THE POTATO 371 



"Most of our farmers grow potatoes in pref- 

 erence to any other crop, and the only reason 

 more are not grown is because the land is not in 

 just the right condition, and then again it is an 

 expensive crop to grow. 



"As to markets, we have Texas first. This is a 

 short haul and quick service; that is, the Texas 

 people can get * spuds' from Greeley quicker than 

 from any other section and the freight rates are 

 as low and some lower than in a great many of the 

 potato districts. Again, we have onions which 

 we are privileged to ship with potatoes, and the 

 smaller towns which would not use a car of 

 onions will buy the potatoes in order to get 

 twenty or thirty sacks of onions in the car with 

 their potatoes. 



"Different localities use a different style of po- 

 tato. For instance, Chicago wants a rather large, 

 long potato, while St. Louis wants a round, med- 

 ium size, and Kansas City demands the very 

 largest. Then, there are a few places that will 

 take them * mixed, and it all depends on the 

 strength of the market as to whether they will 

 take them at all. 



"As to yield, we have one section of the Greeley 

 district that last year averaged 200 bushels to the 

 acre, and another section not fifteen miles away 

 where the average was less than fifty bushels to 

 the acre. Altogether, the average last year was 

 100 bushels to the acre, and we had one year 

 when they averaged 250 bushels for the entire 

 district. 



"Rurals and Pearls are our standard varieties, 

 with 6 per cent, planted to Pearls, but Rurals are 

 gaining. It seems that some of our growers are 

 just learning how to grow Rurals." 



