CHAPTER LXVII. LEGUMES, ROOTS, AND VEGETABLES. BY JOHN WALKER, Author of "The Cow and Calf," "The Sheep and the Lamb," "Farming to Profit in Modern Times," "Cattle: Their Management in Dairy, Field, and Stall," "The Botfly of the Ox, Its Destruction," etc. THE above crops have been much over - looked of late, especially the two latter. The principal legumes of the farm consist of beans, peas and vetches. Growing peas for picking green is now becoming an extensive and profitable industry on land within touch of large towns. BEANS flourish on all kinds of soil excepting light gravels and the poorest loams. They are not as profitable as cereals, but it is essential that they be brought into the rotation to give change of cropping. They feed upon different ingredients in the soil and air to cereals; hence while a field is growing beans it is accumulating riches for crops of a different kind. The ancient Romans fully understood how important it was to give change of cropping, and Bentley's work of the present day well defines the necessity of a well-arranged rotation. Still we should not be tied to any hard and fast routine so long as change of plants be given. Beans ought only to be grown once in every second rotation. Thus soil becomes rich in such root food as this legume requires. Therefore variety of cropping saves manure to a certain extent, cuts off the food supply and exterminates creature pests in the soil and in the end gives heavy yields which alone pay in the present day. The ground should be dressed with farmyard dung before Christmas for beans, be ploughed, not too deeply, as soon as practicable after the manure is spread, and then lie for a month or so until in a fit state for drilling. Beans flourish much better when set in stale ground than when a field is newly ploughed. It is a common error not to give plants sufficient room to flourish. Rows should be arranged from twelve to fourteen inches apart and then two and a half bushels of prime seed per acre will suffice. The crop ripens soon after wheat, and should be cut with machines, tied into sheaves, stooked and carted in when the straw is quite dry and the pods are black. There are two species of farm beans, commonly called winter and spring kinds. The former are sown in autumn, and will withstand an ordinary winter, but the latter are not sown until February or March. The former have an advantage in not suffering to any great extent from the attacks of aphides which sometimes prove so destructive to spring beans. PEAS. Light gravels, all kinds of loams and chalky soils suit peas, but strong clayey soils, known so well as wheat and bean lands, are unkind for this pulse. They need free working soil, such as gives a mouldy seed bed, for the embryo rootlets only obtain sustenance from the finest particles of soil, and owing to the sparse provision of proper root food more failing crops of peas are seen than in any other grain crop. There are three distinct kinds of peas, and varieties of each kind. White peas may be picked green for market, and are esteemed for boiling for soups when harvested at maturity. Grey peas are heavy croppers, but are not so profitable as white kinds, as they neither answer for picking green nor for boiling when ripe. The third kind is a variegated brown, which comes to harvest very late, and is therefore adapted to grow with beans, as the latter give it support. Immense yields of beans and peas are grown by mixing the seed and a large bulk of straw, which proves useful for cattle food in winter. None of these pulse need so heavily manuring as beans. White kinds should be drilled early in February, about four bushels to the acre, and other kinds in March, at the rate of three-and-a-half bushels. Give a light harrowing to cover the seed, and after a few days roll lightly if the surface is quite dry. As soon as the plants are strong enough to allow of weeding give a thorough deep hoeing, for peas will not allow of going over a second time, as they begin to meet across the rows, or shake hands, as farmers term it. Within a few miles of large towns picking peas green pays well, as before observed, but where land lies far from a good market, crops pay better to harvest in the usual manner, as the expense of conveying green pods to market is too great. VEGETABLES.-A whole volume might well be given on the growth of vegetables, but I have only space here to touch briefly upon those which belong principally to farm rather than garden culture. BEET can be grown on all ground but clays. It is drilled in fine soil in March at the rate of five pounds per acre. It should be weeded and singled out in April or beginning of May. Sugar is largely obtained from the crop, and where mills are worked near the land good profits are made. It is also grown largely for marketing purposes as a vegetable, being a favourite and wholesome dish among all classes. CARROTS flourish on all deep rich soils. There are three kinds grown on the farm-the long reds, the white Belgian, and the yellow fleshed. All these are most valuable for stock, particularly for horses, dairy cows and calves. Sick horses will relish carrots before they can be induced to take any other food. They are the only roots that impart a rich yellow colour to butter in winter. For calves they prove the most healthful dietary that can be given in winter. I have found a good crop of carrots make half as much as the ground is worth that they grew upon. They should be sown in March, four pounds of seed to the acre, be carefully singled and weeded, and be raised before severe frost comes on in late autumn. PARSNIPS are grown in much the same way as carrots, and are a most nutritious and wholesome vegetable. There is generally good demand for best quality, either for human consumption or for animal food. In the Channel Islands, the highly-famed butter is attributable to cows being largely fed on parsnips. These roots are proof against frost, so they can be raised at leisure any time in early winter. POTATOES are grown in all parts of the country where soil is light or of a medium kind, and where land is in a high state of cultivation and fertility. They love best deep loam earth, the hollower the better. After trying all kinds, I find none to surpass Magnum Bonums. They are heavy yielders, and are in a great measure proof against disease, and always meet with brisk sale. It is true of late years prices for potatoes have been low, but even with low prices, abundant yields have rendered crops profitable. By bringing into use all mechanical inventions, cost of culture is not nearly so high as it was a few decades ago. Heavy moulding is advised, as the |