The Question Box. 311 



Is it proper to rake up beans with a horse ralie? 



Mr. Harmon. — I tried the experiment last year for the first time. 

 It reduced the labor from one-third to one-half, but the hired help 

 must be instructed thoroughly to shake the earth off them. 



Ought beans to be cultivated when the vines are wet? 



Mr. Wilson. — No. 



A Farmer. — I would not cultivate beans when the dew was on, 

 even, I would rather the hired man would sit on the fence and 

 whittle a stick. 



Shall we plow shallow or deeply for beans? 



Mr. Wilson. — I prefer to plow deeply, then pulverize thoroughly. 



A Farmer. — I think it better to plow more shallow. Our soil 

 is gravelly, and if it is plowed deeply the moisture will go down 

 below the reach of the roots. 



Mr. Cook. — When plowing a clover sod I think it better to 

 turn the furrows at an angle instead of bottom side up. If such 

 furrows are rolled down, then well pulverized, they will hold 

 moisture much better than will those turned over and left in a 

 flat condition. Beans, if they " fill " well, must have moisture 

 when the seeds are forming, and as we do not get enough from 

 the usual rainfall it must be obtained by conserving it through 

 cultivation. 



5s bean straw a good food for horses or milch cows? 



A Farmer. — Bean straw is all right for cows. Feed them only 

 just what they will eat up cleanly. It is next to clover for cow 

 feed. 



Mr. Smallwood. — It is all right for horses. I have fed it to 

 Percherons, but they will eat anything. 



The Reporter. — The town of Ellisburgh, Jefferson county, pro- 

 duces more beans than does any other one town in the State. 

 There are five wholesale dealers in beans and peas in the town 

 who furnish hand-picked seed to the farmers of that and adjoin- 

 ing towns. The crops are grown on contracts. Two of these 

 seedsmen put out last year 55 varieties of beans and 45 of peas 

 each. There are 6,000 cows in the town, owned by 365 dairymen, 

 nearly every one of whom feed " bean fodder " to their cows, and 



