lb. and I do not care to
sell any. If next year's crop yields as well as this year's, we
shall have twenty times that quantity." Mr. Findlay has other seed
potatoes, just as high priced, for which he wants $125 per lb.,
which, he says, "means that I do not want to sell any."

This shows what progressive people think of the real value of good
seed.

It is worth mentioning that "The land on which these are grown is
not highly manured; the only artificial manure that it has received
is about 200 lb. of potash per acre. It has the drawback of being
rather stony."

Of course this is "a fad"; it is doubtful if it will pay any one to
give such prices for seed except to sell to some bigger fool than
himself. Of course, also, the market for a particular fancy thing
may soon be overstocked, but it seems to be a nice thing for the
Findlays meanwhile, and it does good in teaching people to
appreciate good things.

Yet the average potato patcher prudently saves his small potatoes
for next year's seed, which is just as if a breeder were to keep the
colts that were too poor to sell, to be the parents of his herd.

In the dark ages of farming--to wit, in 1881, for this is a true
story--a minister of the Gospel came into possession, by
inheritance, of a fifteen-acre farm a short way from Philadelphia.
He found the soil a reddish, somewhat gravelly clay, and so worn out
from years of cropping that it did not support two cows and a horse.
City born and bred, he was encumbered with no knowledge of
agriculture which had to be unlearned. He began a careful and
systematic study of the agricultural literature, and ultimately
developed a novel system of dairy farming to which he adhered
religiously.

The farm Iying near the city is high-priced land; for this reason,
and because of the limited acreage, the cows were kept in the barn
the year round. For six years his bill for veterinary services was
$1.50, while the income from the milk of his seventeen cows was
about $2400 a year. In addition, from four to six head of young
cattle were sold annually, netting about $500 a year. As the stock
on the farm was stall fed every particle of plant food contained in
the stable manure, liquid as well as solid, was utilized. No
fertilizer was ever purchased. Yet all of the "roughage" for thirty
head of stock was raised on the thirteen acres of available soil.
Only $625 a year was expended for concentrated feeding stuffs. The
net earnings of the fa