What We Have Done. 41 



fed the potatoes, and we saved some injury from cut worms, etc., 

 that we then had on a two-year-old sod. The manuring and cul- 

 tivation of potato ground would bring a good crop of wheat the 

 sixth year. All this has been greatly improved on, as you will 

 find in chapters on Potato Culture elsewhere. My first crop of 

 wheat yielded only twenty-three bushels per acre, but the next 

 was much larger, as we came to know more about the business, 

 and, by the way, we .have never grown a smaller crop than that 

 first one in all these years. 



Of course, as we increased the number of acres of potatoes 

 planted, we did less at cattle-feeding, until one-third of our cul- 

 tivated land was in potatoes each year, and one-third in wheat, and 

 the same amount in timothy and clover or clear clover. When 

 that point was at last reached, we had arrived at the condition of 

 affairs we had long been aiming for ; and, friends, the actual cash 

 returns surpassed the wildest figures I had ever put on paper. 

 At first, of course, we did not do the best that could be done. I 

 will give you the exact figures for two years after we got well 

 under way. They are taken from our Ohio Agricultural Report for 

 1882 and 1883, and are for the years 1881 and 1882. The State 

 Board offered a prize of $50 for ' ' The best accepted detailed re- 

 port of the best and most profitably managed farm of 50 acres or 

 more." We sent in a report of our farming and got the $50. 

 These figures are from that Report, and are correct to a dollar, 

 and actual cash sales, except where noted afterwards. 



iSSi. 

 LOT i, 6 acres ; Crop, Early Potatoes, 531 bushels, sold for .... $471.00 



LOTS 2 and 3, 5^ and 6 acres; Crop, Hay, 45 tons, two cuttings, 



sold, fed ovit on place, for $8 per ton 360.00 



LOT 4, 6 acres ; 5^ acres Potatoes, 869 bushels ; l / 2 acre Squashes, 



sold for $80 967.00 



LOTS 5 and 6, 6 and 5% acres ; Wheat, 38 bushels per acre, sold for 



$1.50 per bushel, and Straw $92 747-oo 



Total receipts from 35 acres $2,545.00 



1882. 



LOTS i and 6 ; Crop, Wheat ; 35 bushels per acre, sold for $1.15 ; 



7 tons Rowen at $8, and Straw $587.00 



LOTS 3 and 5 ; Crop, Hay, 30 tons at $8 per ton ; 6 acres Clover Seed 



and Straw, $90 ' 330.00 



LOT 2 ; 5 acres Potatoes, 950 bushels, sold for $424 ; *4 acre 



Squashes, for $120 544.00 



LOT 4 ; Potatoes, 1,180 bushels, sold for 571.00 



Total receipts from 35 acres $2,032.00 



1 88 1 was a very dry season, you will remember, when pota- 

 toes were generally a failure in Ohio and wheat was pretty poor. 



