POTATO CULTURE. 203 



then paying me a visit from his far-away home in Tempe, 

 Arizona, declared something as follows : 



" Why, brother Ame, I believe I am more interested in 

 looking at the blackberries than I shall be with the potatoes. 

 Perhaps you had better go on, and leave me here for a little 

 while." 



I accordingly did so. Of course, I enjoyed the black- 

 berries (in two ways); but when I got to where I could see 

 around the rank growth of canes, I did indeed enjoy a 

 glimpse of that potato -field. The hundred bushels of seed 

 had been spread over about nine acres, and it was a great 

 deal like friend Terry's clover. There were no bad spots, 

 and very few extra good spots. The foliage was rank and 

 green, and the cultivators were just stirring the soft tine 

 soil in a way that ought to make any one who loves farming 

 feel happy. There were a few weeds scattered here and 

 there ; but my friend said the cultivators would destroy the 

 greater part of them. Said I : 



"Why, look here, Wilbur, where, are the bugs? What 

 have you done to get rid of them V" 



" I haven't done any thing." 



" But haven't you had any bugs at all V has your potato- 

 patch looked just like this all through this season, when 

 everybody else has been having such a terrible time with the 

 old-fashioned kind and the new-fashioned kind too V" 



" No, we did not have any ; and, what is more, I did not 

 expect to have any." 



May be you think this pretty cool, dear reader; but I tell 

 you, a farmer who has studied into the matter, and has be- 

 come acquainted with nature and nature's laws, can often 

 predict a successful crop in just this way. I did not have 

 time to get at the full particulars ; but I think his success 

 in evading bugs is, first, by planting late ; then by having 

 soil and every thing else in such shape that he can get such a 

 rank growth that the bugs do not relish them or make much 

 headway in their work of destruction. He has visited friend 

 Terry, and they have compared notes, and talked matters 

 over. Now, a great truth comes in right here, and one 

 which, I am sure, friend Terry will fully indorse. It is this : 

 Mr. Fenn, as he is situated, and as he has been working, does 

 not deem it best to follow Terry exactly. In the first place, 

 he does not put in wheat after his potatoes ; therefore he 

 plants them late just as late as he can and avoid frost ; and 

 so with other things. But a visit to friend Terry 's stimu- 

 lates him to more energy and harder study in the line he is 



