1872.1 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
219 
A crop of beans of thirty bushels per acre 
that has to grow and mature in so short a time, 
must have a liberal supply of available food, and 
the soil must be in the best possible mechanical 
condition. We are aware that a fair crop of 
beans is sometimes raised on soil so hard, that 
it would seem that the roots could not penetrate 
it. But a maximum yield can not be expected 
unless all the conditions of growth are favorable. 
The most common mistake is in trying to raise 
beans and weeds on the same land at the same 
time. We have seen part of a field of beans cul- 
tivated and hoed, and another part, equally 
ROLLER MADE FROM LOGS. 
good laud, left uncultivated, and the latter pro- 
duced less than one third of the former. The 
extra cost of pulling the beans out of the weeds 
was more than it would have cost to cultivate 
and hoe them. The beans on the weedy land 
did not mature property, and could not be sold 
at any price. The most profitable crop of beans 
we ever raised was on a two year-old clover 
sod, plowed in June, turning under clover equal 
perhaps to more than half a ton of hay per 
acre. The beans were drilled in immediately 
after the land was plowed and harrowed. We 
had a rain shortly afterwards, and the beans 
came up and grew rapidly. They were culti- 
vated four or five times, but needed scarcely 
any hoeing. The yield was over twenty bushels 
per acre, arid the beans brought $3.25 per bushel. 
The land, after the beans were off, was plowed 
and sown to winter wheat, and produced a good 
crop. This was merely a lucky hit. 
The largest yield we have ever had, was on 
land plowed twice in the fall and again twice 
in the spring, with the free use of the cultivator 
and harrow for the purpose of killing Quack. 
This year we are preparing our land for beans 
somewhat in the same way — a two-year-old 
clover sod, mown the first year for hay and 
afterwards for seed, the next year pastured with 
sheep. In the fall it was plowed and left rough 
for the winter. This spring it was harrowed as 
soon as the surface was dry enough, and before 
all the frost was out underneath. It was then, 
a few days later, cultivated and harrowed, first 
with a forty-tooth harrow, and afterwards with 
a Thomas harrow. This made the surface as 
fine as a garden. The field will be plowed 
again, harrowed, cultivated, rolled if necessary, 
and worked until it is as clean and mellow as 
we can make it. The seed will be drilled in 
rows two feet six inches apart, and from three 
to five beans in a hill, 15 inches apart. 
It may be said that the crop will not pay for 
such an amount of work. We think it will. 
If it does not, we will report. It must be recol- 
lected that the soil is exposed to the ameliorating 
influences of the atmosphere for nearly eight 
months before the crop is planted. And after it 
is planted the land is constantly stirred with a 
cultivator. By this mode of culture beans be- 
come a "fallow crop." The land is just as 
cleau as if it had been summer-fallowed, and if 
the laud is rich enough or can be manured, an 
excellent crop of wheat may be expected. In ! 
this way beans can be made a very useful and i 
highly profitable crop. On laud so thoroughly 
prepared, the Marrow will probably prove the 
more profitable variety, as it commands an extra 
price, and produces a large quantity of haulm 
of great value as fodder for sheep or cows. 
^-4 —a — »-• 
A Home-made Roller. 
A " Parmer" wants a description of a simple 
roller. We illustrate one which is made of 
a log, cut into sections, two feet long, that it 
may be more readily turned round. The log 
should be at least two feet 
in diameter, of heavy 
wood, such as oak or hard 
maple, aud the sections 
should be sawed very true, 
so that the ends will work 
freely and not bind against 
each other. The sections 
are bored through the cen- 
ter with an auger an inch 
and three quarters in di- 
ameter, and the boles 
should be bored from each end to the 
middle, where they should meet; they can 
be made more true iu this way than by 
boring through from one end. The axle is 
an iron rod of one and a half inch diameter. 
Washers, half an inch thick, should be placed 
between the sections. The frame should be 
made of heavy stuff, at least four inches square, 
so as to gain weight, and a driver's seat may be 
put on. When built, the sections should be raised 
from the ground, and planed smooth aud true. 
What is a Fallow? 
There is considerable discussion among far- 
mers as to whether it is better to summer-fallow 
for wheat, or to sow a spring crop, such as oats, 
barley, peas, or beans, to be followed by wheat. 
Figures are given and arguments used pro and 
con. But so far as we have observed, all the 
writers on this subject fail to tell us what a fal- 
low is. One farmer iu Western New York, 
who has written considerably on the subject, 
advocates breaking up a clover sod, in June, 
with a three-horse plow, ten inches deep ; then 
harrow, roll, and cultivate, to keep down the 
weeds and mellow the surface. This is all that 
he does. The land is only plowed once. We 
have no doubt that good crops of wheat are 
frequently raised in this way. We say nothing 
against the practice. But we insist that there 
is no propriety in calling it a " summer-fallow." 
The essential agricultural and chemical point 
in fallowing is, to plow the land for a crop, and 
then not sow it until the season following. This 
is the real significance of a fallow. It involves 
the idea of "rest," and at the same time cleans 
the land. There arc various modifications in 
the manner of working the land, but there can 
be no true fallow where the land is not kept 
bare and without a crop for a whole year. 
We are not arguing against the plan we have 
alluded to of preparing land for wheat. All we 
ask is that things should be called by their pro- 
per names. In England the most common 
method of raising wheat is to plow up a clover 
sod, and immediately drill in the wheat. This 
Western New York plan differs from it merely 
in this : the land is plowed six weeks or two 
months before sowing instead of six days or two 
weeks as in England. Let those adopt the plan 
who like, but do not call it a " summer-fallow." 
A summer-fallow, or in other words, a true 
fallow, aims to expose the soil as much and for 
as long a time as possible to the decomposing or 
"weathering" influence of the air, the sun, the 
heat, and the frost. No crop is grown to abstract 
plant-food, but on the other hand means are 
used to develop plant-food from the latent re- 
sources in the soil. At the same time we aim 
to mellow aud clean the land. We do not aim 
to check the weeds. We endeavor to make 
them grow, in order that we may kill them. 
This the summer-fallow gives us an unimpeded 
opportunity of doing. By plowing the land 
early iu the fall we cause many weeds to germi- 
nate that usually infest ouc- wheat fields. The 
spring plowing not only destroys these, but 
starts thousands of weeds that usually infest our 
spring crops. These are destroyed by the cul- 
tivator, and others spring up to be killed at the 
next plowing. We thus get rid of millions of 
weeds. It may be that the first crop will not 
pay the cost of such a summer-fallow, with two 
years' interest on the value of the land, but on 
any good, strong, loamy soil, no cleaner than 
our farms usually are, it will prove highly profit- 
able in the end. A tenant farmer, or a former 
who intends to sell at the first opportunity, or 
one whose necessities are such that he can not 
afford to wait, may well be excused from resort- 
ing to some method of culture that will hold 
back the growth of weeds for a single crop, but 
this should not preveut him from understand- 
ing that there is a better way, whenever his cir- 
cumstances enable him to adopt it. We would 
most earnestly recommend the young, intelligent 
readers of the American Agriculturist to study 
out this matter for themselves and endeavor 
to master all the principles involved in sum- 
mer-fallowing. They will find it better to thor- 
oughly work and cleau their laud than to adopt 
any temporary makeshifts for checking weeds. 
A Good Little Pig. — A friend of the writer 
had a litter of pigs farrowed August 20th, 1871. 
The sow was a young common white one, and 
of small size. The boar was a young thorough- 
bred Essex. One of these pigs was killed April 
2d, 1872, when he was 22G days old, and he 
weighed (dressed) 187 pounds. His form and 
condition were simply perfect. This is evidence 
(so for as any single instance cau be) of the ad- 
vantage of the Essex cross. 
Our American Cuckoos. 
BT BKNE3T INQEBSOLL. 
The Cuckoo (Coccygus Americanus) is one of 
the most beautiful of our birds. His form is 
slender, and elegantly proportioned. His whole 
upper plumage is a rich, glossy drab-brown, 
with greenish reflections, and is peculiarly fine 
and compact in its texture ; beneath he is pure 
white, with long, silky thigh-feathers. His tail 
seems disproportionately long, yet it adds 
wonderfully to his graceful carriage. 
His brother, the O. cryihrophthdlmus, is slight- 
ly smaller, aud where the bill of the other is 
yellow his is black ; his distinguishing feature, 
however, is a bare, wrinkled skin around the 
eye, deep red, whence his Greek specific name, 
which means "red-eyed." 
One walking in May in retired woods, or 
where, along the border of a quiet stream, the 
drooping willows brush the alders' tops, and 
both together lean far over the shaded water, 
will hear as from a disembodied spirit, ko-we, 
ko-we, ko, ko, ko, ko-k-k-k-k-k, beginning slow 
and distinct, then rising louder, and gradual- 
ly growing more rapid, until it runs all to- 
