POTATO CULTURE. 159 



the crops named suffer. Oh, yes ! that reminds me that I 

 promised to tell you about getting rid of the ravages of the 

 white grub, or how not to have them. This short rotation, 

 one year in a crop, is a part of the plan. The rest is, to have 

 such heavy crops of clover, so thick, and shading the ground 

 so thoroughly, that the May-beetle that lays the eggs will not 

 be fool enough to deposit them in such a cold dark place, 

 where they would never hatch, but will fly away to some 

 thinner sod somewhere else. She will lay some eggs in thin 

 wheat, I find, or perhaps in good wheat, but not to any great 

 extent. When we find a few grub-eaten potatoes, it is, as a 

 rule, if not always, where there was a thinnish spot in the 

 clover. A little more manure on such spots, where clover is 

 young, is the best remedy. You know I told you that nature 

 is down on the underling. It is no use to spend time growl- 

 ing about this. You can't change the law. Don't have any 

 thin clover, and then practically no grubs and more dollars ; 

 for, just as sure is the other law, that "unto him that hath, 

 shall be given." 



Of course, in both rotations, the ground is not plowed for 

 the wheat, but made mellow and fine on the surface, with 

 cutaway, Thomas, and roller. This is all right except in a 

 very dry fall, when potato-stubble is almost too dry for wheat 

 to do well. Old readers will notice that the rotations given 

 in this edition are quite different from those of the original 

 book. They are decidedly better, rest assured. I was about 

 to change at that time, and was quite certain that it was for 

 the better ; but I thought best to try it before telling of it. 

 Potatoes two years in succession, or clover, is not a wise 

 plan. The great gain in my present rotation is in giving 

 clover a better chance to help me, and turning its gathered 

 store of fertility into more money. Again, I use timothy 

 less. Indeed, for some years I haven't sown any until this 

 spring. Clover must have a good chance. I want that 

 $65.00 an acre, or near it, not $27.00. I sowed a little timo- 

 thy this spring when I did rny clover, about March 1. The 



