276 AGRICULTURE OF MAINE. 



soil 10 or 15 inches down, making them of much greater water 

 holding capacity than one would first suspect. They have one 

 advantage over Aroostook county in that corn can be grown 

 there, thus making dairying a profitable adjunct to potato rais- 

 ing as well as increasing the range of revenue producing crops. 



Apparently stable manure is the chief source of fertilization, 

 Ithough some commercial fertilizer is used in amounts vary- 

 ing from 150 to 400 pounds per acre. They plant rather late, 

 sometimes as late as the middle or last of June. The reported 

 yields run from 150 to 200 bushels per acre. Undoubtedly by 

 adopting Maine methods this could be increased largely. While 

 there are some exceptions, potatoes are planted in checks 3x3 

 feet and practically level culture is followed. Though some 

 wilt, leaf-roll and Rhizoctonia injury were observed, the Wis- 

 consin potatoes as far as seen were very healthy. 



Our observations in Minnesota were confined to the region 

 around Minneapolis and St. Paul and that section of the Red 

 River Valley near Morehead, or across the river from Fargo, 

 North Dakota. It would be unfair to make sweeping statements 

 based on such limited observations but, so far as I saw them, 

 conditions here were not up to my expectations. 



Large amounts of wilt and Rhizoctonia injury were observed 

 around St. Paul, and practically all the plants on certain of 

 the fields were characterized by Dr. Appel as having leaf-roll 

 or the beginning stages of it. In the single day &j>ent at More- 

 head, rain largely interfered with the inspection work, but so 

 far as could be seen wilt, and Rhizoctonia injury, particularly 

 the former, were very common. 



Several days were spent in Colorado, which was the next 

 state visited. Most of the potatoes that we saw in Colorado, 

 Utah and Idaho are raised under irrigation and the soil is 

 naturally fertile. As a rule the altitude is such as to produce 

 a relatively cool climate and the almost continuous sunlight 

 experienced during the growing season is favorable to starch 

 formation and growth. Drouth need not be feared, and the 

 equally disastrous results of excessive rainfall, followed by 

 late blight and rot. which is the case with us in Maine, are also 

 eliminated. 



On general principles one would say that conditions for 

 potato growing are ideal, but in Colorado we have one of the 



