136 
Annual Be poet of the 
be true, but the Uni verity farm reports a larger yield than any in 
our vicinity. 
There is another point in favor of this wheat. If we have a 
favorable stand in the spring, we are reasonably sure of a crop. 
But few men would exchange it for twice the acreage of the 
spring varieties, while if it fails, we can still devote the ground to 
other crops. We do not necessarily lose, in addition to the seed 
and labor, a } T earis use of the land. 
A short rotation of crops, returning often to clover, I believe 
to be our most effectual method of dealing with the chinch-bugs. 
Clover belongs to a different class of plants from the cereals, and is 
so unlike them that its insect enemies will not be likely to be the 
same as theirs. The clover sod, too, presents conditions quite un¬ 
like those under which the bugs prosper best. We have with it, 
a compact surface, a dense shade, and the dews and rains are 
retained a long time by the foliage keeping the ground cool and 
moist. We can induce no h» althier conditions for our lands than 
to have them in pasture, and this presses upon us the importance 
of a diversified industry—diversified not only on a grand scale, af¬ 
fecting the industries of the state, but also diversified, as far as pos¬ 
sible, upon each individual farm. 
If we look clearly, we will find that in every community, even 
in the midst of general failures, there are instances of partial if not 
complete success. In common parlance it would be said that one 
man had better luck than another with some particular crops. I 
do not wish here to discuss the doctrine of luck, or the theory of 
probabilities, but, so far as my experience goes, the most of these 
cases of reputed luck can be resolved into the direct operation of 
cause and effect. This is so likely to be so, that all such cases of 
success are worthy of investigation, in order to find out whether 
they may not be underlaid by some law which will in all cases pro¬ 
duce like encouraging results. The fact is,—all our processes in 
farming are slow. It takes a year at the shortest to demonstrate 
a failure, and several of them to prove any given method a suc¬ 
cess. It is like a complex machine, a little wdieel out of order will 
entirely defeat its operation. In farming, a success at one point 
will often guarantee a success at another, while a failure will leave 
its traces behind for years. 
I sowed a piece of new rich land to wheat about the first of 
