The Potatoe Plague. 99 



is not promoted? and how can it be accomplished without 

 good seed ? Cultivators have practised as though that was 

 a matter of no importance, a'nd yet, it would seem, every 

 year's experience would teach them better ; for, do they not 

 see, every season, how much quicker sales and better prices 

 farmers receive for good products than for those which are 

 inferior ? and yet they say, it is their neighbors' luck, when 

 it is clearly the result of judicious foresight. 



A false economy prevails on this subject. Many farmers 

 look for seeds of the lowest price. This is wrong. The best 

 and purest seeds are always the cheapest, and in exercising a 

 proper economy, they ought to select seeds that are known to 

 be pure, healtby and strong, without regard to the price, pro- 

 vided it is within reasonable limits. 



There is a great advantage in pursuing the right course in 

 regard to this matter. An increased product of one half bushel 

 on an acre in the average yield of corn, wheat, rye, oats, barley, 

 <fec., will make in the aggregate a vast amount ; and yet by using 

 seeds that, are carefully selected for their purity, healthiness 

 and strength, how much more than an average increase of 

 one half bushel per acre can be realized? In some cases 

 from one to ten bushels, and even a greater increase can be 

 obtained by attending to the selection of seeds. 



It will be found on inquiry that those farmers who are the 

 most successful in producing large crops, spare neither time, 

 labor nor expense, in selecting their seed. Difference of soil, 

 situation, manures, and previous condition of the land, are to 

 be considered ; but it will appear that the quality of seed 

 sown has influenced the quantity of the crop as much, if not 

 more, than any other circumstance. 



But it is not the increased quantity of a crop that is the 

 only advantage gained in using selected seed. Another ad- 

 vantage is, the superior quality of the crop, and this alone, 

 allowing that the average yield was the same in using good 



