TWELFTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART X 483 



In winter, the eggs will keep for two or three weeks after being re- 

 moved from the preservative. 



Eggs should not be washed before putting in preservative, as this re- 

 moves part of the natural covering and will allow more evaporation 

 frcm the eggs. All vessels should be thoroughly cleaned and scalded 

 before being used. The secret of success in preserving is to use abso- 

 lutely fresh eggs. 



PROFITABLE POTATO FARMING IN IOWA— HOW ONE YOUNG MAN 



BECAME A SPECIALIST IN POTATO FARMING AND 



THE METHODS WHICH HE EMPLOYS IN 



HIS OPERATIONS. 



(The Homestead.) 



Making the most of discouraging conditions was the means of opening 

 up to an Iowa farmer boy a field of operations that is leading him to un- 

 usual success. On his father's farm in Story county half a dozen years 

 ago, C. A. Steward had a field of corn that was destroyed by cutworms. 

 Chance led him to put in a crop of potatoes so that there might not be 

 an absolute less. It goes without saying that, although the young man 

 had received no special preparation on potato growing, he did possess a 

 particular adaptation to it, and a capacity to absorb knowledge of it 

 from all available sources. 



To a representative of this paper the young man recently reviewed 

 seme of the more important points of the department of farming in which 

 he now finds himself a specialist, and they are here given as being of 

 general interest. As in other crops, the preparation of the soil is made 

 the operation of first importance. This is done as early in April as condi- 

 tions will permit. On the theory that the quantity of mo-sture necessary 

 to the production of a crop of tubers can only be relied upon by careful 

 conservation of the entire available supply, the fii'st step toward the 

 attainment of that object is taken at plowing time. A reservoir is pro- 

 vided by plowing very deep. The ordinary plow having failed to reach a 

 sufficient depth, Mr. Steward employs, for this purpose, a deep-tillage 

 disk plow. This plow cuts sixteen inches and can be gaged to even 

 eighteen inches deep. On this farm the average depth of plowing is 

 twelve inches. It requires four horses, and one acre is considered a fair 

 day's work. If ground has been plowed in the fall, it is gone over with 

 a double disk in the spring until a regular garden seed bed has been 

 obtained. Potatoes will not grow in hard ground. Deeply-plowed ground 

 invariably produces better crops than that plowed shallow. It grows 

 stronger vines, stores more moisture, and produces more favorable con- 

 ditions generally. 



The Acme or Early Ohio variety is grown exclusively, in the belief 

 that better results may be obtained than where several varieties are 

 raised. Planting is begun about the middle of May. or as soon as the 

 ground is properly prepared. The aim is to have all planting finished 

 not later than June first. Seed is cut by a cutter and the planting is 



