144: 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



ruta bagas, turnips, cabbages, &c. Several remedies 

 have been proposed, one of which I will mention : 

 Soak the seed in tanner's oil two days, and roll it in 

 plaster before sowing. I have tried it, and sometimes 

 it failed and sometimes not, so that 1 cannot say tliat 

 the remedy is certain. A great help is to watch 

 about the time the seed is coming np, and scatter 

 plaster on the rows. If they get tv/o or three days 

 ahead of the flea, there is not much danger. Second, 

 some seasons they will not make good bulbs, and 

 produce light crops. The reason I cannot give, but 

 it is attributed to old seed, and sometimes to dry, 

 hot weather. 



The best soil for this crop is a deep black muck, 

 manured lightly, and well incorporated with the soil. 

 The ground should be ridged about two feet apart, 

 and seed sown on the rid:es and raked in. It will 

 come up in three or four days, if the v/eather is good. 

 Sow about the fifteenth of June. Keep them clean, 

 and thin, when quite small, to about six inches in the 

 rows. Use horse and cultivator when large enough, 

 and for the last time use double mould-board plov/ 

 or horse hoe. If the season is good, eight hundred 

 bushels per acre may be expected, and will not cost 

 more than four or five centa per bushel. The best 

 way I have tried for harvesting is to pull and lay 

 two rows in one, laying the tops all one way; then 

 take a sharp spade, and walk along and clip them off. 

 A man will top in this way from three to fire hun- 

 dred bushels per day. Drive your wagon along side 

 and throw them in, and the work is finished. They 

 make good feed for fat cattle during fall and spring, 

 and mild weather in winter. Sheep will do v/ell fed 

 with them during winter and spring. Cows like 

 them, but if giving milk they impart to it an un- 

 pleasant flavor, and also to the butter made from it. 

 They are first rate winter and spring turnips for ta- 

 ble use, and will keep good in the cellar till June. 



Turnips. — The common turnip is raised more or 

 less by almost every farmer and gardener in this coun- 

 try, or at least they sow some seed expecting to find 

 turnips in the fall. Some very wisely sow extensively 

 for feeding cattle; others scatter a little seed in the 

 garden, corn or potato field, hoping to raise some 

 for table use. This crop, seemingly neglected more 

 or less, and so little trouble taken to prepare a piece 

 of land on purpose for it, may be made a very profit- 

 able one by proper attention and selection of varie- 

 ties. It will grow on almost any soil, if well pulver- 

 ized; but the best is black muck, new land, sandy 

 and chestnut loam. They may be sown from the 

 first of July to the fifteenth of August. After wheat, 

 oats and barley, plow the ground immediately after 

 harvest, harrow thoroughly, and wait for the grain to 

 come up; after it has well started, cultivate thorough- 

 ly to destroy it, and then sow your turni])S broadcast; 

 harrow them in, and roll if the weather is dry. Soon 

 as up, sow plaster, and if the ground is clean nothing 

 excepting thinning will be required; but if weedy, 

 use the hoe, and weed. A good crop may be ex- 

 pected, and not to cost over three or four cents per 

 bushel. The best varieties are the White Stubble, 

 Red Top, Strap Leaf, and White Dutch. They may 

 be fed to all kinds of stock except horses. If fed to 

 milch cows, the tap root should be cut off and not 

 given to the cows, and the milk will not taste. Feed 

 iat cattle once a day, abont three pecks each, and 

 once with corn meal, and they will thrive well. 

 Brighton, JY. Y. E. S. Hatwaud, 



ON TEE CULTIVATION OF EEANS. 



The cultivation of the white bean as a field crop, 

 does not receive the attention in this country, that its 

 importance demands. As a rotation crop, especially 

 with wheat, its value is not properly estimated. 

 Beans impoverish the soil but little, yet are rich 

 in nitrogen, and more nutritious food can be ob- 

 tained from an acre of beans than of almost any 

 other crop. 



Beans flourish best in a light, warm soil. They 

 will thrive on any soil that will grow corn. If a 

 clover sod, it should be turned over as soon in the 

 spring as the ground is in good condition; and, for 

 beaas as well as for any other crop, the surface should 

 be well pulverized. The soil should be moderately 

 rich; if too rich they grow too much to vines, and do 

 not bear well. 



Some recommend 'planting as soon as the middle 

 of May, but in most seasons this is too early. They 

 should not be planted till late spring frosts and long, 

 cold rains ai-e over — say from the 25th of May to the 

 5 th of June, when the ground is warm and dry. The 

 seed should not be covered more than one inch. The 

 plants will be up in five days, and in two weelis will 

 be ahead of those planted earlier. 



Beans should be cultivated in drills two and a 

 half feet apart, that the cultivator or shovel plow 

 may be freely worked between them ; and if the 

 land is free from weeds the hand hoe need be httle 

 used. 



Planting beans by hand, is a slow and tedious job. 

 Where they are extensively cultivated, of course the 

 planter will be used, but the small farmer who has 

 not the facilities afforded by these implements, can 

 yet grow his half acre or acre of beans profitably. 



The labor of dropping may be greatly facilitated 

 by a little Yankee ingenuity. Take an old tin coflee 

 pot or tin pail, (one with a cover is better;) fix it to 

 a handle sufficiently long to enable you to walk erect, 

 while holding the dish near the ground. Punch a 

 hole in the bottom large enough to let the seed 

 through freely, and you have an implement that will 

 not have cost you half an hours labor, and will do 

 the work quite efficiently. 



Mark out the drills, drop the seed from three to 

 six inches, (the richer the soil the less seed) in the 

 drills, when they may be covered by hands, or an ex- 

 pert plowman will cover them with a common or 

 shovel plow. 



Beans should be well cultivated; the ground fre- 

 quently stirred and kept free from weeds, and my 

 word for it they are a crop that will pay well. Try 

 it farmers and report the result in the Genesee Far 

 mer. A. L. Hoyt. 



Walton, Delaware Co., JY. Y. 



ON THE CULTIVATION OF SFEIKG "WHEAT. 



Spring Wheat is now cultivated to a much greate 

 extent in this section than it ever has been befon 

 Not having the severe winter to battle against, it i 

 generally a more certain crop than winter whea 

 The modes of cultivating spring v/heat are various, 

 persons expect to raise good crops, they must pn 

 pare the land well. Land that is intended for sprin 

 wheat, should be summrr fallowed and manured tb 

 previous year. Plow the land three or four^tim< 



