Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1874-12-16
Beans as n Field Crop.

There is but little difference in the
ways of cu'5ivating beans and corn, only
that it is necessary, in the former, to
observe greater care to avoid covering
the plant To that end, if an ordinary
corn cultivation is used, the outer teeth
should be SO made as to throw the dirt
from instead of towards the plants.
This is especially important in cultivat-
ing after the beans are formed, for if
the ends of the pods are covered it will
cause them to rot and affect the quality
of the crop. Where bean-raising is ex-
tensively followed, they use bean Gull
tivator with numerous teeth, the size of
harrow teeth, curved forward and fiat
tened at the point.
The beans should be cultivated three
or four times in the course of the sea-
son. or as often as may be necessary to
clean out the weeds and mellow the sur
face enough to cause good growth of
plants and beans. If thecultivator fails
in completely cleaning the beans, the
hoe should be resorted to, or even hand
pulling of the weeds, if necessary.
Falling and curing is the most difficult
and hazardous part of bean raising, so
easy is it for beans in the pod to become
colored by wet weather just as they are
ripening. We once had crop of mar
rows just about ready to pull, when
there came on week of drizzling rain
that completely spoiled the crop, SO
that it would not pay for harvesting and
asserting.
When the pods have turned yellow,
we commence pulling. We prefer to
pull the third row first, and then pull
two on either side, and place on it, so
that we have five rows in one. We
seize the stalks close to the ground,
with our right hand grasping an entire
hill at once, if it is not too large, pull
it up, passing it to our left hand, and
carrying it along until we have hand
full. We then stand it top downwards,
the leaves coming in contact with the
ground, and keeping the beans from the
earth.
If the weather is dry, they will cure
in few days without turning, but
should it rain after the pods have dried
of, the branches should be laid down,
so that the top ends may be towards the
sun, or the prevailing winds, and if
after day or two they should not be
sufficiently dry to go in, they should be
turned over on the other side, so that
the under side may be exposed to wind
Or sun. 1t is sometimes necessary, in a
showery time, to turn the beans several
times, before they will be dry enough
to draw, and that diminishes the profits.
When completely dry, no time should
be lost in drawing. The wagon should
be driven between two rows, and pitcher
on either side throw them on, either
with four-tined forks, with long handles,
or barley forks. @ .1- --,)
IF there is scaffold room sufficient to
store them, we should prefer it as it
would give circulation of air beneath,
but if not they may be moved in the
bay with safety, provided they are not
trodden down Even the beans com :
pacted under the feet of the mower
should be loosened up with fork.
The threshing may be done with fails,
or, in sections where a great many
beans are grown, machines, with thresh-
ers SO arranged as not to break or split
the beans, are manufactured.
AS to the yield per acre, it is very vari-
able, depending upon the soil, variety,
and season. and ranging from fifteen to
thirty bushels to the acre. We suppose
that most growers are tolerably well
satisfied if they get from twenty to
twenty five bushels per acre. -Aners-
can Rural Home.