for t\)t Boimg. 
YOUTHS’ HORTICULTURAL CLUB 
OF THE 
RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
TWELFTH RE GULAR DISCUSSION. 
Topic : Beans, and Bean Culture. 
Uncle Mark: Greeting to each one of 
you. We are to discuss a vegetable that be¬ 
longs to a large family. The Leguminosm 
family is scattered nearly to both the frigid 
poles, from the equator; a few islands in the 
far ocean, only, have none of this family 
growing on their shores. Some of the rela¬ 
tives of the bean you are acquainted with; 
the flowering pea, with its sweet blossoms, anti 
the peas of the garden, are two that are very 
familiar. The Black Locust tree, with its 
fragrant flowers, the different varieties of 
clover, the sensitive plant and the peanut are 
relatives, too. There are in our country, in 
all,*350 species of the legumes. But we are 
to talk only of the beans; they are not natives 
of our country, but have been brought here 
from South America and the East Indies. 
The climbing beaus, you will find, have their 
own way of twining and always start around 
their support the same way, twining against 
the sun; while some vines, as the hop. always 
twine with the sun, starting around their sup¬ 
port in just the opposite direction from that 
which the bean vines take. The botanical 
name of the bean division of the Leguminosse 
family is Phaseolus, which means a little 
boat, called so because of the shape of each 
half of the pods. I think many of the 
Cousins have perhaps played with these little 
“boats,” sailing them in a tub or basin of water, 
or on some little stream It is in a practical 
way we are to discuss the bean, telling how to 
grow them, what varieties are best, and for 
what they are used. The discussion will be 
opened by 
Homer Orr: The ground for beans should 
be mellow aud rich, as for corn. We do not 
mark the ground out in rows as for corn, but 
drill the beaus in with a graiu drill. Weset the 
teeth '2(1 inches apart, or far enough so as to 
put in three rows each time across the field, 
just far enough apart for a narrow cultivator 
to go through the rows. They cau be planted 
much faster this way, and we think that they 
do as well as wtien put in by hand, and it 
also saves much time and hard labor. Beans 
should be planted from the 15 th to the 20 th of 
June iu the latitude of Yates Co., N. Y., so 
that they will ripen before the early frosts. 
They should be kept clean and free from 
weeds, and should be pulled as soon as ripe. 
We puli ours by hand: each one takes two 
rows each time across the field, and is careful 
to shake all the dirt off the roots. We then 
place them on the ground iu small bunches 
with the roots upward to dry. They should 
be left out only long euough to get thoroughly 
dry; if they are left out in a heavy rain, it 
makes them black, and it is then more work 
to look them over. We thrash them with 
horses and flails; run them through the fan¬ 
ning mill twice, to take out the coarse dirt 
and stones, and then hand-pick them. The 
Marrow Bean is raised most in this vicinity. 
It is better for cookiug tban the Kidney Bean. 
One advantage in raising beans is they cannot 
be used for making whisky. 
John K. Stewart: There are several vari¬ 
eties of beans grown here on the mountain in 
Rhea Co., Tenn. We have lived here nearly 
two years; but have plauted over SO varieties 
of beans, to see which would do the best iu 
this locality. For early “ snap shorts,” we 
like the Valentine; for later, the Kentucky 
Wouder and Giant Wax. For shell beans, both 
green and dry, the Dutch Case-Knife, the Li- 
ma», Kidneys, and White Marrow are the tnost 
popular. We do uot Like the Black Wax. None 
of the wax beaus do well here, except the 
Giant Wax. The best pole beaus are the 
Giant Wax, Kentucky Wonder and the Case- 
Knife. We use sassafras poles. Brush is bet¬ 
ter tbau poles for the Case Knife, and most 
kinds cling better if a few short limbs are 
left ou the poles. We planted some Potato- 
leaf Beans last year; they did not do very 
well, but they are such nice beaus that we are 
going to try them again this year. 
Tullula Herron:— Of the garden beans 
we like tbe large Limas, and the Seewell and 
the wax varieties best in Burleson Co., Texas, 
the large Lima best of all. We prepare the 
ground for all kinds of bean3 by spreading 
100 bushels of unleached ashes, 300 pounds of 
bones, the refuse of soap making, and 100 
bushels of sound cotton seed to the acre. We 
plow deep in January, cross plow ou the 10th 
of March, plant ou the 20th or 25th of March 
and dig in between the rows all the hen ma¬ 
nure we cau get. If frosts kill them we plant 
again, but we scarcely ever lose beans after 
the 25th of March. After the beans are up 
we cultivate with a plow, once a week if pos¬ 
sible, getting shallower each time until the 
young beans appear, after which we cultivate 
no more unless weeds and grass are getting 
hold, when we scrape as lightly aspossible, be¬ 
ing careful not to disturb the blossoms. Tbe 
Crab Grass is the worst euemy to beans and 
everything else here. On thiu new ground with¬ 
out manure we raised aud sold, in 1382,off of less 
than one-sixteenth of an acre $25.75 worth of 
Black Wax Beans (snaps). They were planted 
about the middle of July and lasted till frost. 
We prepare all our dry shelled beans for 
the table by soaking them 12 to 18 hours, 
changing the water two or more times, and 
digesting, not boiling them, over a slow fire un¬ 
til tender. We cook meat with them or not, as 
we prefer. Limas are delicious prepared in 
this way. We never use any dry beans at the 
South except Limas, Seewell or Butter Beaus, 
Kidney aud Navy Beans. Iu our family I 
don’t think we have ever baked any beaus. 
We intend to try it though as soon as we 
learn how. The Germans around us raise 
large crops of Scarlet Runners, letting them 
trail on the ground. We have only raised 
them as climbers for ornament, so we know 
nothing about their eating qualities. Green 
shelled Limas are best fitted for the table by 
slowly simmering until soft, and the water is 
nearly all dried out, then we add rich cream 
or butter and a little salt, but no pepper. 
For sticks we find the dead limbs on green 
cedar the best we can get here. They are 
full of small twigs and will last ten years if 
taken out of the ground when the beaus are 
gathered. When we get the Rural Beau, 
if it is better than the Lima, we will have a 
prize indeed. Beans at the South I think do 
better than they do North. I know Limas do, 
and so do Black Wax; they both grow larger 
and are more prolific if due care is used in sav¬ 
ing seed, manuring and cultivating. 
Uncle Dew:— The Kaw Valley, in Shaw¬ 
nee Co., Kans., doesn’t grow her own beans, 
except just euough to supply the local demand 
for snap, and green shell beans. Our land has 
too much push about it, and the bush varieties 
—Valentine,German Wax,etc.—grow amass 
of tall vines, and if a little too near together, 
or too thick in the hill, they will mildew aud 
rot. When our market first opens they bring 
from $1 25 to 81.50 per bnshel, but the price 
soon runs down to as low as 40 cents; but in a 
few weeks it advances again to 75 cents aud 81, 
and the season closes in the Fall at about the 
same figures it started out with. A small plot 
of ground must be plauted every few days, 
all through tbe season, if the gardener would 
come out ahead iu the end. The Ivory Bod 
Wax is a beautiful bean, and will sell, when 
the market is. for the time being, glutted by 
an over-supply of Valentines and German 
Wax. For our val ley, no bean pays as welt as 
the Small Lima. It is a prodigious bearer, 
aud endures a dry spell well, and a wet one 
equally so; and some seasons, two weeks after 
the top vines are killed by frost, customers 
can be supplied with bushels of beans, gath¬ 
ered from tbe under side of the viues. 
The other varieties of Lima beans, with us, 
all run to vines, making a wonderful growth 
of foliage, but few pods; all are smothered by 
their owu growth, especially tbe Dreer’s Im¬ 
proved, a most luscious beau; but not worth 
planting in our rich soil. The Limas briug by 
the bushel about an average of 81.25, and but 
rarely drop below $1 through the entire sea¬ 
son. Shelled they command from 53 to 00 
cents per gallon. 
I always pole the best I can, for it pays to do 
a good, firm job; and if the poles are slim, or 
weak, I tie four together at the top, after the 
style of an Indian “tepee, - ” for if they fall 
down, but little good comes from the fallen 
hills. Keep a sharp look-out for the ripening 
pods, or mauy beans will be lost. I do not 
know of any one in this part of Kansas who 
raises beans as a field crop, unless my 3,000 
hills of Limas last season would be called a 
field. 
Gab: Beaus do not want to be planted until 
after all danger of frost is over, as they are 
very tender. The ground should be quite 
mellow and rich. We plant them the same 
as corn. For the mam crop, we plant the 
White Kidney. We also have iu our garden 
in Tompkins Co., N. Y., several other kinds, 
Golden Wax, Prolific Tree beans, Case Knife, 
and a brown bean of which I do not know the 
name. I have received the Flageolet Beau iu 
the Rural Seed Distribution, which I shall try 
this year. Beans must not be cultivated when 
they are wet or they will rust. They should 
be cultivated often, and the ground kept 
nearly level. In harvesting them, we take a 
pleasant day after the dew is off in the morn¬ 
ing, and pull them up by baud and lay them 
in rows, and if we think it is goiug to be 
pleasant the next day, leave them over night, 
then draw them in. They should be spread 
in the barn quite thin. We spread them on 
top of the hay mows and ou the floors, where 
A they will lie out of the way for a few week6, 
then some day wheu we are not particularly 
busy about anything else, we thrash them in 
what might be called the old-fashioned way, 
with the flail, as that does not split them very 
badly; then run them through the fanning 
mill, then we look them over by hand, aud 
pick out the poor ones. 
(To be continued .1 
The World’s Cyclopedia is sent to any sub 
scriber who sends us one new subscription, and 
15 cents to pay the postage on the book We 
make the same offer to you, boys and girls, an i 
if you get, aud use, one of these books, you will 
learn many interesting facts from it. The 
Cousins should all begin to gather books for a 
library, aud this is a good one to put on your 
boob shelf as a beginning. 
pisccUanfous ^Vdmlisdttg. 
Purify the Blood. 
' "We do not claim that Hood’s Sarsaparilla is the 
only medicine deserving public ennlidenco, but 
we believe that to purify the blood, to restore and 
renovate the whole system. It is absolutely 
unequalled. The Inthieneo of the blood upon 
the lioalth cannot he over-estimatod. If it be¬ 
comes contaminated, the train of consequences 
by which the health is undermined is inimeasur- 
tble. Loss of Appetite, I.ow Spirits, Headache, 
Dyspepsia, Debility, Nervousness aud other 
'•little (?) ailments” are the premonitions of 
more serious and often fatal results. Try 
Hood’s Sarsaparilla 
Sold by all druggists. $1; six for $5. Made 
only by C. I. HOOD & CO., Lowell, Mass. 
IOO Doses One Dollar 
Who was Bright < 
The name of Bright is frequently on the 
tongues of people who know nothing, or little, 
of who “Bright” was, or the nature of the pe¬ 
culiar derangement of vital functions with 
which his name has long been linked. Dr. 
Bright was a famous British surgeon and an¬ 
atomist. He made the kidneys and their dis¬ 
orders his special study. He first pointed out 
the nature of the granular degeneration of the 
tissues of the kidneys, and showed the demor¬ 
alization of these orgaus when in such a con¬ 
dition that their secreting powers are so im¬ 
paired that tbe urea is not sufficiently separ¬ 
ated from tbe blood. Iu the unpleasant con¬ 
dition of the internal economy which is known 
as “Bright’s disease,” albumen is carried off 
with the watery excretions from the bladder. 
This impoverishes tbe system almost, as greatly 
as would copious and systematic bleeding, for 
the albumen is needed iu the body, being, in 
fact, one of the great agents in nutrition. 
Those who labor under the disadvantage of 
“Bright’s disease” are liable to grievous con¬ 
gestion and inflammation, uot only of the 
kidneys but of other important organs. Coma, 
convulsions, and appoplexy may occur as part 
of the progress of the disease. Thus it will be 
seen that the malady is not a mere kidney ail¬ 
ment, but one involving the decay of the vital 
forces of the body. 
“Bright’s disease” is proverbially hard to 
cure. Nay. more than that, it is generally 
pronounced incurable. As soon as the patient 
begins to show clear evidences of being afflict¬ 
ed with this malady, the doctors give him up 
and tell him to prepare for death. They cau 
alleviate his sufferings, and do something to 
temporarily arrest his inevitable decay, but 
beyond this they give him no hope. An emi¬ 
nent physician iti a recent address before the 
New Jersey Medical Society, said: “The mod¬ 
ern physician, iu his multitudinous drugs, fiuds 
few remedies. * * * Medicine finds its 
highest triumphs in the prevention, not in^the 
cure, of disease. * * * Who cures rheuma¬ 
tism, or typhoid fever, or chronical Bright’s 
disease? * * * and yet, who refrains from 
prescribing?” 
Now we will all agree that a prevention is a 
great deal better than cure. But when we find 
some fellow-mortal actually in the power of a 
terrible disease, “Bright’s” for instance, it is 
too late to talk of preventive measures. 
Something must be done towards cure, if cure 
be possible. To thousands of anxious men aud 
women the vital question to day is, "Can 
Bright's Disease be cured f' To others, means 
of prevention may have interest, but to those 
ou whom the disease has its grip the question 
of cure is a personal matter of life or death. 
All who arc thus concerned will be greatly in¬ 
terested in the experience of u gentleman well 
kuown in Philadelphia who was so severely 
afflicted with “Bright’s disease” that the phy¬ 
sicians gave him up. His present condition 
of heartiness is such as naturally to awaken 
curiosity as to how his recovery was effected. 
Mr. George W. Edwards is a well known 
Philadelphian, now in middle life. His father 
was one of the most public spirited citizens of 
the Quaker City, who did much to improve 
the place by the erection of a number of hotels 
and other edifices of public value aud perxim- 
neut adornment. Mr. Fid wards, Sr., died 
about twenty years ago, of Bright’s disease, 
and so did his wife. The present Mr. Edwards 
thus inherited the disease from both father and 
mother, and at an early period of his life was 
under its power to such an extent that he be¬ 
came a confirmed invalid, with but little 
hope of recovery. 
One of our editorial staff who had himself 
been threatened with Bright’s disease, and 
was anxious to see a man who had been 
brought out of it, recently satisfied his curios¬ 
ity by a visit bo Mr. Edwards. On being in¬ 
troduced to that gentleman at his place of busi¬ 
ness. lie thought there must he some mistake 
in tbe person, so hearty and robust did Mr. 
Edwards appear. But Mr, Edwards assured 
him that he was indeed the man, aud gave 
the account of his experience much as follows: 
“Yes, I had Bright’s disease. My father 
and mother died of it; so did two of my broth¬ 
ers. It came on me slowly and gradually 
I passed much albumen, and many epithelial 
casts, which are the surest indications of the 
ravages of the disease. For three years I was 
so prostrated as to be unable to attend to 
business. I was utterly exhausted. Not 
only was I uuable to walk with comfort, but 
I could scarcely walk at all. I averaged 
hardly an hour’s sleep in twenty-four, and 
even that little was broken and unsatisfac¬ 
tory. Nearly all the time I suffered with 
severe neuralgic pain in my head, and rheu¬ 
matic paiu in my joints. My digestion was 
miserable. I was nervous and continually 
disturbed, At the St. George’s hotel, where 
I lived. I found it impossible to take my meals 
at the table, for my nerves were in such a 
state that the rattling of the knives and forks 
distressed mo and compelled me to leave the 
dining room. Tbe little I was able to eat was 
brought to my room. I could take a little 
meat, but no vegetables; and I cau assure 
you that eating was not a pleasure to me. 
“Did I take much medical treatment? Oh, 
yes, but I cannot say that it did me any 
apparent good, uuless, perhaps, iu case of the 
last physician who attended me. He 
brought me up to a condition in which there 
was something ia me for the Compound Oxy¬ 
gen to take hold of.” 
“Compound Oxygen? Did you try that; and 
what did it do for you?” 
“Yes, that was wbat brought me to where 
you see me now. It was this way: 1 was in a 
very exhausted condition, and my friend, Mr. 
Hagen, of Front street, who had been made a 
new man by it told me that lie thought there 
would be some chance for me if 1 would try 
Compound Oxygen. The prospect did not at 
first seem very encouraging, yet I thought I 
would make the trial. So prostrated was I 
that walking from the St. George hotel to 
Starkey & Palen’s office, which is not over half 
a mile, completely used me up, aud I had to 
rest for two hours after makiug the effort. 
This was my first attempt at going out. 
After this, when I went to the office for treat¬ 
ment, I took a cab, for the first few visits. 
But the necessity for the cab did not last a 
great while. The compound Oxygen did not 
begin to do its work suddenly, but what it did 
it did well, Iu about ten days the severe 
pains iu my head were greatly relieved, and be¬ 
fore mauy more days they were gone. Then 
I began to gain in strength. Gradually the 
rheumatic pains went away, my digestion im¬ 
proved, so that eating was not the torment 
it had been. I soon became aide to enjoy 
refreshing sleep, and this added to my com¬ 
fort and gave me new strength.” 
“For two months I took the Oxygen Treat¬ 
ment at Starkey & Palen’s office, daily gain¬ 
ing. When I first begun to take it L was so 
weak that I could not inhale for more than 
ten or fifteen seconds. By steady practice 
and with increasing streugth, 1 found myself 
able to inhale for nearly a minute at a time. 
I began in March, 1882, and I finished in May, 
By this time I was so well that 1 needed no 
more treatment.” 
“Have you ever had occasion to resort to the 
treatment again?” 
“Never but once. Then I thought I felt 
some indication of a return of my old trouble. 
The use of the Compound Oxygen for a very 
short time set me to rights. Now 1 am able 
to attend to business regularly and cheerfully. 
1 live iu the country and come to tosvn every 
day. I sleep souudly, take a good deal of ac¬ 
tive exercise, eat pretty much everything 1 
want and my digestion is good. What more 
can I ask for?” 
You are n firm believer iu Compound 
Oxygen, then, Mr. Fid wards?” 
“Most certainly and thoroughly. After 
what it has done for me I am free to speak 
well of it, aud to recommend it to others as a 
great vitalizor aud restorer.” 
Such a case as this one is suroly calculated 
to make people think. Thinking is good; act¬ 
ing is better. In such diseases as “Bright’s” 
there is no time to bo lost. If you have even 
the slightest indication of uu attack send to 
Drs. Starkey & Palen, 1101? Girard Street, 
Philadelphia, for treatise ou Compound Oxy¬ 
gen, and inform yourself thoroughly as to its 
^ nature and action, It will be mailed free.— Adv. 
