150 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
PlAT, 
Tarring Seed Corn. 
Winnow the grain to remove all the heavy 
chaff, and steep it in warm rain water about 
twelve hours. If kept in the steep much longer 
than this time, there is danger of injuring the 
germs. Keep the vessel containing it in a warm 
place, as the kernels will imbibe moistui-e much 
sooner if the steep be warm. Then pour it into 
a basket to drain for fifteen minutes. For half a 
bushel of seed, use about a teacupful of warm, 
but not hot gas tar, and stir with a smooth 
stick, until every kernel is covered with a thin 
coating of tar. By pouring the seed from one 
vessel to another a few times, the tarring will 
be facilitated. As gas tar will spread over a 
much larger surface than pine tar, there is 
danger of applying so much as to make it dis¬ 
agreeable to handle, though it will not injure 
the corn. Now roll it in gypsum, and plant as 
soon as practicable. When the seed is in the 
field, it should always be kept covered in a close 
vessel, instead of a basket, to prevent it drying. 
The object in tarring is to prevent the seed be¬ 
ing pulled by crows, blackbirds, doves, and 
domestic fowls. The tar appears also to repel 
wire worms, until the corn is about a foot 
high. By this time, the influence of the tar 
becomes inoperative in repelling wire worms. 
When seed of any kind is coated with tar be¬ 
fore it has been steeped, it will be a long lime in 
absorbing sufficient moisture to make it germi¬ 
nate. But when the seed is steeped previous to 
tarring, germination is not seriously retarded. 
Where birds, domestic fowls, or squirrels, do 
not pull or dig up the corn, nothing is gained 
by steeping and tarring. We once planted some 
corn which had been well prepared by steep¬ 
ing and tarring, most of which came up in ten 
days. Four days after this was planted, we 
sowed a plot of corn broadcast, in the same 
field, and the dry, untarred, corn came up 
well in five days. The soil was warm and 
moist when the seed was harrowed in, and 
had just been plowed the second time. 
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Use and Value of Gas Tar. 
Gas or Coal Tar is a product accompanying 
the making of gas from coal, and can usually 
be obtained wherever gas is made, at f 1 to $2 
per barrel, or by the gallon. As mechanics 
and farmers are beginning to learn its value for 
preserving wood-work of various kinds and for 
painting iron that is exposed to the influences 
of the weather, the price has been for some 
time gradually advancing. We have been ac¬ 
customed to use it for twenty years past with 
most satisfactory results. It is an excellent paint 
for shingle roofe but should become thorough¬ 
ly dry before water is collected, as it not only 
colors the water, but makes it taste veiy disa¬ 
greeably. It is very useful applied to fence 
posts to render them durable. Some men make 
a deep box and dip the ends of the posts in it, 
so as to smear the lower ends three feet or more 
in length. But we have found it is quite as well 
to tar the post about one foot below the surface 
of the ground and a few inches above it, as to 
tar the entire end, for posts always decay first, 
near the surface of the ground. Our way to 
apply it is, to set the posts and fill the holes with¬ 
in a foot of the surface. Then with a whitewash 
brush give each post a good coat, the thicker the 
better, and then fill the hole with earth. The 
writer has always found it an excellent material 
for painting the joints of gates, and board and 
picket fence, where two surfaces come together, 
as well as for smearing timber of bridges and 
buildings, where they are exposed to wet and 
dry weather, as it excludes water more effectu¬ 
ally than the best oil paint. The sills and under 
sides of plank walks, if smeared with a heavy 
coat of coai tar, will last more than twice as 
long as if not tarred. The upper side of timbers 
and joists on which stable floors rest if tarred, 
will exclude wet, and keep them in a good state 
of preservation for many years. In some in¬ 
stances wooden pipe for conducting gas is sat¬ 
urated with gas tar previous to being laid in the 
ground, and such pipe has been examined after 
having been in the ground 22 years, and there 
were no signs of decay. There are many other 
uses for this material which renders it valuable 
to the farmer. It is a dangerous substance to 
apply to fruit trees. The writer once applied a 
small quantity to a valuable apple tree, where 
two limbs had been sawed off, and the tree was 
killed effectually in a few months, by the poi¬ 
sonous influence of the tar. 
Cultiire of White Beaus. 
Several subscribers of the Agriculturist have 
inquired for information on the culture of field 
beans. If the soil be light, plow it when apple 
trees are in blossom ; and in about two weeks 
afterward harrow thoroughly and put in the 
seed. If the soil be rather heavy, plow it twice, 
once at the time mentioned, and again two weeks 
after. Harrow and roll, if there are lumps, and 
put in the seed as soon as practicable after har¬ 
rowing. Beans, as well as other seed, will vege¬ 
tate much sooner when planted in fresh soil, 
than when it has been plowed several days. If 
the ground be in sod, and a light open soil, plow 
with a flat furrow slice, harrow, plant, and roll. 
But where the soil is heavy, disposed to bake, a 
little wet, and in sod, defer plowing until the 
soil is in the best condition to pulverize well. 
Then plow with lapped furrow slices, but not 
deep enough to turn up any of the compact 
subsoil. Harrow thoroughly, and put in the 
beans the same day the land is plowed, if prac¬ 
ticable. By putting off the planting until wet 
ground has become warm, settled, and dry 
enough to pulverize well, and planting as soon as 
the ground is plowed, the beans will vegetate 
in a short time, get the start of weeds, and thus 
save much labor in hoeing. 
There are several ways of planting beans. 
One is to plant in hills, about two feet apart each 
■way. Another is in hills with rows only one 
way. Still another is to put in the seed with a 
single drill, or scatter the beans along in a shal¬ 
low furrow a few inches apart. If the soil be 
deep and mellow, and weeds have been pretty 
thoroughly exterminated in previous years, they 
may be sowed broadcast and harrowed in, if it 
be done as soon as the ground is plowed. But, 
if there he many weeds, it would not be well to 
put them in broadcast, as weeds injure their 
growth. The most expeditious way of planting 
beans is, to put them in with a two-horse grain 
drill, adjusting it so that every third tube or 
tooth will plant a row. By this arrangement 
the rows will be about two feet, or two feet and 
a few inches apart, which will allow a horse 
and cultivator to pass between them. The drill 
should be adjusted to scatter the beans about 
two inches apart. A greater crop can be pro¬ 
duced in this way than to plant in hills, be¬ 
cause the seed is distributed more evenly over 
the entire ground. There is nothing gained by 
planting beans too thickly, as four or five stalks 
in a hill will yield a maximum product. The 
quantity of seed per acre will depend entirely 
on the size of the beans and the distance apart. 
Usually, 2 to 4 bushels are required per acre. 
Tim Bunker’s Visit to Titus Oaks, Esq. 
Mk. Editor:—You see I hadn’t more than 
got done with Diah Tubbs, and his pickle patch, 
when I begun to grow uneasy for something 
else to talk about. Some folks can set round 
the fire and talk with the women all day, but I 
never could do up my visiting in that way. I 
knew I had got about all out of Uncle Di in one 
evening that I should get out of him if I pump ¬ 
ed him till doomsday. So the next morning, 
after breakfast, I begun to inquire about the 
neighboring country and farmers. Says I, 
“Uncle Di, your Westchester county is a 
great country. I have heard of it clear up in 
Connecticut. You ought to have some smart 
farmers round here that go in for fancy stock. 
“Jest so. We have lots on ’em. Fellers 
that got rich in the city, and come out here and 
spend their money and call it high farming. 
I’ll bet you a shad, every potato they raise costs 
’em a dollar.” 
“How do you make that out?” 
“ Wal, ye see, they take perticuler pains to 
buy the roughest, stoniest place they can find> 
and next see how much money they can bury 
up in it. They blow rocks, tear down hills, 
drain swamps, fill up ponds that is, and dig 
ponds that ain’t, and call ’em lakes; cut down 
trees that are stannin, and plant trees where 
there aint none; put the surface sile down to 
the bottom, and bring up the yaller dirt for the 
sake of making it black, and raise Hob gener¬ 
ally with the land before they plant it. Here is 
Squire Oaks, jest above me, that has been rip- 
pin and tearin with his land for a dozen years 
and more, and I guess every acre he’s got has 
cost him tew hundred dollars, if not more, and 
I can beat him on pickles, with all his manure 
and sub-soiling,” 
“Well, now, ’spose we hitch up and go over 
and see Squire Oaks’ place this morning. I 
want to learn something to carry back to Hook- 
ertown ?” 
“ What do you say, Esther ? ” inquired Uncle 
Di, looking up to headquarters. 
“ I think,” said Mrs. Tubbs, “ that Sally 
would like to see one of our country seats. Mr. 
Oaks has a fine conservatoiy, and the flowers 
are very attractive this winter.” So it was ar¬ 
ranged that we should visit the country seat ol 
Titus Oaks, Esq., in full force. 
I expected to find a man, city bred, with 
gloves on, and stove-pipe hat, and gold-headed 
cane, ordering men round, right and left. In¬ 
stead of that, I found a man that might have 
been taken for a native of Hookertown, any 
where on Connecticut soil, and driving away at 
the dirt and stone, as if he wan’t afraid of them, 
“Good morning,” said I, “Squire Oaks. I am 
glad to find a Justice of the Peace in these 
'parts. I have thought that such an officer must 
have a good deal to do in this region.” 
“You were never more mistaken in your 
life,” he replied. “ They call me Squire, but I 
have no more claim to the title than my Alder¬ 
ney bull. The office must have been abolished 
some time ago around here. Every man does 
about what Is right in his own eyes.” 
“ Excuse me, sir, I do not like to hear a man 
speak evil of his birth-place.” 
“ Praise the Lord, I was born In New-Eng- 
