POTATO SITUATION IN SCOTT COUNTY, lA. 267 



fungous and consequently the treatment is often ineffectual. In many 

 instances treated seed has produced clean potatoes but in many 

 instances due either to a lack of thorough work or to the presence of 

 the fungous spore in the ground the results have been disappointing 

 and the great bulk of the potatoes produced are more or less scabby. 

 This coupled with the small size due to dry weather of the past sea- 

 son and the lateness of ripening and watery texture of the tubers has 

 placed the Scott county potato in a bad position on the market, and 

 thousands of bushels of northern grown potatoes have been shipped in 

 and sold over the city of Davenport at prices ranging from 90 cents 

 to .$1.20 per bushel. Homegrown potatoes have sold as low as 32 and 

 3 3 cents in the market at Eldridge, Donahue, Dixon and Walcott while 

 in Davenport they have brought prices ranging from 50 cents to 75 

 cents per bushel. This has been the poorest potato year Scott county 

 has known for a long time and probably not one farmer in five has any 

 more than made expenses from his potato patch and in some cases en- 

 tire crop failures have occured. 



It would seem a pity since Iowa does not produce enough pota- 

 toes for home consumption to permit this industry to decline in those 

 districts and among those people where it seems especially fitted to 

 flourish but -this decline is certain unless the following changes in 

 culture and marketing of the crop are quite generally adopted. 



In the first place, men must learn to rotate the ground and not 

 produce potatoes on the same land over two years in succession. They 

 must use the ground in the production of some other crop for a period 

 of at least three years. Moreover the seed must be treated with form- 

 aldehyde each season. In this way only can the scab be controlled. 

 The Scott County Farm Development League has conducted some 

 experiments on the treating of scab during the past season at the state 

 orphans' home farm. Seed treated with formaldehyde and planted 

 on new ground which had not grown potatoes for several years yielded 

 103 bushel per acre and the resulting crop was especially free from 

 scab. Seed from the same lot treated with sulphur, planted on same 

 ground produced 89 bushels per acre and the resulting crop was com- 

 paratively free from scab. Seed from the same lot which was not 

 treated yielded 9 8 bushels to the acre and the resulting crop was 

 quite scabby. 



In the second place the farmers of Scott county must have a 

 better stand to start with. A poor stand in many cases cuts the yield 

 more than half. This past season in some cases farmers had ta 

 replant, due to rotting of the tubers in the ground but in most cases 

 the poor stand was due to the fact that the tubers are not planted 

 thickly enough. 



In a series of thickness of planting tests conducted by the League 

 at the orphans' home farm potatoes planted 6 inches apart jielded 

 141% bushels per acre; those planted 12 inches apart yielded 115 

 bushels per acre; and those planted 18 inches apart only yielded 83 ^/^ 



