212 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



objection some land-owners have to see beans cnlti- 

 vated even on soils where the clover has got worn 

 out, and where the bean is used, and most success- 

 fully, as a substitute for that plant. 



The bean has a large leaf system. Hence it de- 

 rives a large portion of its element from the atmos- 

 phere. Treating leaves as the lungs of the plant, 

 and knowing that tlie turniji, the clover and others, 

 derive a proportion of nourishment from the atmos- 

 phere almost, we had said, in the ratio of a large or 

 a small leaf development, we easily see how the clo- 

 ver, even when all mown off, is not much of an ex- 

 hauster; while the wheat or the oats, ha^•ing a small 

 and feeble leaf system, will take most from the soil. 



Nor are we altogether to forget the benefit of the 

 shelter of the bean leaves. The moisture or the am- 

 monia may fall on the soil. In many cases, a hot sun 

 may evaporate the one, and dissipate the other ; the 

 beans will, in the very reverse, shelter the soil till both 

 are absorbed. And these leaves fall off. It is known 

 how planting even with trees, which take of tons of 

 inorganic matter, will enrich a soil in vegetable con- 

 stituents. The fall of the leaves, year after year, 

 which are mostly formed of carbon and moisture, 

 forms a superstructure of soil rich in vegetable mat- 

 ter. So the beau leaves fall off at harvest, by frosts 

 or from ripeness ; and these all assist in improving 

 the carbonaceous matter of the soil, and so fitting it 

 at least for some kinds of crops. 



The bean is a deep tap root feeder. Corn of all 

 kinds permeate the surface soil with fine, small sjiread- 

 ing filaments of roots. Deeper, it is true, it might 

 go, if the soil were deeper worked and pulverized, 

 and there were more inducements ; but in ordinary 

 circumstances, it is a shallow spreading root-feeder. 

 The bean is the reverse. Its deep-feeding root strikes 

 directly down, and it is only at the lower parts of 

 that root that the spongeolre are sent out. It de- 

 rives its food, in fact, from a different part of the soil, 

 so far as the root is concerned ; and therefore it may 

 be said to have a mode of supply altogether different 

 from the corn crops, which usually follow it. 



But we must not be led away to forget the saving 

 clause of proper cultivation. It is not the mere dril- 

 ling or dibbling or broadcast sowing of beans we 

 now object to, or recommend. If the bean is a deep 

 feeder, it must be assisted to get food where the root 

 really goes. Hence all good farmers ridge their 

 beans, and in the ridge put some fertilizing matter. 

 All manures covered by the soil have a natural ten- 

 dency downward; and hence the beau root will follow 

 the manure deposited in the furrow, and the bean 

 planted above it. 



Not only so, but as the leaves are a great means 

 of supplying the plant with food, they must have 

 plenty of room to expand. Beans must be sotvn in 

 wide ridges. We have seen good — the best perhaps 

 we ever saw — at 30 inches ; we have seen excellent 

 at 32 inches ; but they never ought to be less than 

 27 inches, and if properly cultivated they will meet 

 at these widths long before harvest But the soil 

 between must not be neglected, otherwise it will grow 

 weeds, which will not only impoverish the soil, un- 

 fitting it for a future crop, but injure the progress of 

 the beans themselves. Hence the horse and hand 

 hoe must be liberally applied ; or what is better, the 



grubber, or even the plow itself may be used with 

 advantage. Here, there is both a crop and a fallow 

 in the same year ; the surface soil is being cleaned 

 and pulverized, while the subsoil is enriched and 

 growing a crop. Hence the beau crop, when properly 

 managed, derives its noxirishment from the subsoil, 

 while the surface soil is being fallowed, sheltered 

 and improved for the ivheat crop. 



Practice steps in, therefore, and shows that mere 

 closet chemistry can never unravel the secrets of tlie 

 true position of the bean crop. — Mark Lane Ex- 

 press. 



—a^i «■ 



LETTER FROM OREGON. 



In my last letter I promised to give you some ac- 

 count of Southern Oregon, and in doing this I must 

 rely considerably upon other sources than my own 

 observation. South of the AVillamette valley, and 

 separated from it by the Calapooya range of moun- 

 tains, lies the Umpqua vallej^ This valley embraces 

 a tract of country lying between the Cascade and 

 coast ranges of mountains, extending a distance of 

 about seventy miles north and south. 



The face of the country differs materially from that 

 of the Willamette, being composed of clusters of 

 small valleys, varying in size, and separated from each 

 other by ranges of hills. In the immediate vicinity 

 of the two principal branches of the river the valleys 

 are of greater extent, affording a large amount of 

 arable land. The Umpqua is in general not so well 

 timbered as the region both north and south of it, 

 the timbers consisting principally of Oak. On the 

 borders of the ravines on the hill sides are groves of 

 Fir and Fine, but these are comparatively scarce. 

 This deficiency of timber has hitherto had a tendency 

 to retard the settlement of the Umpqua valley. The 

 more gentle slopes of the hills have not as yet been 

 tilled; but if any judgment may be formed from the 

 luxuriant growth of grass which covers them, most 

 abundant crops of grain may be grown on them. 

 The soil on the hills is le^s duejj than in similar situa- 

 tions iu the Willamette; it is of reddish color, and so 

 tenacious that on the steepest hills it washes but lit- 

 tle, though subjected to powerful and long-continued 

 rains. No part of Oregon that has yet been settled 

 affords a better or more extensive range for stock of 

 all kinds than the Umpqua The native grasses, 

 which cover the face of the country, are of the most 

 nutritious kinds, and cattle that have made the jour- 

 ney across the plains, and were reduced to the last 

 stages of leanness, will become in the course of six 

 or eight mouths, on grass alone, so fat as to render 

 even moderate locomotion a positive annoyance. This 

 may seem tough to farmers at the East, who are 

 obliged to pursue a long course of stall-feeding to 

 prepare their stock for market. But it is a fact well 

 known to all who have spent a year in Oregon, thai 

 in no place in the United States can beef be found as 

 fat as that exhibited in the markets here, and yet 

 people in Oregon never stall-feed. 



Hogs in this country require but little feed; in fact, 

 few farmers feed hogs at all, from the earliest days of 

 pighood to the time of slnighter. You have doubt- 

 less heard of the plant, called by the Indians " cam- 

 mas," used by them for food, and found in great 



