526 



POTATO 



POTATO 



per acre. Spraying began July 2 and was com- 

 pleted September 10. The area required about one 

 ton of sulfate of copper in crystals, and fifteen 

 barrels of stone lime. The formula is six pounds 

 of sulfate, six pounds of lime, fifty gallons of water; 

 also two pounds of Paris green per acre are added. 

 Each application is made in opposite directions, 

 two such sprayings being called a double application. 

 From the time the vines cover the ground, at the 

 beginning of each double application all nozzles are 

 directed to the right, then into the centers twice 

 over and then to the left twice over. This plan 

 requires three double applications, and the spray is 

 directed against the plant from six different posi- 

 tions and angles ; at the completion of the sixth 

 spraying, every part of the plant is copper-plated. 

 The last week in September or the first week in 

 October, while vines are still green, harvesting is 



Potato tops are all raked and burned immediately 

 to destroy disease. The ground is worked about 

 twice with the spring-tooth harrow and sown di- 

 rectly to wheat, after applying about 400 pounds of 



Fig. 757. Four-row potato sprayer. 



begun. A four-horse elevator digger is used. In 1906, 

 . the crop on eighteen acres was dug and picked up in 

 six and one-half actual days, the total crop being 

 7,510 bushels, or 417 bushels to the acre. (Fourteen 

 years previous, when Mr. Martin took the farm, the 

 average yield was sixty bushels per acre. A good 

 part of the above crop wa3 hauled directly to the 

 station and sold at foity cents ; 136 bushels only 

 were sold as low as thiity-eight cents). The heav- 

 iest day's work in the harvesting in 1906 was as 

 follows : Twenty-one helpers, little and big ; three 

 and three-fourths acres dug and picked up ; three 

 two-horse rigs drew seventeen loads , to cars one 

 mile distant, comprising 1,011 crates ; digging 

 teams drew 283 crates on 

 trucks to the barn ; at six 

 o'clock there were left on 

 wagons and in the field 207 

 crates ; total 1,501 crates. 

 A break-down in the digger 

 caused delay of one hour 

 and loss in handling of 200 

 bushels. 



Fig. 758, Potato digger; low elevator 



Fig. 759. Potato digger; high elevator type. 



home-mixed fertilizer. Eight quarts of choice tim- 

 othy seed is drilled to the acre at this time. The 

 following spring, clover or alfalfa, or both, is 

 added. 



In such high-class potato-growing as this, special 

 attention must be given to the stock seed. A "seed 

 piece" of two acres is grown according to the very 

 best approved methods. This area is planted with 

 the choicest large tubers, and all inferior plants 

 are eradicated as rapidly as their deficiencies become 

 known. Very promising hills are saved for stock 

 seed the following year. This "seed piece" or field 

 supplies the tubers for raising the main potato 

 crops, 



European experience. 



The potato crop assumes great importance in 

 Europe, partly because the corn plant is not suc- 

 cessful, and the po- 

 tato is the cheap 

 starch-producing 

 plant. It is the stand- 

 ard crop for starch 

 and alcohol factories, 

 is the staple food of 

 the poor, and is much 

 fed to stock. The 

 aim, as compared 

 with American po- 

 tato - growers (and 



reported for this article by L. R. Jones), is for a 

 product adapted to one or another special purpose, 

 and for a large yield quite irrespective of the seed 

 or labor invested. Careful attention is paid to the 

 seed, which is generally secured from more north- 

 erly countries. The crop from the 

 best northern-grown seed is con- 

 sidered more disease-resistant and 

 more productive. The origination 

 of new varieties has been espe- 

 cially stimulated during the last 

 two decades in Great Britain and 

 Germany, in order to meet the 

 more specialized demands. Seed- 

 balls are more abundant, owing 

 probably to climatic conditions, 

 and hence less difficulty is expe- 

 rienced in crossing varieties. In 

 type. Great Britain, where potatoes are 



Fig. 760. Potato sorter. 



