100 THE MONTHLY BULLETIN. 



COUNTY COMMISSIONERS' DEPARTMENT. 

 EL DORADO COUNTY POTATOES. 



By J. E. Hassler, County Horticultural Commissioner. Placerville. 



A year ago a number of small ranchers experimented as to what 

 could be accomplished in a profitable way by the use of certain com- 

 mercial fertilizers at a rate per acre that would still leave a good profit 

 after deducting first cost of seed, plowing, planting, cultivating, irri- 

 gating, cost of water and labor of digging. 



It has evidently worked out on a paying basis, as the increased 

 plantings this year would seem to prove conclusively. These small 

 growers are not out a cent for hired labor up to digging time, as they 

 do all their own work. I know one grower in particular who has a 

 fine crop of five acres who has done all the work so far with the help 

 of his little boy. 



The cost of the commercial fertilizers used by parties east of Camino 

 will average about $55 per acre, while others up Fruit Ridge have used 

 a great deal less. It will be very interesting to note the difference in 

 yield at digging time of these differently fertilized fields. "We have 

 inspected -most of these plantings under the certified seed potato law. 



The growing of potatoes up in this section now seems to be a sound 

 and profitable financial fact, and no get-rich-qnick scheme enters into 

 the calculations of these small growers. 



As profits and experience increase and success attends these ventures 

 we may look for a large potato growing district in the very near future. 

 Potato growing here on these lines is in its infancy, and all that is 

 needed now to give it a huge boost is the answer to the question : Will 

 it pay? and this I am sure will be answered emphatically with a yes. 



There are probably not less than a thousand or twelve hundred acres 

 in this section preeminently adapted to successful potato culture. The 

 constant and increasing demand for and consumption of potatoes 

 would apparently make the growing of this vegetable in localities where 

 they grow to such perfection as they do in this soil a proposition that 

 would more nearly meet the requirements of the man of small means 

 and would also give quicker and surer returns at a comparatively small 

 cash outlay than fruit growing. 



If the growing of potatoes up here will ever assume the proportions, 

 value and importance this crop is surely entitled to, we must stand- 

 ardize our shipments. This growing of the potato for commercial pur- 

 poses is a matter that should be boosted and helped in every possible 

 way, so that in a few years we should be able to ship out as many ear- 

 loads of potatoes as we now do of fresh fruit. 



I am honestly convinced we can not agitate too much in favor of a 

 movement in this direction. I have learned from my own observations 

 that there is nothing in the county today that offers a more promising 

 or profitable investment than the growing of potatoes. 



I want it distinctly understood, however, that when I speak of potato 

 soil I mean the so-called volcanic ash. Other varieties of soil would 

 probably require different formulas of fertilizers in order to get good 



