182 
AMERICAN AGP,TCULTU R 1ST. 
[Mat, 
the drouth, and was not worth mowing last 
harvest. The large kind was injured some¬ 
what also, but we cut four acres of it for seed 
last fall, and had sixteen bushels of good seed, 
worth $10 per bushel. It stands the dry season 
apparently much better than the common clover. 
Clover and Timothy do better here, if the 
ground is thoroughly rolled immediately after 
sowing. Our subsoil is a stiff clay, holding wa¬ 
ter like a jug. I have been studying Draining 
for Profit, and am satisfied it would greatly ben¬ 
efit my farm to have it well drained, but the 
cost of tile is so great I cannot now make the 
trial. I do not know of a single tile factory 
west of the Mississippi. Limestone is plenti¬ 
ful ; wood is worth $2.50 to $4 per cord de¬ 
livered ; coal is worth $3 to $4 per ton, yet 
lime is worth 35 cents per bushel at the kiln. 
Here is a good chance for a few lime burners. 
Many of our farmers would use it could they 
get it at a reasonable rate.” 
- «_ - — ««- ----- 
Cabbages as a Field Crop. 
Farmers who keep cows for milk, and have 
tried cabbages, are pleased with the results. They 
furnish at a small cost a very large amount of 
fodder, at a time when the pastures fail. They 
are highly relished by cows, secure a large flow 
of milk, and if fed but once a day, immediately 
after the morning milking, they impart no un¬ 
pleasant taste to the milk. Either old ground 
or a fresh sod may be taken, and it should be 
manured very liberally. We have succeeded 
well by planting cabbages as a succession crop 
between rows of early potatoes, setting the 
plants the last of June or first of July, and 
digging the potatoes from the 4th to the 
20th of the latter month. In this case, super¬ 
phosphate of lime, bone-dust, or some concen¬ 
trated fertilizer should be applied as soon as the 
plants are fairly established. If no other crop is 
attempted, plow with a double Michigan plow, 
and manure thoroughly early in the season. 
Keep the weeds down with the harrow until 
June, and at any time, from June 1st to July 
15th, set out the plants, three feet apart, and 
two feet in the row. Six or seven thousand 
plants can be raised to the acre. The trans¬ 
planting and cultivating can all be done by 
boys, costing not more than one-half as much as 
the labor of men. If the cultivator be started 
soon enough after the transplanting, the hoe 
need not be used at all. A good deal depends 
upon getting the right varieties of cabbage and 
seed of the best quality. The Bergen Drum¬ 
head, Premium Flat Dutch, and Stone Mason 
are among the best varieties for field crops. 
Sow the seeds in well-worked, rich seed-beds 
three or four weeks before the plants are wanted. 
Root Crops for Feeding. 
We believe there is a steady increase in the 
cultivation of turnips, parsnips, beets, and car¬ 
rots, for feeding cattle. Intelligent men who 
have tried the experiment fairly are not content 
to go back again to feeding with hay and grain 
exclusively. There is a great craving among 
cattle for something succulent and juicy in the 
winter, that is best met by these roots. The 
animals thrive better, and other food goes further, 
for this change in the diet. We have no doubt 
that the cultivation of roots as field crops would 
extend much more rapidly if farmers knew 
how easily they could be raised. With suit¬ 
able implements nearly all the cultivation can 
be done by horse power. The only occasion 
for the hand hoe is in the first weeding and in 
thinning out the plants to make a good stand. 
Old ground is better than a fresh-turned sod, as 
the soil needs to be finely pulverized. We have 
always had the best results from deep plowing 
and subsoiling. Fine compost or concentrated 
fertilizers should be used, one half plowed in 
and the other half sown broadcast and harrow¬ 
ed in. It is a help to soak beet, carrot, and par¬ 
snip seed for a day or two before sowing. Then 
mix them with superphosphate of lime, and sow 
with a drill. The young plants make their ap¬ 
pearance before the weeds, arid the rows are so 
strongly marked that they can be hoed out with 
very little labor. The cultivator should be 
started between the rows as soon as the plants 
are visible. Very much labor is saved, and 
larger crops are realized by timely and frequent 
cultivation. Stir the ground between the rows 
every ten days until the plants get possession. 
Parsnips should be put in early in tiie spring. 
Carrots sown June 8th make a good crop in the 
latitude of New York, and Rutabagas and 
White French turnips may be delayed until July 
1st. It is easy to raise from GOO to 1000 bushels 
of roots to the acre at an expense of not more 
than 15 cents a bushel. Try an acre of roots. 
Truss Beams over Wide Barn Floors. 
In the February number, p. 52, we exhibited 
a plan for a truss bent for securing a wide barn 
floor. Air. Wm. Ashley, of Bloomfield, N. J., 
sends us drawings of trussed beams stiffened 
by iron rods in a way to give them great strength. 
His directions are: “ Take two sticks of timber 
of the length you want; on one of them nail 
Fig. 1. —TRUSS BEAM, 20 FEET LONG, 
strips three inches wide, and of the thickness of 
the rod to be used, as shown in fig. 1, and cut 
places in the strips for the rod to lie in. Get a 
rod of iron of suitable length and size, as ex¬ 
plained below, and have a thread and nut on 
Fig. 2. —TRUSS BEAM, 20 FEET LONG, IN SECTION. 
each end; put it between the timbers, and bolt 
them together as shown in fig. 2, the bolts pass¬ 
ing through the strips. Then cut off the cor¬ 
ners of the timbers at right angles to the rod, and 
put on strong iron plates with holes in their | ways, 
Fig 
3.— TRUSS BEAM, 30 FEET LONG. 
centers for the rod to pass through. Take a 
piece of iron of the same size as the rod aq^l as 
long as the thickness of the entire beam; place 
it under the center between the rod and the 
timbers, and screw up the nuts on the ends. 
Thus we have a perfect truss beam, which no 
iron rod, shown in fig. 3. For a 40-foot span, use 
3-inch plank, 12 inches wide, with 1-inch iron 
rod, shown in fig. 4. The bolts which the rods 
draw over must be of equal thickness to the rods. 
Field Beans. 
There is said to be more nourishment in beans 
for the money usually paid for them, than in 
any other article in the market. For the labor¬ 
ing man they are always wholesome and palat¬ 
able, good green and dry, good in soups and 
succotash, and indispensable baked in every 
Yankee family. The crop is popular in all parts 
of the country, but holds a secondary place, and, 
like buckwheat, is put off upon poor, neglected 
land, where no other crop will pay. We think 
it deserves good land and better treatment. 
There are three varieties of tiie field beans 
grown for our northern markets—Pea bean, 
Blue Pod, and White Marrow. The Blue Pod 
is also called Medium, from its size, and is th. 
common “whitebean” of New England am 
New York. The Pea bean is about half the 
size of the common white, and does not sell so 
well. The Marrow is about twice the size, is 
of much better quality, and sells higher. It 
requires the same treatment, and should always 
be planted, if the seed can be had. In a very 
wet season, or on very rich soil, the vine is more 
inclined to run, and the crop is not quite so 
sure. The White Kidney is a much better bean 
than the Marrow, and though commonly raised 
in the garden, is well adapted to field culture. 
It will not bear neglect so well, but with good 
treatment we have no doubt it would yield 
more bountifully, and pay better. It requires a 
little longer season, and is a good bearer. The 
bean is long and about 
twice the size of tiie Alar- 
row, and always sells 
higher. The soil best 
adapted to the bean is a good sandy or gravelly 
loam, in good heart. The application of fermen¬ 
ting manures is objectionable, as it makes tiie 
plant run too much to vines. For this reason 
it is better to plant beans upon old ground, well 
manured tiie previous 
year, than upon fresh sod. 
They follow corn or root 
crops very well. The old 
mode of cultivation in New England used 
to be as a “stolen crop,” between corn, planted 
at the second hoeing, or about the last half of 
June. The corn was planted in rows both 
and at the second hoeing, the beans were 
planted in rows, one way, 
a hill of beans to each hill 
of corn. The beans qjpre 
hoed with the corn at the 
md last hoeing, and the cost of culti- 
small. This practice also had 
convenient drying, as the 
after the stalks were 
Fig. 4.— TRUSS BEAM, 40 FEET LONG. 
ordinary weight will break, with all clear room 
above and below. Trussed beams over 20 feet 
long should have two bearings for the rod. The 
following dimensions may be stated. For a 14- 
foot span, use 1‘j.i-inch plank, 8 inches wide, 
with'| 2 -inch iron rod. Fora 20-foot span, use 
l 1 ] 2 -inch plank, 10 inches wide, with 3 [-inch iron 
rod, shown in figs. 1 and 2. For a 30-foot span, 
use 8-inch plank, 10 inches Wide, with ’[s-inch 
third 
ration was very 
the advantage of 
beans were pulled soon 
cut in September, and placed in bunches upon 
the hills of corn to cure. Of course the beans 
V were much shaded, the 
yield was small, and they 
made the corn crop smaller 
that it would otherwise have been. A better prac¬ 
tice is to give the beans afield by themselves, and 
let them have the full benefit of the soil and 
sunlight. After plowing as early in the season 
as the ground will allow, harrow thoroughly, 
every two weeks, to destroy weeds,-until the 
first of June, when the seed may be put in. 
The crop will mature if planted any time be¬ 
fore the first of July. We prefer planting in 
