POTATO CULTURE. 167 



moisture, and shallow culture prevents injury to roots, all of 

 which tends to increase the yield, and decidedly too. Good 

 sound unsprouted seed, you will remember, once gave me 

 $83 an a*cre more than sprouted seed. With our bushel boxes 

 and wagons we can handle the crop for about half what we 

 used to. Thus we have reduced the cost of production, you 

 see. So I might go on for many pages ; but, enough. You 

 see the point, and it is the most sincere hope of the writer 

 that you may get hints and be set to thinking by what you 

 have read in these pages, and that the ultimate result may 

 be large fine crops, produced at a minimum cost. Then will 

 you be prosperous. I feel that, perhaps, I have made it 

 appear that prosperity will come very easily. This is not 

 often the case. It took many years of hard work to get our 

 little farm fixed to suit us ; in fact, it isn't quite right yet. 

 It is a long hard struggle to double the productiveness of a 

 run-down farm, and arrange to do every thing cheaply and 

 as well as you can study out how. Success will come ; but 

 it is faithful, persistent, long continued, never-tiring, well- 

 directed work that brings it. 



Of course, there are localities distant from market where 

 one can not make the profits I have figured. In some places 

 potatoes seldom bring, in a good season, more than 25 cents 

 a bushel. With 250 bushels per acre, and cheap clover fer- 

 tilizing, one might even then make nearly 100 per cent net 

 profit, if near a railroad station. If the price is too low, he 

 had better raise something more concentrated to sell, like 

 butter, so the freight will eat up less of the gross receipts. 

 Butter is the best article to sell, because a ton of it con- 

 tains but 48 cents' worth of fertility. Potatoes stand high 

 also, removing only $2.02 worth in a ton, at market prices, 

 while wheat takes $7.09, and timothy hay $5.48. It is a 

 great point in favor of potato-growing, that it takes so little 

 out of the soil, comparatively, except water. For example, 

 you sell 100 bushels of potatoes at present price here, 75 cts., 

 and you get $75.00, and remove from your farm but $6.06 



