382 GARDEN FARMING 



The association, by purchasing consumable supplies in quantity, 

 can secure satisfactory prices and insure quick delivery and uni- 

 formity in quality and style of packages. 



The price of potatoes varies from year to year, depending upon 

 the amount and quality of the old crop held over and the skill of 

 the grower in getting his product into the early market. Early pota- 

 toes of good size and appearance usually command a very satisfac- 

 tory price, sometimes as much as $5.00 or $6.00 a barrel, but 

 the average price ranges from $1.50 to $3.00 a barrel. 



POTATOES UNDER IRRIGATION 



An extensive industry, based on the cultivation of potatoes under 

 irrigation, has developed in several localities in the Great Plains 

 and Pacific coast regions, where the precipitation is too small to 

 permit agricultural operations to be conducted without irrigation. 

 There is a great diversity of soil and contour of the land in 

 these areas. 



Preparing the soil. The preparation of the soil for potatoes to 

 be grown under irrigation is, without doubt, the most important 

 part of the cultivation of the crop. New lands produce a high 

 grade of potatoes, but of somewhat smaller yields than lands which 

 have been cropped with alfalfa or other legumes for a series of 

 years. The plowing of the land should be deep and thorough, for, 

 under the extensive plan of growing potatoes, it is necessary to 

 have the soil in a fine state of tilth so that the work of plant- 

 ing, cultivating, irrigating, and harvesting, which is all done by 

 machinery, may be carried on with the least possible difficulty. 



The rotation of crops in the irrigated regions is of as great im- 

 portance as in the humid regions. The practice of growing pota- 

 toes after potatoes is not a good one and leads to soil troubles as 

 well as to diseases in the crop. The common rotation practiced in 

 the irrigated region is to plant potatoes on soil on which alfalfa 

 has been grown for two or three years. Potatoes follow the alfalfa 

 one or two years, and the rotation is completed by planting the 

 land to small grains for two years. In some localities, where nitri- 

 fication takes place and alfalfa is used in the rotation, the lands 

 gradually become too rich in nitrogen. This leads to difficulties 



