THE GENESEE FARMER. 



175 



in the part ot the country where I live since its 

 settlement, and is now almost abandoned, except 

 that they are still grown in patches for family use. 

 "Why ? I can only suppose because corn and pota- 

 toes were found more profitable. 



Then, as to feeding out white beans. Can you 

 do it? Mind, I don't say you can not; but can 

 you ? "When beans were beans, a few years ago, I 

 got tired of paying sixteen and eighteen shillings a 

 bushel for them, and determined to assert my in- 

 dependence. So I plauted an acre or so (paid 

 eighteen shillings a bushel for the seed), and had a 

 very nice crop, cured it well, threshed them and put 

 them in the granary. Now, thought I, I've beans 

 enough for many years, — bean soup, boiled beans, 

 baked beans, pork and beans — and I shall get back 

 some of the money I have paid for beans. Well, 

 one day along comes a general produce buyer, hap- 

 pens to see my bin of beans, and blandly suggests 

 that they are really very nice beans, and he will 

 take 'em at 75 cents. "'Seventy-five cents!" says 

 I, "no, you don't. Corn is worth a dollar, and 

 oats five shillings, and I'll feed 'em first." So I 

 began to offer them to the " kettrypids." I sup- 

 pose they'd have eaten them at eighteen shillings, 

 but at six shillings it was no go. Not a " kettry- 

 pid " but turned up his nose at them. We boiled 

 them, we ground them, we baked them, we made 

 soup of them, we offered them in every way ex- 

 cept the very agreeable combination with pork, 

 but it was no use. I had no "alligator" pigs, so 

 the experiment was hardly as complete as could be 

 wished. But I was (dis)satisfied. I had beans 

 for many years, sure euough, and they were, I will 

 say, just as good at four years old as when new. 

 I used up the last just before the price went up 

 again. 



Now, I do not say beans are a humbug, and I 

 call you to witness, Messrs. Editors, that I didn't 

 say that 1,200 bushels of carrots per acre were a 

 humbug. (On the contrary, I consider the latter a 

 highly satisfactory — when accomplished, as it some- 

 times is — fact.) But I should like the privilege of 

 drawing on you at sight for a bushel (or say half a 

 bushel) of English field beans — horse beans — to 

 experiment upon, if you will have it I shall plant 

 beans. I am told that Mr. Wainwrigiit, of Rlune- 

 beck, grows the English horse bean with good suc- 

 cess, but he has gone to the wars — worse luck for 

 his brother farmers, except for those who went 

 with him. p. q. 



Remarks. — Our esteemed correspondent is one 

 of the best breeders in the State, and his " kettry- 

 peds " have frequently taken prizes at the Fairs. 

 Perhaps they are puffed up with pride and good 

 living, and turn up their noses at plain, wholesome 

 food! Be this as it may, we have abundant evi- 

 dence that cattle and sheep will eat American 

 white beans and do well on them. 



One other point in our correspondent's letter 

 must be alluded to briefly. Selling the beans may 

 and does " rob the farm of a large amount of ni- 

 trogen." That is to say, the beans contain a high 

 per centage (from 4 to 5 per cent.) of this impor- 



tant element, and if the beans are sold, the farm 

 loses just so much of this essence of manure. But 

 on the other hand, it does not follow that the 

 growth and sale of beans robs the land of more ni- 

 trogen than the growth and sale of corn. The 

 beans contain twice as much nitrogen as corn, and 

 it is believed they derive this nitrogen from the 

 atmosphere, while corn does not. Or, to speak more 

 correctly, it is thought that corn during its growth 

 takes up nitrogen from the soil and dissipates it 

 through its leaves into the atmosphere. In other 

 words, it wastes ammonia or nitrogen during its 

 growth. "Wheat, barley, oats and other cereals are 

 supposed to do the same, while beans, peas, and 

 other leguminous plants do not waste ammonia or 

 nitrogen during their growth. It is on this fact, 

 which we have again and again stated, that we base 

 our urgent advocacy of the culture of beans, peas 

 and clover. They enrich the land, while the cereals 

 have a tendency to impoverish it, especially of ni- 

 trogen. EDS. 



BORROWING TOOLS. 



Probably there is no practice that a farmer can 

 pursue that is more reprehensible than that of bor- 

 rowing farm implements, when he could have 

 them of his own without the least inconvenience. 

 In some particular instances it is proper to borrow 

 — when an implement is broken, or in some emer- 

 gency where the want of a certain implement 

 could not be foreseen. 



My system through life has been to purchase 

 every tool that I had occasion to use, if I had to 

 send ten miles to obtain it, rather than trouble my 

 neighbors. I keep an excess of hoes, shovels, 

 spades, etc., on hand, so that in any emergency I 

 can profitably employ any addition to my hired 

 help. 



Some farmers, I suppose, do not own a crowbar, 

 others have but one spade, one shovel, one nail 

 hammer, one handsaw, and that not worth picking 

 up in the road. This is all bad management. You 

 should own every tool or implement tliat is needed 

 on your premises, and several of those that very 

 often you require to place in the hands of a hired 

 man or two. 



You do not know what a bad name you get, by 

 running to your neighbors as often as once a week 

 to borrow something, while you own nothing fit to 

 lend yourselves. t. b. miner. 



Clinton, 2T. Y. 



Sugar Beets. — The red mangel wurzel, or sugar 

 beet, is an excellent root crop for cows and cattle 

 of all kinds. Sow early this month in drills 18 in. 

 apart, and leave the beets about 8 inches apart in 

 the rows. A much larger crop can be grown of 

 this root than of carrots, and the cultivation is less 

 expensive, as the crop may be easily pulled in the 

 fall by small boys, while gathering carrots is much 

 more labor. — t. b. m. 



