The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1886-11-27

The roots are where the X is seen |
and the beans at the outer corners; the |
stake is in the center. This enables
tho beans to dry quickly and preserves
them from being soiled by the roots;
the stake keeps the stack erect II a
cap of straw or hay cap is thrown
over the top the stack win take no
harm and the beans will come out in
good order after considerable rain. /
But every effort should be- made to get
the beans off from the field as soon as
possible. - y - - ~
We have thrashed beans with an
ordinary two-horse-tread-pow ma
chine without breaking many of them.
and much more cheaply than by the
fail. Treading them out with horses
is manifestly an Objectionable method,
and not conducive to the good appetite
which dish of well-baked beans
should evoke. The machine is arranged
by taking out the concave and replacing
it with stout board raised somewhat;
if the beans are fed in slowly, and held
a little while as the pods go in, they
will be separated with little or no injury,
and can be cleaned from the chat with
ease in a common fan mill. The chat
is most excellent food for sheep, and
should be carefully stored for that pur-
pose.
Beans are an easy crop on the land
that is, they can be. grown on
moderately poor land and make fair
yield, as they can, too, be grown with
corn and potatoes. But we advise
every farmer to do every thing as well
as he can, and if ne is only raising
beans to do the best he knows how with
them. We have grown thirty-five
bushels per acre on good well manfred
land, and have had more than 1000
pounds of the most acceptable fodder
for the sheep. At the usual price for
good beans (S1.75 busheD they pay
better than wheat and can be grown at
half the cost of this grain.
When beans have been thrashed
thew should be stored in a dry, airy
place, and at first should be turned a
few times to prevent heating, which
they may do if not thoroughly dry. To
test the dryness of beans a peek by
measure should be weighed and spread
in dry warm place for week ana
then weighed and measured again. Il
they have lost tenth of thciI
weight those in the bin or barrels
should be turned out and well aired
on a dry day. New flour barrels are
the best packages for shipping
beans 20 market. In considering thu
fact that the ash of peas and beam
contains forty per cent. OF potash ant
nearly as much phosphoric acid. ant
that the straw is nearly as rich in pot
ash, and that the grain contains foul
per cent. of nitrogen and the straw
nearly half as much, it is one OF the
anomalies of plant growth that the.
should be able with their shallow roots
to extract all this nutriment from
soil that. is considered too poor for any
thing else, But so it is, and farmer
should not be misled into supposin!
', that a crop of beans does not leave tn
soil poorer than it was previously
The fact is otherwise. This crop sim
ply gathers up what is left in the sol
that other crops could not get, and
like the man whose purse and goo
/ name were both stolen from him, tn
Q soil is left poor indeed.
. Beans are a most nutritious food
4 They contain twenty-four per cent.
proteine in the shape OF legumine-
!. substance having the properties an
! very much the same composition a
: caseine and Of which very good chees
: can be made--and forty-five per CEN
: of carbonaceous matters, against ten .
!, protein and sixty -eight of carbonaceou
!, matters in corn. Hence, with corn
! nearly equal quantities, the mixtur
!, will make aperfectly balanced food an
Y therefore one that would be found a
= antidote to the fatal hog cholera whic
: prevails where corn is the sole porl
!. making food. When beans are groun
= with corn the meal is readily eaten B
! all animals and is especially valuab
:. for horses. When given to cows Il
y, = meal produces rich and abundant mil
= Hence discolored beans can be mo
. probably used for feeding and shou
:, not be sent to market to lower Il
" price Of good ones. IN r. Times,