172 POTATO CULTCJKE. 



Mr. S.'s seed was sprouted much. It had started only just a 

 little, probably owing to warm weather while on the way. 

 But for best results I want seed that has not started one 

 single eye. I want the first eye to start in the soil. I have 

 never yet got an uneven stand from planting such seed. 

 They will be slower coming up, of course, and may not be 

 best if you are after very early potatoes. 



MANURE VS. CLOVER. 



My next neighbor, A, D. Croy, one of our very best farm- 

 ers, had a field of potatoes right next to one of mine this 

 season. They were early potatoes, the same as mine, and 

 planted the same day. Both fields were originally cleared at 

 the same time, and belonged to one farm. They are very 

 similar in character of soil. Mr. Croy has kept a dairy all 

 these years that the writer has been farming with clover, 

 and has never had heavy crops of clover until recently. Last 

 fall and winter he drew manure on to his field, which was a 

 timothy sod with a little clover in it, giving it a heavy cover- 

 ing. My field had the clover roots and second-crop clover 

 plowed under. Now, the fact that he used a planter would 

 make some difference with the result ; but his soil was so 

 diy that about the only injury came from a less perfect 

 stand. Again, I have been growing potatoes for many years 

 in regular rotation on my land, while friend C. has grown 

 only two crops before on his. Now, the result was 549 bush- 

 els on a little over four acres of his land that was heavily 

 manured, and 912 bushels on 5^ acres on my clover land. 

 Mr. C. kept his seed in the pit, the same as mine, cut to one 

 eye, and in tillage it would be hard to do any better than he 

 did. There is no use in being modest about it. We just 

 simply "get there "by the use of clover. Yes, 912 bushels 

 th's dry year, and with present prices, is good enough. 



ARE WE HOLDING OUR OWN ? 



Let us compare the yields of this dry season with those of 

 1881, which was almost exactly a similar season with us 



