POTATO CULTURE. 153 



dried roots (about right for our crop) would be worth, on the 

 same basis, $65.60. I said the clover above ground would be 

 worth about three times as much as the timothy, as a fer- 

 tilizer; 2i tons timothy would be worth $13.70; 5 tons of 

 clover would be $41 . Do you see V 



Now, in the light of these figures do you want the $27.40 

 or the $65.60 V You can take your choice ; and, if you help 

 yourself all you can by choosing the $65.60, you can have 

 twice as much hay to feed, and hay worth about one-third 

 more per ton that is, on suitable land. In this chapter you 

 can find to a great extent the foundation (next to draining) 

 of our little success. I tell you in all seriousness, that this 

 is not theory. We have proven science to be right, or rather, 

 I may say, science has to a certain extent proven us right ; 

 for long before it was shown that clover could draw nitrogen 

 from the air, the writer, from his experience, insisted that 

 it must be so. Some eight years ago Prof. Henry said to me : 

 " I believe you are fight, but I can not prove it." Now it is 

 proven. We have taken a farm that was badly run down, 

 and made clover pump up and draw down a good many 

 thousand dollars for us. As yet it has found mineral matter 

 enough. Some time it may need to have that applied. 

 Prof. Roberts, of Cornell, said to me last winter: u You 

 have solved the nitrogen question." I think so ; and that is 

 the most serious, because most costly. In the East, mineral 

 matter, particularly potash, is needed now with the clover, 

 or, rather, to enable the clover to do its best. Now you may 

 see more clearly why we use our manure on the young 

 clover, the renovating crop, or the wisdom of so doing. 

 With that $65 worth, more or less, of fertility per acre, we 

 are all right ; don't you see V If the manure can help us to 

 get it, why, that is the way to use it. It makes the clover 

 stronger to pump up and draw down from a supply beyond 

 the reach of ordinary crops. 



Now you may see why fertilizers show no results on my 

 clover land. On an acre, the clover furnishes fertility equal 



