Roman ladies bean-flour was in much repute as a cosmetic. _Garden-beans_ are almost wholly confined to culinary uses. What are called _French-beans_, and _Kidney-beans_, belong to a different tribe from the present. Bean _stalks_, if subjected to a certain process, are capable of being converted into paper. 199. _VETCHES are a small species of beans_ (Vicia sativa) _which grow wild in dry meadows, pastures, and cornfields, and are also cultivated in most parts of England._ _The pods are generally in pairs; and the leaves winged, having each about six pairs of leaflets, with a branched tendril at the extremity. At the bases of each of the leaves there is a small stipule, marked with a dark spot._ The principal use of vetches is as provender for horses and cattle. They are grown so early as to allow of being fed off, or cut for this purpose, in sufficient time for turnips to be sown the same year. When the land is to be prepared for a wheat crop it is sometimes customary to plough in the vetches as manure. The _seeds_ afford a grateful food for pigeons. 200. _PEAS_ (Pisum sativum) _are a kind of seeds too well known to need any description._ There are several kinds of peas, some of which are cultivated in gardens, and others in fields. The former are principally used for culinary purposes. In the early part of the year, gardeners in the neighbourhood of London raise them on hot-beds. The kind they select for this purpose are the dwarf peas. These are sown about the middle of October in warm borders; and afterwards, towards the end of January, they are removed into the hot-beds. The inducement, of course, is the enormous prices that are paid for the earliest peas brought into the market. The podding or picking of green peas for the London market is also a valuable branch of the business of some farms within a few miles of the metropolis. Many attempts have been made to preserve green peas for use in winter; one of these is by bottling them, and another by drying them in an oven, and afterwards keeping them in paper bags; but none of the modes have been attended with complete success.