182 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



Doors should be sufBciently wide to admit a con- 

 venient egress of barrels, &c., and made perfectly 

 tight. 



A good cellar should be divided so as not to keep 

 butter, fruit, vegetables, roots, &c., all in one room. 

 Persons who do not wish a separate room for butter 

 and milk, if they have a dry cellar, can make a nice 

 one for butter, by digging three or four feet in the 

 coolest part of the cellar, laying the sides and bottom 

 with brick or stone in cement ; having stairs to de- 

 scend, and a tight trap door over it. Another es- 

 sential requisite to a convenient farmer's cellar, is an 

 outside door from the woodshed — if adjoining — if not, 

 you can purposely erect a shed over the stairs. 



Ballston Center, JV. Y. D. E. Lakkins. 



AN ACRE AND A HALF OF WHITE BEANS. 



Messrs. Editoes: — Allow me to give the facts re- 

 specting the cultivation of one and a half acres of 

 beans last year. The soil is free from excess of wet, 

 but not what would be denominated dry, the subsoil 

 being tenacious but a reasonable depth below the sur- 

 face. The field was cultivated with corn and beans 

 the preceding year. Last spring after having put 

 it in good condition with plow and harrow, I drew 

 shallow furrows with the plow for planting, say two 

 to three inches deep and three feet distant, and run- 

 ning north and south. Planted in the furrow from 

 six to eight beans in the hill, scattering them a little, 

 say six to eight inches; then leave a space of twelve 

 inches and plant more beans, and so forth. I have 

 tried drilling and find no difference in the product, as 

 in both cases they make a close row; but in pulling, 

 the former method is preferable, when by UAing both 

 hands we pull a hill a teach grasp. When the beans 

 were fairly up, I passed the plow once around each 

 row, turning the earth towards the beans; and when 

 nearly putting forth blossoms, plowed them again in 

 the same way, one hand with the hoe following the 

 plow at each dressing. Under ordinary circumstan- 

 ces the bean lot is easily kept free from weeds, from 

 the fact that as soon as the plant is up its large foli- 

 age takes a horizontal position, and almost bids de- 

 fiance to intruders. From the one and a half acres 

 I had twenty-four bushels of beans, (small white.) 

 worth one dollar and fifty cents per bushel, at the 

 barn. 



On land that has suffered from hard usage, when 

 being restored, and in a transition state, the bean crop 

 is much more reliable, and will pay better than wheat. 



Springhill, Bradford Co., Pa. H, S, 



Be Kind to thy Cattle. — Working cattle shoud 

 be well cared for, and they will abundantly remuner- 

 ate their owner by an increased amount of labor. — 

 They should be kept well shod, that their feet do not 

 become sore, and thus unfit them for service. The 

 unmerciful "gad," and the still less humane goad 

 should be banished from every christian farmer's es- 

 tablishment. Oxen do not need lashing and beating 

 any mora than horses, and if properly trained wifl 

 perform well their part by gentle and humane treat- 

 ment. In fact, it is an almost unexceptionable rule, 

 that all domestic animals will become docile and 

 tractable by kind and gentle treatment; while harsh 

 treatment will always render them more or less 

 vicious and stubborn. D. g, 



Salem, Ohio. 



CULnVATION OF ONIONS. 



Messrs. Editors: — The soil best adapted for the 

 cultivation of the onion, is a medium between a cold, 

 heavj', and a light, dry. A rich, clay loam is veiy 

 good. The preparation of the soil for the onion is 

 similar to that for other garden or root crops, with 

 one exception : It is not necessary to cultivate the 

 soil as deep as for beets, carrots and parsueps. If it 

 is desirable to cultivate on a small scale, I would re- 

 commend to make beds four feet wide, and as long as 

 may be desired. Sow in drills crosswise of the beds, 

 leaving a space of seven inches between, if the soil is 

 dry; press with the spade, (a more speedy and neater 

 method is with a roller a foot in diameter and two 

 and a half leet long, drawn lengthwise of the beds.) 

 Immediately after sowing, dress with equal portions 

 of lime, ashes and plaster, allowing six or eight quarts 

 to the square rod. As soon as the drill can be 

 discerned stir the ground with the hoe, breaking the 

 crust about the onions. When the third leaf appears, 

 thin out to five inches. Keep the ground free from 

 weeds, and move the surface to prevent it from crust- 

 ing. If extra size is desired, water once or twice a 

 week with liquid manure, such as drain from barn- 

 yards. If this cannot be had, very strong manure 

 may be leached as are ashes for lye. Apply it with 

 a water pot or dipper. 



For field cultivation, let the drills be one foot apart, 

 using the same treatment as before described. 



Caledonia, Liv. Co. D. Leatherscich. 



REARING CALVES. 



Messrs. Editors: — Tne calves should be taken 

 from their dam and tied up at the first sight, and fed 

 by hand on new milk until four weeks old, at which 

 time they may have part skimmed milk, which may 

 be gradually increased and the new milk diminished, 

 so that by the time the calf is eight weeks old it may 

 be fed entirely on sour or thick milk. If you wish to 

 raise a fine calf commence at two weeks old to add 

 a small handful of meal once a day to the feed, com- 

 posed of one part flax seed to four parts peas and 

 ground fine. This may be increased to any desira- 

 ble amount. If it causes the calf to scour, add a 

 lump of white chalk, the size of a hickory nut, once a 

 day, and increase daily until the scouring stops. The 

 young animals should be well cared for both summer 

 and winter, and through all the stormy or cold part 

 of the year they should have a good shelter, and such 

 as are intended for milch cows or working cattle 

 should be tied up at night in a warm but clean and 

 well ventilated stable for the purpose of getting them 

 under subjection. Oxen should never be worked af- 

 ter the sun goes down. W. S. 



Canada If est. 



Cure for Swenet. — Let me give you a cure for 

 sweney which I have seen treated succesafully after 

 many others had fiuled on two valuable horses. — 

 About the middle of the shoulder, or where the 

 sweney is the worst, make an incision through the 

 skin, only large enough to admit a quill, blow into it, 

 and work it round till the skin is loosened as far as 

 the sweney extends; then confining the air, close up 

 the orifice, as we do in bleeding a horse, by sticking 

 a pin through the skin and fastening round with thread 

 or a horse hair. C. Palmes. 



Mansfitld, Ohio. 



