v | £ 
in 
Horn's $ittral |ttfe-§Brkr. 
A QUARTO WEEKLY 
AGRICULTURAL, LITERARY, & FAMILY JOURNAL. 
will keep the crop free and clean. The crop 
when ripe is easily pulled, as the fibrous roots 
perish at the ripening of the fruit; hut if the 
ground is wanted for seeding with fall-sown 
grain, and an early harvest is desirable, the 
vines can be cut with a scythe or sickle.— 
They are placed in small heaps to dry, and 
afterwards stacked with the roots inward, 
and protected with straw or otherwise. It is 
a good plan to leave a funnel-shaped opening 
up the centre of the stack for purposes of 
ventilation, as it is efficacious in preventing 
mildew. 
The haulm of the bean makes excellent fod¬ 
der for sheep, and they are also fond of the 
bean itself; but no other animal, not even the 
swine, will feed upon the latter in an uncook- 
state. In this respect, and a somewhat re¬ 
markable one it is, the pea is decidedly to be 
preferred as food for animals. Sometimes as 
high as sixty bushels of beans are obtained 
from an acre of ground, but thirty to forty 
bushels is a good yield ; indeed much more 
than is usually obtained under our ordinary, 
and too often inferior, modes of cultivation. 
Of the uses of the bean all are familiar.— 
The celebrated Sunday breakfast or dinner of 
the New Englander is baked beans and pork ; 
and tbe ovens of the city bakers on Saturday 
night groan beneath the load of brown earth¬ 
en pots crowded into their capacious caverns. 
Housemaids and runners pay their addresses 
to the baker on the morning of the Sabbath, 
bearing away as a household offering, each a 
pot of beans and a loaf of rye and Indian 
bread, to be placed warm and smoking upon 
the family board. No healthier or heartier 
dish than this can be procured, and rarely 
can one be found which is considered so uni¬ 
versal a favorite. Many a hungry juvenile, 
when returning from school, has blessed the 
inventor of bean soup, and many a sailor who 
has spent months upon a tedious sea voyage, 
has been saved from that foe to a sailor's peace, 
the scurvy, by the health-imparting proper¬ 
ties of the bean. 
This production so free from disease itself, 
so capable of preservation uninjured under 
circumstances which would destroy other 
fruits and grains, so easily cultivated, and so 
nutritious, palatable and healthful, is destin¬ 
ed, in this country, to greater favor as a staple 
article of diet. 
It is dropped in regular heaps about one rod 
apart, and spread only as fast as it can he 
plowed in. He has no manure cellar, hut 
keeps a part under cover, and find.-g't a decid¬ 
ed benefit so to do. For barley he thinks 
rotted manure an essential application, it is of 
such quick growth that it receives little ben¬ 
efit from long manure. 
Mr. Ottley has from seventy to seventy-five 
acres annually under tillage. His fields con¬ 
tain about twelve acres each, and the differ¬ 
ent crops follow in rotation and culture as 
follows : For corn he takes a three year lay 
of clover, covers it with manure, and breaks 
up immediately before planting with a double 
plow, eight inches deep, harrows with a light 
harrow to avoid breaking the turf, then drills 
three and a half feet in rows, dropping one 
kernel at eight inches in a row, together with 
ashes and plaster ; and then rolls the whole 
field. As soon as the com is np, he passes 
through with the one-horse cultivator, con¬ 
tinues to cultivate until the middle of June, 
—product usually 50 bushels per acre. Usu¬ 
ally plants one acre of potatoes in the same 
lot. 0n9 potato in each hill, split; plants as 
early as possible,— product light, owing to 
prevalent disease. 
Barley follows corn. He drills in two and 
a half bushels per acre, in April if possible, 
plowing in the spring.-—product from 25 to 50 
bushels per acre. Oats are also sown after 
corn, three bushels seed, product 75 bushels 
per acre. 
Wheat is sewn after barley, two bushels 
per acre, drilled in the first of September. 
Plows the stubble eight to ten inches deep, 
with double plow, in two rod lands ; harrows 
fine immediately before sowing— product from 
25 to 35 bushels per acre. Seeds down to 
clover and timothy in Sepiember, soon after 
sewing, and uses for meadow or pasture till 
its turn in the rotation, usually three years, 
when it is taken up as above described. 
Mr. 0., has been particular in growing and 
saving Seeds for sowing. He has improved 
white Soules wheat, starting it from a hand¬ 
ful, and saving the first ripened for seed, so as 
to shorten the time of maturing from six to 
eight days, he has made like experiments, 
with like results, in barley, oats and corn. 
His grains and roots were all trained up in 
this way, and ho thinks it essential that seeds 
of all kinds should be saved from the first 
ripening and largest ears. His profits for 1851 
are $754, or $8,87 A per acre for the improv¬ 
ed land. His total receipts amount to nearly 
$2,000. His principal attention is given to 
grain growing, which he makes a profitable 
business, as these figures show. 
A regular account is kept, together with a 
memorandum of farm matter. Mr. O. says he 
can state the annual expense of improving his 
farm, and the income of it, and at the end of 
the y ear can strike a balance of debt and credit. 
We join with him in thinking the practice 
very much conducive to close observation and 
careful farming ; one which in the end would 
very much improve our system, as well as 
better our fortunes. It is little more than 
guess work, to farm without some such guide 
—without some means of knowing what crops 
pay at the end of the year, and what prove a 
loosing speculation. 
take some method of keeping their fodder 
from being tirodden under foot, before it is 
half consumed. 
long, and cross them on the middle pole, a, 
on each side alternately, until the whole crib 
is filled, then lay another pole, c, c, on each 
side of the crib well notched into the cross 
pieces, d, d, to prevent their being pushed out 
of place ; and the rack is completed. The 
space, a, between the rack ac<f the sides of 
the crib forms a manger into which all the 
scatteiing fodder falls, so that there is no pos¬ 
sibility of the cattle treading on any.” 
CONDUCTED BY D. D. T. MOOSE. 
ASSOCIAYK editors : 
J. H. BIXBY. T. C. PETERS, EDWARD WEBSTER. 
Special Contributors : 
T. E. WaTMor,*. H. C. White, H. T. Brooks, L. Wither six, 
L&dlGs’ Port-Folio by Azus. 
The Rubai New- Yorker is designed to be unique and 
beautiful la appearance, and unsurpassed in Value, Purity 
snd Variety of Contents. Its conductors earnestly labor 
to make it a Reliable Guide on the important Practical 
Subjects connected with the business of those whose 
interests it advocates. It embraces more Agricultural, 
Horticultural, Scientific, Mechanical, Literary and News 
Matter, interspersed with many appropriate and beautiful 
Engravings, than any other paper published in this 
Country,—rendering it a complete Agricultural, Lite¬ 
rary and Family Newspaper. 
Fob Terms, and other particulars, see Nows page. 
The frame above is constructed as follows: 
—Posts of 3 by 4 inch scantling, 6 feet long, 
side boards one foot wide and 6 feet long, 
cross pieces and top board 6 inches wide— 
about 125 feet of lumber in the whole. Use 
ten-penny nails, with a good wrought nail or 
bolt, where the braces cross each other. Such 
a frame will last many years if well mad,e, 
and save many times its cost in fodder. One 
is needed for every four head of stock kept in 
the yards, and they should be set about 15 
feet apart in a dry place. 
In addition to the sheep-rack in a former 
number, we give another, called the Hopper- 
rack, which has received high commendation. 
It is from Randall's Sheep Husbandry , and 
serves both for a rack and feeding-trough. 
The above is intended te represent a section 
of the same. A piece of durable wood about 
4 2 feet long, 6 or 8 inches deep, and 4 inches 
thick, has two notches, a, a, cut into it, and 
two troughs, made of inch boards, 6, b, b, b, 
placed in these notches and nailed fast, con¬ 
stitutes the foundation. If the rack is to be 
14 feet long, three sills will be required. The 
ends of the rack are made by nailing against 
the side of the sill-boards that reach np as 
high as it is desired to have the rack, and 
nniia through efld-boards into 
the ends of the side-boards /, /, secure them. 
The sides may be further strengthened by 
pieces of board on the outside of them and 
fitted into the trough. A roof may be put 
over all if desired. With a roof the fodder is 
kept entirely from the weather, and no seeds 
or chaff can get into the. wool. 
Ccrraminuaticnts. 
LEGUMINOUS PLANTS.-THE BEAN, 
Thb bean was well known to the Ancients, 
and was held in different degrees of estima¬ 
tion by different nations.' Many superstitious 
notions were, •entertained concerning it, and 
many uses were made of it which the lights 
of modern science and enlightenment have 
suppressed and put to flight. Beans were 
used as ballots by the people in the election 
of magistrates, and in the trials of political 
offences ; white ones being ballots for acquit¬ 
tal asd black ones for condemnation. The 
Egyptian priests held it a crime for them even 
to look upon beans, and some of the Roman 
priesthood in heathen times were not permit¬ 
ted to mention the name. Some philosophers 
gravely contended that they were a cause of 
barrenness in women, while others alleged 
they were enemies to mental tranquility. All 
such foolish and unfounded notions have been 
exploded in modern times, and this invalua¬ 
ble product has been placed, where it of right 
belongs, among the most nutritious, most 
healthful, and most palatable products of the 
vegetable kingdom. 
We have no means at hand of estimating 
the amount of the bean crop of the United 
States. In the census tables of 1850, beans 
and peas are reckoned together, and are sat 
down at 9,219,901 bushels, of which probably 
more than one-half, say five million bushels, 
were beans. The wheat raised during the 
same year was 100,485,944 bushels, a differ¬ 
ence which shows that the comparative value 
of the former as an article of food is not duly 
estimated in this country. Prof. Emmons, in 
his analysis of the white kidney bean, as con¬ 
tained in the agricultural division of the Nat¬ 
ural History of the State of New York, gives 
its constituents as follows : 
Starch. 36.74 
Legumen . IS. 60 
Albumen and Caseine. 9.92 
Fibre. 15.42 
Sugar and extract. 7.20 
Water .. 13.25 
Total.101.13 
Einhof’s analysis of the field bean is not 
quite so favorable as regards nutritious quali¬ 
ties, but still he gives it a preference in this 
respect by ten per cent, over wheat. 
In cultivating the bean, a finely pulverized 
mellow soil is very important; and hence, 
where circumstances will admit, fall plowing 
and ridging so as to expose the soil to the dis¬ 
integrating action of the frost, is highly ad¬ 
vantageous. Then in the spring let it be 
again plowed and cultivated, giving the field 
a fine tilth. If the land is inclined to wet¬ 
ness, ridging will be of advantage ; but oth¬ 
erwise it is as well to leave it of a smooth, 
even surface. The young shoot is very ten¬ 
der, and the seed is liable to rot in the’ground 
if exposed to cold , hence it should not be 
planted until the sun has well warmed and 
fitted the ground for hastening germination. 
Beans with us are usually planted in hills 
about two feet apart each way ; but they 
glow equally well in drills, and where the 
space is limited, this method of planting is 
preferable, as a greater crop can thus be 
grown. It is not quite so convenient culti¬ 
vating them in this manner, but if the ground 
is properly prepared in the first instance, a 
horse hoe and accompanying hand weeding 
A nother box of the same size, but of rather 
different and stronger construction, is repre¬ 
sented above. The four sides, like that of 
the above and those which follow, are alike. 
The originator says:—“Four cattle can eat 
out of the box, one on each side, and as their 
heads come in competition, it makes them 
more greedy. By this means they work np 
considerable coarse fodder during the day.” 
A correspondent who saw the above thought 
he could improve upon it, and sent us the 
following. 
HINTS ON DRAINER G—AGAIN, 
THE “FIRST PREMIUM ” FARM, 
Were I to build stone drains I would pursue 
the following course : If the stone were 
mostly flat, I would place two on their edges 
against the banks and lean their tops together 
in the shape of an inverted using no more 
than enough to stop the largest holes, and 
then fill with earth. If they are round cob¬ 
ble stone, place two rows of stone one against 
each bank, making the water-course at all 
times large enough to discharge the water. 
Then round stone are better than flat ones for 
covering, as they hold the side stone more 
firmly to the banks, chink with small stone. 
Every stone that is used should lay one side 
of it to the water eour-e, the other side the 
earth rests against. As to using straw in the 
drain, it is worth more to make your crops 
grow. 
If drain tile and pipe are to be used for 
drains, two-inch pipe is large enough for a 
drain 30 or 40 rods in length, where no sur¬ 
face water comes from above the upper end of 
the drain: then three-inch tile should be used, 
which is sufficient to discharge the surface 
water from 4 or 5 acres. Four-inch tile will 
answer for 10 or 12 acres, and two tier of four- 
inch, laying one course the hollow side up, 
the other course on them, the top tile resting 
on two of the bottom tile, will answer for 25 
or 30 acres ; then use three courses of four- 
inch tile or stone ; if tile, lay two courses of 
tile one-inch apart, then another course on 
them, and you have an outlet of nearly four 
courses, which is sufficient for 50 acres. If the 
subsoil is firm clay or stony land, lay the tile 
or pipe on the ground, if soft muck or quick 
sand, use boards to lay them on. If springs 
come out of the banks, in fine sand lay the 
tile in the drain, and if you have a bed of fine 
gravel with coarse sand among it enough to 
fill the crevices between the small pebbles, 
cover the tile a few iches with it for a strainer 
to stop the fine sand or good soil, or sods will 
answer. Shovel the subsoil on to the tile and 
keep the straw to help the crops grow. 
In all cases lay the side drains that extend 
from the main drain parallel to each other di¬ 
rectly up the rising grounds ; these seldom 
have much water to discharge, and if the fine 
dirt in them gets into the main drain, that 
In our former ‘ * Gleanings from the Tran¬ 
sactions,” we promised to note other matters 
of interest, and the “ First premium Farm ” 
claims a share of our attention. The Com¬ 
mittee on Farm Management awarded $50 in 
plate- to Wm. P. Ottley, of Phelps, Ontario 
Co., for the best managed farm. But two 
applications were made for this premium, 
though we think there are many farms which 
would have stood an equal chance with those 
which were presented. 
The soil of Mr. Ottley ’s farm is a gravelly 
loam, and muck with a tincture of clay, the 
subsoil about the same, lighter oclored and 
porous. Limestone scarce, the rocks found 
are granite and quartz. The farm contains 
100 acres, 85 in cultivation. Mr. O. considers 
plowing in clover the best means of enriching 
his ground. A three years’ lay, turned under 
under in June for wheat, or, the 1st of May 
with barn-yard manure, for the corn crop, 
succeeds well. 
He plows from seven to ten inches deep. 
Deep plowing, in his case, has a good effect in 
giving great room for the roots of plants, hi 
its action as an underdraiu, in preventing 
the effects of drouth, in makiDg the land 
easier to work after it, with other advantages 
too numerous to mention. Some experiments 
showing this, and also the difference between 
shallow and deep plowing, were made by Mr. 
0., and we may refer to them hereafter. In 
regard to sub-soil plowing, he says the effects 
were entirely satisfactory after the first year, 
when the crop was lighter than usual, from 
the poverty of subsoil before due exposure to 
atmospheric influences. 
Manure receives considerable attention on 
the farm of Mr. Ottley. His straw, com 
stalks, and hay is all fed out in the stables 
and yards, where his cattle are kept through 
the foddering season. The straw serves for 
litter, and having an abundance, also about 
65 head of horses, cattle and sheep, he makes 
about 200 loads of manure annually. This he 
draws out in a green state to his corn field, 
(usually planting 12 acres,) putting from 30 
to 40 loads per acre, according to its value. 
In the box but six feet square, the master 
cattle would frighten the timid across the 
box, their heads being so near together ; and, 
unless boarded up, calves or small stock 
might get caught between the braces. This 
box is 9 feet square, with posts of 3 by 4 inch 
scantling, 5 feet high ; the sides boarded, but 
without bottom, so as to btj shifted easily 
when the refuse fodder fiUs it, or any other 
cause makes such a course desirable. The 
sides are only high enough to keep the cattle 
from getting into the box, and the corners so 
low that they may easily disengage them¬ 
selves when hurriedly driven away. It should 
be strongly put together, with wrought nails 
or rivets through the braces. 
We give the following end view of a rack 
and box combined, of a rustic character. It 
is thus described: 
WINTERING STOCK¬ 
IN’ addition to the hints already given, there 
is need, perhaps, for something on Foddering 
Racks and Boxes. With many farmers there 
is a great want of economy in the manner in 
which hay and other fodder is fed out to ani¬ 
mals in the yard. After gathering and clear¬ 
ing the meadows with great care, and using 
every exertion to fill the barn with hay in the 
very best order, it seems preposterous to see 
it flung out on the bare ground by the sides 
of the barn and fences—especially during wet 
and thawing weather—in the utter disdain- 
ment of all rules of propriety and economy. 
The master animals drive the underlings over 
and through the material fed out, with their 
foul and muddy feet, to the ruin of one-half 
of the whole food; and perhaps to add to 
this miserable operation, a dozen store hogs 
are allowed to muss and drabble every fork- 
full thrown out. 
Proper feeding racks under sheds is the 
very best preventive of this defect, but when 
there is not shed room for all the cattle, a 
feeding frame or box of some sort should be 
provided. We give several, that our readers 
may choose from among them,—it matters 
not so much which they take, as that they 
“ I make (first) a crib of long, heavy poles, 
say from six to eight inches through, 5 feet 
wide and two and a half feet high. For 10 
or 1? head of cattle it should he about 80 feet 
long. Then, through the middle, length¬ 
wise, on the top of the last cross pieces lay a 
good, stiff, straight pole, a , with a cross piece 
under it in the middle. This done, take com¬ 
mon fence stakes, or small poles, b, b, 7 feet 
