156 POTATO CULTURE. 



can not afford to tramp the land. We have a permanent 

 pasture for cow and horses. We might (and do some years) 

 save the seed from the second-crop clover, putting the haulm 

 back to plow under. At present prices it might pay. At 

 $4.00 or $5.00 a bushel it did not. It was worth more to have 

 the shade of the clover on the surface, and some to plow 

 under on every square foot of surface, for a crop that brought 

 me as much money as potatoes do, than it was to save for 

 seed. We could never spread the haulm back evenly over all 

 the land it grew on. And then the clover would die and stop 

 its food-gathering at least a month sooner. This is for pota- 

 toes, you remember, with a crop worth from $80 to $120 or 

 more per acre. I could afford to feed them well. It does 

 not follow at all, that one could afford to sacrifice the seed 

 for corn, that brings much less per acre. 



Now, this is the way we have been farming for some time. 

 What we have done has paid. We have had a good income, 

 and were not overworked. There has been enough to do 

 during the eight months from April 1st to December 1st, and 

 still not so much that we could not attend to our fruit-garden 

 and lawn and flowers, and have a reasonable amount of 

 time yes, quite a little of it for recreation. Myself and 

 one good man could do most of this, if I should work as hard 

 as I once did. But I do not pitch right in now, except at 

 times ; and my son, and a man for about seven months, do 

 the most of the work. We have to hurry rather more than I 

 like, to get potatoes off, ground -fitted, and wheat in on time. 

 However, if the weather is good we can do it. We have done 

 it with medium late potatoes, but intend to keep to moder- 

 ately early ones after this. There is no better preparation 

 for wheat than working the land all summer in potatoes, 

 unless the fall is very dry. In effect, we plow in the spring 

 for wheat, and work it all summer (the old summer fallow), 

 incidentally growing a crop of potatoes meanwhile a profit- 

 able way of summer fallowing, and just about as good for the 

 wheat. The potatoes draw largely on the potash in the soil, 



