242 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



PLOW DEEPER. 



Messrs. Editors : — ■ There seems to exist quite a 

 diversity of opinions in regard to the proper dei)th 

 that land should be plowed. Many, and, in my 

 opinion, too many, advocate sliallow plowing. 

 What is the use, say they, of plowing up the sand 

 and clay, and burying the manure and the soil out 

 of the reach of the plants? Let us reason together. 

 What is the use of plowing at all ? Is it not that 

 we may pulverize the soil and bring it ^'o such a 

 state that the little roots and fibres of tlie plant 

 may shoot out and gather uj) whatever they can 

 lind to nourish it? Is it not to incorporate the 

 manure with the soil and make it of a uniform 

 consistency as it regards quality, etc. ? Now, the 

 deeper you make the soil, the deeper will the roots 

 penetrate, and the more nourishment will they be 

 likely to find, and the less liable will they be to in- 

 juries from drouth. Plow deep. Don't fear bury- 

 ing the manure so deep that the roots will not find 

 it ; they can and will go as deep as you can by any 

 plow ever made. It is possible you may not realize 

 80 good a crop the first year by burying the manure 

 deeply. You will not lose. The next year you 

 will have deeper soil, and in a short time your land 

 will of course be nearly double tlie depth of soil. 

 What makes bottom lands so much better than 

 most uplands? Is it not the depth of soil ? If you 

 think you have not manure suffi(;ient to make such 

 a soil tlie first year, or must have the benefit im- 

 mediately, act accordingly, but begin immediately. 

 If you can plow but four indies this year, plow six 

 the next, and increase annually till you get the soil 

 deeper than you can get the point of your plow. 

 I may appear somewhat dogmatical in my advice ; 

 but this is of small consequence provided I can 

 dogmatize some into the practice who are now 

 utterly opposed to it. What runs a farm out, as it 

 is called? Is it not shoal plowing — a scratch over 

 the soil, as if you were afraid of getting out of the 

 reach of the sun and air? I verily believe this is 

 the principal cause ; and the remedy must be the 

 reverse course of management. 



Sand Brov}:^ N. J. .1. T. SERGEANT. 



ON THE CULTIVATION OF BEANS. 



Editors Genesee Farmer: — I saw a communi- 

 cation from J. II. B., in the June No., on raising 

 beans as a field crop. As I have raised beans for 

 four years past, (the last year I planted seventeen 

 acres,) I thought I would give you my experience in 

 the matter, which, in some points, does not agree 

 with J. H. B. In the first place, in regard to soil ; 

 a great many believe that to raise good beans you 

 must have poor land. I have often heard the re- 

 mark that such and such soil was so poor that it 

 would not raise white beans ; and I once heard the 

 committee of a county agricultural society say it 

 was of no use to oft'er a premium on beans, for if 

 we manured our land it would spoil it for beans — 

 if we wanted good beans we must have poor land. 

 I have tried all kinds of soil, and have always raised 

 the best beans on the richest land. One year I ma- 

 nured about an acre, and planted the rest without 

 manure. The part I manured ripened earliest and 

 evenest, and yielded about twice as nauch as the 

 other. Last year I planted on a piece of green 

 5ward, plowed in the spring. The soil was a clay 

 loam, and it had been tilled but a little. On one 



acre, where there was once a straw stack fed out, I 

 had thirty-three and a half bushels, and they ri- 

 pened the evenest of any in the lot. Any ground 

 that will raise good corn will raise good beans — the 

 richer the soil the better. 



I plant about tlie first of June. Plow deep, drag 

 it smooth, mark the rows three feet apart, and plant 

 the hills about eighteen inches apart in the row; 

 give from five to seven beans to the hill; culuvate 

 and hoe enough to keep them clean. As soon as 

 the pods have all turned yellow, pull them, and if 

 the giound is very dry, and dry weather, tiirow 

 them into heaps and let them get tlioroughly dried; 

 then draw them in. But if the weather should be 

 wet, pull them and throw them into small heaps: 

 then take a stake, cut ofi:' all the knots smooth, and 

 stick it firmly in the ground; lay down two s;icks, 

 thr«e or four inches in diameter, and place three or 

 four pieces of board or stove wood across them, to 

 make a platform to keep the beans otf the ground; 

 then take up the beans and place them around the 

 stake. I make the stack about two and a half feet 

 in diameter, and as high as I can reach. Top them 

 out well. It makes no difference whether the pod.s 

 are outside or inside. Beans stacked in this way 

 will not wet in so but what they will dry out in 

 half a day's good weather. By stacking them on 

 sticks in that way, it gives a chance for the wind to 

 circulate under them. Let them stand until tliey 

 are thorougldy dry, then pull out the stake before 

 pitching them on the wagon ; draw them in the 

 barn, mow them away, and let them remain until 

 winter ; then thresh them out. 



The kind I raise I do not know any name for ; 

 they are a medium sized white bean, ripen in about 

 three months from the time they are planted, and 

 all ripen at once. c. inman. 



Bay, Macomh Co., Mich,, June 15, 1S58. 



TKIN SEEDING AND HOEING WHEAT. 



I HAVE just been counting my hand-hoed wheat, 

 and the results so astonish me that I hardly dare 

 credit my own count. The roots average a trifle 

 over thirty stalks each, and the least number of 

 grains to the head is seventy-two. At this rate, 

 allowing four seeds to the hill and the hills two 

 feet apart, v/e get from an acre of cultivated wheat 

 over one hundred bushels, ana this from less than 

 six pounds of seed to the acre. Ordinary wheat 

 weighs 898,560, grains to the bushel, and at the 

 above rate — giving one root to each square foot of 

 surface — we get from the acre 104,089,600 grains 

 of wheat, which amounts to a trifle less than one 

 hundred and sixteen bushels. These figures look 

 large, but I believe are correct. At any rate, the 

 facts of the growth are correct. Who will try an 

 acre, four grains to the hill and the hills two fe>et 

 apart each Avay, and cultivate thoroughly, and re- 

 port next August in the Qenei-ee Farmer ? 



You will recollect last harvest I reported some 

 ]irolific wheat. This that I now count from is of 

 that root, and yields over two thousand one hun- 

 dred and sixty fold. I always thought old Jethro 

 TuLL was right, and now I know he was right. 



Bochester, Ind., July 15, 185S. CIIAS. BEACKETT. 



P. S. Give this an early insertion, as the wheat 

 should be in by the middle of August to escape 

 rust : I think better the middle of July. o. b. 



