112 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



May 



CULTURE OF FIELD BEASTS, 



Many of our farmers would find it advantageous 

 to cultivate a few acres of field beans, and as the 

 season for planting the crop is approaching we direct 

 attention to the subject. A friend states that he 

 raised a very profitable crop the past year — and, 

 though his land is well adapted to wheat, he thinks 

 beans pay quite as well, on a small scale. In oosl 

 localities the crop brings a fair price — from $3 to $2 

 lie! : rarely if ever less than the former. 



The crop thrives well on a quick dry soil, fini ly 

 pulverized ; but if inclined to be wet, the land s3 

 be ridged. The seed may be put in any tim 

 month, after the danger of frost is past. Do not 

 plant in a coid wet time, as the seed will be more 

 liable to rot ; the ground ought to be well warm, d 

 by the sun, before planting. Bush beans are the 

 only ones used for field planting, and of these there 

 are several kinds. Among others the long garden 

 beans, white, red or mottled, are known as great 

 bearers, of good quality, and mature early. 



Relative to the culture and produce of this crop, 

 Judge BxJEii says : — "Beans may be cultivated in 

 drills or in hills. They are a valuable crop, and with 

 good care are as profitable as a wheat crop. They 

 leave the soil in good tilth. I cultivated beans the 

 last year in three different ways, viz., in hills, in 

 drills, and sowed broadcast. I need not describe the 

 first, which is a well known process. I had an acre 

 in drills, which was the best crop I ever saw. My 

 management was this : On the acre of light ground, 

 where the clover had been frozen out the preceding 

 winter, I spread eight loads of long manure, and im- 

 mediately plowed and harrowed the ground. Drills 

 or furrows were then made with a light plow, at the 

 distance of two and a half feet, and the beans thrown 

 along the furrows about the 25th of May, by the hand, 

 at the rate of at least a bushel on the acre. I then 

 gauged a double mold-board plow, which was passed 

 once between the rows, and was followed by a light, 

 one-horse roller, which flattened the ridges. The 

 crop was twice cleaned of weeds by the hoe, but not 

 earthed. The product was more than forty-eight 

 bushels by actual measurement." 



KEEP THE SWINISH MULTITUDE AT HOME. 



Mr. Moore : — The suggestion of your correspond- 

 ent H. Y. that communications should be appropri- 

 ate for the season, I think a very good one, and would 

 suggest to your readers, as I think this is the proper 

 time, that if they wish to promote a public, good — to 

 turn money into their own pockets — to cultivate a 

 friendly relation with their neighbors — to contribute 

 their mite to the promotion of a correct rural taste — 

 to abate a very great nuisance — and to appear at the 

 bar of judgment with a clear conscience, and not 

 meet any of their neighbors there as witnesses against 

 them : That this spring, just before they turn their 

 swine into the highway without any wires in their 

 noses, they put some in and turn them into the pas- 

 ture where they can find them at feeding time : and 

 thus save the poor creatures the trouble of carrying 

 sore ears, and going on three legs, occasioned by the 

 help of their neighbors boy and dog in an ejectment 

 from his fields. Yes, we say, commence the spring 

 of 1849 anew: turn the pigs into the pasture and 

 save law suits, and save the green grass by the side 

 of the road which adds so much to the beauty of a 



farming district, and keeps out noxious weeds, — for 

 we all know that where the turf is rooted off, the 

 seeds of weeds will lodge and grow. 



If we were to judge from appearances, we should 

 think that, in some neighborhoods, swine were the 

 only highway laborers, and that they labored most as- 

 siduously too ; not howevc to make the passage over 

 i sin m th and agreeable, or to make the pros- 

 pect, i' ing. It is almost sickei ■ ainly 

 revolti ', 1 i see how some roads are tun 

 half fed swine. Half fed, I say, for full fed would 

 be at home at rest. What right has my neighbor to 

 turn his pigs into the road, and compel me to watch 

 them, and to save my crops, fence against hogs of 

 the smallest dimensions ? Would he not be liable 

 for trespass if his pigs come and root up the grass 

 plat in the road before my door as much as ii' he 

 should take a hoe and dig it up himself? What, the 

 law is I do not know ; but if our country laws are 

 all right our country practices are not. But a man 

 that will not do right only as the law compels him, I 

 like to have said, ought to have a wire in his nose 

 and be turned out with his pigs, for they all resem- 

 ble each other in hogishness. If farmers must pas- 

 ture the highway,, sheep arc much less objectionable, 

 if they will not get over fence. They do net deface 

 the road, arc not so liable to creep through fences, 

 and are more timid and more easily frightened from 

 mischief. I would by no means, however, recom- 

 mend turning any animal into the highway, for they 

 will, in spite of all the good wishes of their owner, 

 molest his neighbors. 



In looking over the above I find I have directed my 

 suggestions to your readers. I beg their pardon. It 

 is not the readers of "The Genesee Farmer' that 

 are in the fault. It is generally those who will not 

 read — those who "know enough" without reading 

 the Farmer. But I would suggest to them that they 

 use their influence to get their neighbors to abandon 

 this nefarious practice of swirling the road ; or to get 

 them to take, and read the Farmer, and if there is any 

 pride or spirit of emulation in them they will aban- 

 don it voluntarily. 



Mr. Editor you are at liberty to do with this just 

 what you please. You can publish any, all, or none 

 of it, and it will be all the same with your friend in 



Van Buren. 



Onondaga Co., JY. Y., March, 1849. 



Carrots. — On 270 square feet of ground I raised 

 10 J bushels of carrots, weighing 47 £ lbs. to the bu. 

 — making 494 9-16 lbs. At the same rate per acre 

 it would amount to 79,833$ lbs., nearly 40 tons — 

 some below the amount stated in last number, as the 

 writer supposed might be raised on an acre. The 

 largest carrot weighed 4£ lbs. They were the first 

 carrots I had ever raised, and I took pains with them 

 to satisfy myself as to the profit, and the amount that, 

 could be raised on an acre. The soil was (day ; it 

 was well manured; seed sown in drills one foot apart, 

 and the plants were thinned so as stand about four 

 inches apart. 



While preparing the ground an old gentleman 

 remarked that I would not harvest two bushels from 

 it ; but in this case the "debts were paid" to the soil, 

 as suggested in your August number. Let S. P. 

 C.'s advice be adopted, and bountiful crops will be 

 our reward. J. 1. S. — Alexander, JY. Y., April, 1849. 



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