LANDOLOGY 65 



The great Wisconsin State Potato Show held at Marinette 

 recently was recognized as the largest show of its kind ever held 

 up to that time in this country. Buyers were present from all parts 

 of the country and paid prices considerably above market quota- 

 tions for potatoes raised in Upper Eastern Wisconsin. Marinette 

 County has an active County Potato Growers' Association which is 

 a branch of the state association. This county association is a 

 co-operative body which not only is of great value in bettering the 

 potato stock raised in the county, but is of great service to its 

 members in getting the highest market price for their potatoes. 

 The average production is considerably more than 125 bushels per 

 acre, and where skill in selection of seed, cultivation and care of the 

 crop is exercised, yields in excess of 200 and 300 bushels are very 

 common. The cost of production depends upon the yield and labor 

 saving devices used, but in ordinary cases is not more than the cost 

 of producing an acre of corn in Illinois or Iowa. The modern 

 potato grower in Marinette County handles his potato crop with 

 horses and machinery just the same as corn is produced in this and 

 other parts of the country. 



The most important fact in connection with this great crop is 

 that it does especially well on new lands. To the man developing 

 hew land the potato is second in importance only to the dairy. In 

 Marinette County the great bulk of the potato crop is grown by new 

 settlers on new lands developed within the past few years. Mari- 

 nette County's potato crop is practically as large as is grown in 

 the entire state of Florida. 



Potatoes can be planted here among the stumps, if desired, and 

 will produce enough in one season to pay for the clearing of the 

 land, and in many cases also the cost of the land. 



A man can buy eighty acres of good land at $2,000, clear and 

 plant twenty acres to potatoes and make enough on the crop in most 

 seasons to pay for the eighty acres the first year. 



There are from one to three commercial potato warehouses in 

 every farming town in the county, where the crop is purchased from 

 the farmer at market prices, and in many cases at higher sums 

 because of the quality of potatoes grown here. 



MODERN METHODS MAKE BIG MONEY. A man by the old 



fashioned method 



of using the hoe in raising potatoes, while his horses enjoy the 

 pasture, could raise about five acres of potatoes a season, which 

 are ordinarily worth about $700. A man with about $200 worth 

 of machinery, a team, and possibly a little extra help at times can 

 raise forty acres of potatoes worth about $4,000. A man with about 

 $4,000 worth of machinery and some extra help at times can raise 

 400 acres of potatoes, which, with a fair crop and a fair price would 

 be worth about $40,000. 



