Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1901-09-20

EDS. COUNTRY GENTLEMAN = Many
beans are raised in this locality, and the
acreage has increased gradually for three
wears. 1t is mootad question whether
they are exhaustive to the land and we
should like YOUR opinion. After harvest
ing the beans the ground is usually put
into winter crop of rye or wheat. we
do not pillow the ground-simplv harrow
it thoroughly for the winter crop. Within
the last two or three years this has be-
come the rule here. Before then invari-
ably the ground was plowed. We find,
however, the winter crop does much bet
ter on ground not plowed. Experiments
in the same field have proved this. Not
blowing the ground was at first consid-
cred rather shabby farming. but it proves
to raise better crops and saves labor.
Yates Co, y. Y. II. c. HARPENDING.
Beans are not necessarily an exhaustive
crop upon the soil. One thousand
pounds of bean straw will remove from
the land about the following quantities
of plant food Nitrogen, 10 pounds;
phosphorc acid, pounds; potash, is
pounds. One thousand pounds of beans
will remove the following amounts of
plant food: Nitrogen, 10 pounds; phos-
phoric acid, y pounds; potash, II
pounds. If the bean straw is used for
feeding purposes or is returned to the
land as manure. the only plant food re-
moved from the soil is that taken away
by the beans themselves. 1t has come
to be the recognized practice of bean
growers in western New York to follow
beans with wheat or rye without plow
ing the land. This practice can be
oIn Tod x..hn I,a hax l-a,,
thoroughly free from weeds and grass,
but if the bean field has been neglected
and allowed to become overgrown with
trash, it becomes almost a necessity to
pillow the land before seeding with wheat.
Those who understand the principles
of wheat culture know that wheat does
best on land in which the sub-surface soil
has been compacted and that they have
best success where the land has been
plowed some little time before drilling in
the wheat. The farmers throughout the
middle West who follow corn with wheat
have adopted the practice of simply har-
rowing the land after the corn and then
drilling in their wheat. Better results
are secured than by blowing the land
after the corn. This, of course, takes
for granted that the land has been kept
fairly free from weeds and grass.
We know of one man who this year
plowed Immediately after removing the
oat crop and drilled in buckwheat. The
buckwheat is to be plowed under directly
before drilling in wheat. This man will
certainly be disappointed as to the re-
suits; for the blowing of the land, and
the turning under of the buckwheat just
before drilling in the wheat, will not
prove satisfactory. The land should
have been plowed directly after remov-
ing the oats and then should have been
given frequent tillage with the harrow
or cultvator until time for wheat seed
ing. The old practice of allowing the
land to lie idle during the entire summer
or "summer following" as 1t was called,
is very largely thing Of the past, for 1t
has been found that we can now remove
crop, pillow the land, and secure as
good crop of wheat as we would secure
by leaving the land idle during the entire
summer.
The manure which has accumulated
around the barn cannot be used to better
advantage than as top dressing for the
as top dressing after the land is plowed
than applied before blowing. The prin-
ciple which underlies the practice is that
the soluble plant food on which the
wheat Is to feed in the fall should be
ar the surface of the ground. This
Il cause the wheat roots to grow near
the surface, so that when heaving Of the
ground takes place, as it salmost ALWAYS
does In the early spring, the wheat plants
will rise and fall and the roots will not
be broken of.
In the spring the roots will go deeply
into the soil for their plant food, because
they have removed from near the surface
the plant food which was most soluble.
Thus 1t will be seen why In following
beans with wheat it is best not to pillow
the ground, because without blowing we