1877.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
215 
ing and pitching, though not extreme, were enough 
to keep them in a constant condition of intense 
nervous excitement day after day. The two which 
died ate nothing. One soon developed pneumonia, 
which ran its regular course rapidly. The other, 
Melvin describes as dying from nervous excitement 
and exhaustion. He was really scared to death. 
Weakened and exhausted from a journey of 20 
miles, when he probably had never traveled more 
than three at a time in his life, he could hardly 
stand when brought to the ship. He was so nervous 
when taken on board, that he “trembled like a 
leaf, and sweat like a river,” the perspiration con¬ 
tinuing for several days. Meanwhile, his exhausted 
vitality could not throw off the cold which he took, 
and so it also ran into lung fever and he died. The 
horse which survived had no doubt a better consti¬ 
tution, a less nervous temperament, and greater 
intelligence, so he did well, although he suffered 
nearly the same treatment, arriving at the ship’s 
side after a 16 mile walk, “free and blythe as a 
bird. ” A great temptation is offered to shippers of 
live stock to curtail expenses to the last extent. 
Two or three or, better, four days rest and feeding, 
after their long walk to Glasgow, would no doubt 
have put them in such trim that they might all 
have been landed in New York. 
This is an extreme case, the shipper being terribly 
punished for his parsimony, for his loss on the 
horses is hardly less than $1,800 to $2,000 each. 
Nevertheless, smaller, though similar, losses are 
constantly occurring in this country from the same 
cause. Horses should never be over fat when 
started upon long journeys, and as a nervous ani¬ 
mal is always much wrought upon by the incidents 
and surroundings of a journey by rail or by steamer, 
it is always best for him to begin the trip after a 
good rest, and after having for a day or two had 
good care and liberal feeding. 
Talks on Farm Crops—No. 4. 
By the Author of “ Walks and Talks on the Farm," 
"Harris on 'the Pig," etc. 
“The question is,” said I, “will it be better to 
plant it to com, corn-fodder, beans, or patatoes ? ” 
We were talking about an old pasture lot that the 
Deacon wants me to break up. I cannot 6pare the 
pasture until the first or second week in June ; or 
if I could, we should not be able to spare the teams 
to plow it until we were through our regular plant¬ 
ing. Mangel wurzels or turnips are out of the 
question, as they will not do well on sod-land, un¬ 
less plowed the previous summer or autumn. 
It might bring a fair crop of some early kind of 
potatoes, such as Early Rose, or Early Vermont, or 
even Late Rose. It would depend a good deal on 
the season, and on the “ bugs,” and on the condi¬ 
tion of the land. If it worked up mellow and moist, 
the chances would be favorable for a crop. But if 
the land turned up dry and hard, I should hesitate 
some time before putting in good potatoes worth 
$1.50 a bushel—and it would certainly be no use to 
plant small, withered-up seed on such land, so late. 
“That land,” said the Deacon, “ if plowed with 
a jointer, would work up as mellow as a garden.” 
—“If so,” said I, “ then some early variety of po¬ 
tatoes might turn out a big crop, even if not plant¬ 
ed before the middle of June.” 
I have no faith in planting corn after the first week 
in June. I would rather drill in corn for fodder. 
“ That is 60 ,” said the Deacon ; “ I would drill 
it in as we do wheat, and cut it with a reaper.” 
“ Not I. There is not one crop in ten so treated 
that does well. The crop is yellow and sickly, and 
bums up just when it ought to be growing most 
vigorously. I would drill in the crop with a wheat 
drill, but I would make the rows 28 or 35 inches 
apart. I like to sow 3 bushels of seed per acre, and 
as the drill will not sow this much at 28 or 35 
inches apart, we put three of the rubber tubes into 
one coulter. That is, we deposit the seed of three 
rows in one row. This makes it thick enough.” 
“ Better let them all ran,” said the Deacon, “and 
cover the whole ground.” 
“Howanyman,” said I, “can say so, or think so, 
is one of the mysteries of human nature. I do not 
know a single good point in favor of the plan.” 
It is no trouble to drill in the corn iu rows 21- to 3 
feet apart. No hand-hoeing is required. But you 
must use the horse-hoe freely and frequently be¬ 
tween the rows. The crop can be cut with a good 
reaper, and the land will be left clean and mellow. 
In regard to beans, if I thought they would bring 
as high a price next year as they do now, I should 
be tempted to put in several acres. But it is not 
wise, as a rule,' to put in a crop out of your ordi¬ 
nary rotation, simply because it brought a high 
price the year-before. Beans have been in the past, 
and will be in the future, a very profitable crop on 
good, clean land, with good care and treatment. 
It is a great mistake to suppose that any land is 
good enough to raise white beans. It is a still 
greater mistake to suppose that beans do not im¬ 
poverish the soil. Beans, peas, and clover, are all 
leguminous plants—all contain a high percentage 
of nitrogen, and all have the power of gathering 
up nitrogen from a soil comparatively poor in it. 
But if the nitrogen is not in the soil, you need not 
expect a good crop of beans, peas, or clover. 
It is your good farmer who gets good crops of 
clover, peas, and beans. And he gets them because 
he is a good farmer, or has good land. It is not 
the growth of the clover, peas, or beans, that 
makes the land rich. 
. “I don’t see what you are driving at,” said the 
Deacon, “though it is a fact that the men who have 
the best success in raising beans, are the men that 
are what you call good farmers—men who have 
good land and keep the soil in good heart.” 
“ The idea I am endeavoring to enforce is this, 
beans are, taking one year with another, a profitable 
crop on a well-managed farm. I do not say profit¬ 
able on rich land, or on land that has been manur¬ 
ed. Beans are not a crop that specially needs ma¬ 
nure, or that specially needs rich land. And yet 
they are seldom a profitable crop on any farm that 
is poorly managed or badly cultivated. Pigs and 
poultry are sometimes called the scavengers of the 
farm—they pick up what would otherwise be wast¬ 
ed. On a farm where much grain is fed to horses 
and cattle, a certain number of pigs and poultry 
can be cheaply kept. But there are farms where 
pigs would find it hard work to pick up a living. 
Now beans, peas, and clover, are the vegetable 
scavengers of the farm. They can pick up a living 
on a liberally treated farm. And on such a farm 
the bean crop is, other things being favorable, 
usually quite a profitable crop. But on a run-down 
poverty-stricken farm, beans would fare as poorly 
in the field as the pigs and poultry in the barn-yard. 
There are thousands of acres of beans raised in 
this county and the county adjoining. On many 
farms it is the principal crop. And not a few farm¬ 
ers have grown rich in the business. Every few 
years the beans are high, we hear of this man and 
that man who sold their crop of beans for so many 
thousand dollars. What wonder that such a man 
as myself, thinking how pleasant it would be to 
have one or two thousand dollars, should be 
tempted to put in a dozen or more acres of beans. 
I have known many farmers act in this way. But 
I have rarely known one that met with any decided 
success. I have known them to raise a good crop, 
but the price was low and they gave up the business 
in disgust; or if the price was high, the crop was 
poor, or it was damaged in harvesting. 
The conclusion of the whole matter then, is this : 
If you are a good farmer, or have made up your 
mind to be a good farmer, and have determined to 
work your land thoroughly and treat it liberally, 
and you want to raise beans, then go into the 
business moderately and stick to it. There is 
money in beans. And the crop has many advan¬ 
tages. It can be planted after we are through with 
all other spring crops. It is planted in rows wide 
enough apart to admit the use of the horse hoe, 
and the land can be kept clean. It is, too, as I have 
said before, a crop that will pick up its own living 
—if there is anything to pick up. 
It is not a crop that requires, either in planting, 
cultivating, or harvesting, a great amount of labor; 
^nd what is equally important, the work require^ 
has not to be done when other work is pressing. 
Pulling the beans is the heaviest item of labor— 
but it is usually done after wheat and barley har¬ 
vest, and before com must be cut or potatoes dug. 
And last, but not least, bean vines, if saved in 
good condition, make excellent fodder for sheep 
and cows. A good crop of beans will enable you 
to keep more sheep and make more manure; and 
if you get a good crop, and they bring a good price, 
you have a nice addition to the receipts of the farm. 
Beans do well on sandy land provided it is rich 
enough; and they do well, and sometimes better 
on a clay loam, provided it is well drained and turns 
up mellow and moist, so that the drill will deposit 
the seed in good, deep, warm earth. In such soil, 
they are soon up and you can start the horse hoe. 
“But do not cultivate,” said the Deacon, “when 
wet with dew or rain, or the leaves will rust.” 
“ Perhaps so,” said I, “ but at any rate cultivate, 
and cultivate repeatedly and thoroughly and use 
the hoe if necessary.” Many bean fields are dis¬ 
gracefully weedy and a reflection on our common 
sense. The extra labor of pulling beans among 
the weeds would more thau suffice to kill the 
weeds when young—and the yield would be far 
greater and the quality better. 
We usually plant on clover sod, the first or second 
week in June. The bean planters in common use 
here make the rows 2 ft. 5 inches apart, and drop 
the beans in hills a foot or fifteen inches apart. 
“ Many farmers,” said the Deacon, “ sow with 
a grain drill, in rows 28 or 35 inches apart, drop¬ 
ping a bean every two or three inches in the row.” 
“Yes,” said I, “and some farmers who have 
tried both plans tell me that they get a better yield 
in this way, than when four or five plants are grown 
together in one hill a foot or fifteen inches apart. 
But if the crop is likely to require much hoeing, it 
is better to plant in hills, as you can pull the hoe 
between hills and kill the. weeds.” 
“ If you plant on a good clover sod,” said the 
Deacon, “ or on an old pasture, and use a jointer 
plow that completely covers the grass, you will 
rarely need to hoe much.” 
There is some truth in this, but all I have to say 
is, make up your mind to hoe if necessary. It may 
make all the difference between success and failure. 
Drenching Horns for Cattle. 
Very frequently, a grave disorder among domes¬ 
tic animals,may be averted by the timely administra¬ 
tion of a simple medicine. Cows, especially, are 
subject to many serious diseases, which, though 
very troublesome when fully developed, are easily 
prevented, or cured, by instant attention on the ap¬ 
pearance of the first symptoms. Diseases of the 
digestive organs, if neglected at first, rapidly de¬ 
velop into affections of the blood, which, becoming 
poisoned or disorganized, interrupts the vital func¬ 
tions, and the animal often dies before its real con¬ 
dition is suspected. A brisk aperient, consisting of 
Epsom or Glauber salts, given at the first appear¬ 
ance of almost any disorder, will nearly always re¬ 
lieve the animal and prevent further mischief. 
Hence no farmer should be without a supply of one 
or the other of these useful medicines, and the 
means of administering a dose dissolved in wa¬ 
ter. The drenching horns, shown in the engrav¬ 
ings on the next page, will be found well adapted 
to this purpose. The ordinary vehicle for giving 
an animal a dose of physic, the long-necked wine- 
bottle, is a very dangerous one, and should never 
be used. There is a strong probability, whenever 
this is used, that the neck may be broken off by the 
struggles of the animal, and swallowed, or frag¬ 
ments of glass may pass into the throat or wind¬ 
pipe, causing fatal lacerations or instant suffoca¬ 
tion. The tin or copper horn, shown in figure 2, is 
a perfectly safe instrument for this purpose. The 
engraving has purposely been made large, that it 
can be used by any tinman or coppersmith as a pat¬ 
tern for making one. Its width in the broadest 
part may be six inches ; the bottom may be an oval, 
six inches in the longer diameter, and three in the 
smaller; the whole length of the horn may be 10 to 
J2 inches, in order to hold about two quarts. A 
