20 POTATO DEVELOPMENT WORK IN WISCONSIN. 



of a fine tract of white pine and mixed hard wood timber. His 

 statement follows : 



"I have resided in Wisconsin for more than thirty-one years. 

 I located at Waupaca in 1882 coming direct from Denmark. 

 In the spring of 1900, I moved with a family of seven child- 

 ren to our present location at Seeley, which was at that time not 

 yet established. Here we moved into a one-room house with an 

 attic, a shed serving as a barn. We cleared and planted to crops 

 8 acres the first summer and 10 the second. We now have about 

 100 acres under cultivation. I plant as many potatoes as is con- 

 sistent with our method of crop rotation. This is a four year 

 rotation, exclusive of the breaking, planting first potatoes, then 

 grain and seeding, leave the ground seeded for two years, after 

 which I start the rotation over again. I have always avoided 

 planting potatoes twice in succession on the same piece of 

 ground. By way of cultivation, I like best to plow medium deep 

 in the spring, applying the manure ahead of the plow so that it 

 will be turned under as soon as possible after getting on the 

 ground. I follow the plow with the drag immediately, marking 

 and planting as soon as possible. I use the check row system 

 and hand planters and plant the seed 3 to 4 inches deep. Deeper 

 planting has not proven successful under the existing conditions 

 here. I use the one horse cultivators, setting them deep and wide 

 while plants are small, and gradually draw them in and culti- 

 vate shallower as plants get larger, and also hill slightly the last 

 cultivations. 



The seed I always select from my best matured fields, and use 

 considerable care in throwing out any scabby or otherwise af- 

 fected tubers. I cut potato seed in the field as needed for plant- 

 ing and use care not to expose any cut seed to the direct heat of 

 the sun. During the past 4 years my potatoes have averaged 200 

 bushels marketable stock per acre." 



Langlade County is fortunate in having a large number of 

 growers who have determined that the potato industry in that 

 county shall develop according to the highest commercial stand- 

 ards. Mr. Anton Follstad of Elcho has been one of the most 

 successful growers in the county. Mr. Follstad took first prize 

 at the 1913 convention on Rural New Yorker stock, and during 

 the present winter has furnished considerable seed for commu- 

 nity development work in the state. In a letter to the secretary 

 Mr. Follstad says, "I have always planted my potatoes in 



