WOMAN IN POTATOES AS WELL AS POLITICS. 
WHAT COLORADO'S NEW VOTERS CAN DO. 
A Big Potato Ranch Visited. 
I recently made a trip to the now locally famous 
potato farm of the James Brothers, seven miles from 
Greeley, a farm of 160 acres, watered by an irrigating 
ditch, the water being taken from the South Platte 
River. Once on the ground it was learned that the 
farm belonged to the mother and not to the brothers. 
We men must now be just to Colorado women, if we 
never were before, because they are voters now, thank 
God. 
Years ago, the James family left old England and 
went to Australia, but the conditions were new, and 
it was an easy matter to spend a fortune there. After 
the return to England the husband died, leaving the 
mother and the four sons to battle with life as best 
they might. They had relatives in the United States 
and hither they came and settled in Pittsburgh, Pa. 
But two of the hoys were delicate, and Mrs. James 
said that a great 
city was not a good 
place to bring up 
boys, so she came 
west and bought 
this farm, situated 
close to a railroad, 
and ‘ ‘ under ditch ” 
as we say in Colo¬ 
rado. Mrs. James 
paid some money 
on the farm and 
went in debt for 
the rest. All but 
one acre could be 
farmed, and that 
one acre was low 
and wet during the 
irrigation season. 
When the family 
came to the farm, 
some plowing had 
been done and 
there was a com¬ 
fortable dugout. 
The purchase 
price for farm and 
some tools was 
$4,500, or about 
$25 per acre. 
That was not a 
bad move, for the 
crops this season 
are worth some¬ 
thing like $8,000. 
I do not believe that an offer of $100 per acre would 
buy the farm to-day. Other people in this potato 
region have sold farms at $125 per acre. And yet, dur¬ 
ing the Mormon exodus and the Pike’s Peak excite¬ 
ment, tens of thousands of wealth seekers, passed 
within sight of this land, and never once thought of it 
as anything but a part of the Great American Desert, 
doomed to lie waste forever. I often wonder if there 
are not many other surprises, right under the eyes of 
American wealth seekers! 
Lived “Pretty Near” for a Time. 
It was nine years ago that Mrs. James and her four 
boys aged, 10, 15, 18 and 23 came to the dugout on this 
new farm. It was their very first attempt at farming, 
and as the mother says, they lived “ pretty near” for 
a while, being so much in debt, and she pointed out 
to the boys, that as soon as they were out oi debt they 
would get along much better. William James said to 
me that however hard the times and low the price of 
wheat, he and his family could stand it better than 
most farmers, because they had no help to pay. The 
present price of wheat is 38 cents per bushel, but 
theirs is still in the granary, held for better times. 
“ If we had hired help, I don’t suppose it would have 
paid the expense of raising,” said one of the young 
men. 
On the farm is a potato dugout, 63 x 37 feet with 
9-foot posts, with a road running around it, and many 
spouts into which to pour the potatoes. There are 
two sets of double doors, where the wagons back in. 
These were ajar and the thermometers showed that 
the temnerature was only two degrees above the freez¬ 
ing point. There were between 7,000 and 8.000 bushels 
of potatoes. Rural New-Yorkers, Pearls and Rose 
Seedlings. 
Manured Only witli Alfalfa. 
William spoke with enthusiasm of the new way of 
farming inaugurated five years ago, when Mr. Bliss 
first turned under Alfalfa stubble and secured a 
phenomenal yield of potatoes. Last spring, the 
brothers had 35 acres of Alfalfa sod to turn under. 
and it was a hard job. Three 1,600-pound horses found 
it a hard pull, for the ground was full of tough roots 
from one fourth of an inch to an inch in diameter. 
The plow share, made soft and with a thin saw edge, 
often dressed with a file, did the business. These 
numerous roots keep the ground from packing, a very 
important thing in the cultivation of potatoes, and 
also bring up plant food from the subsoil to the pota¬ 
toes. The Alfalfa roots descend many feet, and our 
farmers find it a godsend in this country. 
On May 20 planting commenced. The very best 
seed was bought. In the case of Pearls, small pota¬ 
toes of compact form and of rough skin, about the 
size of an egg, were used. The potatoes were cut 
and the yellow-fleshed ones thrown aside, as these are 
deteriorating. The planting is done with a planter, 
the rows being three feet two inches apart, and as 
straight as an arrow. A piece of potato is dropped by 
the machine every 21 inches. Two or three men are 
cutting all the time, and from five to nine acres are 
planted in a day. 
It was thought best to plant only as much land as 
had been in Alfalfa—35 acres—and to cultivate that in 
the very best manner. The stand was very even, and 
the bugs were scarce. Irrigation commenced July 12, 
followed by cultivation. Water was allowed to run 
in the rows for two or three hours. The potatoes 
were irrigated eight times, once each week. 
How the Crop Panned Out. 
Digging commenced the first Monday in October, a 
Dowden potato digger being used, which turned out 
two acres of potatoes a day. Not having storage room 
for the whole crcp, 15 car-loads were sold direct from 
the field, at 45 cents per bushel. The whole crop was 
7,143 sacks, 150 of which were saved for seed. The 
sacks hold nearly two bushels each, so at the present 
selling price, the crop was worth $6,428. Mrs. James 
remarked that she liked the plan best of selling right 
from the field, although some predict that the spring 
price will be much greater than the present one. She 
furnishes everything, land, water, seed, tools, animals 
and feed, and gives 
her sons one-half. 
“It is nice to be 
out of debt,” she 
said. 
Two stacks of 
Alfalfa contain 
about 100 tons, 
which this year is 
scarce, because so 
many turned it 
under for potatoes. 
It is now worth 
$6 per ton in the 
stack. 
I presume that 
the potato farmers 
of this vicinity are 
as well off as any 
class of people in 
the country. The 
grip of hard times 
is not very much 
felt here. Pota¬ 
toes bring a fair 
price, and there 
are from 4,000 to 
5,000 car-loads 
about Greeley. 
O. HOWARD. 
R. N.-Y.—A pic¬ 
ture of the field is 
shown at Fig. 17. 
Every other row 
has been dug and 
picked up. Notice how level the field is ? This is 
necessary in order to irrigate properly. The potato 
business is assuming immense proportions in this 
region. Conditions seem to be peculiarly favorable, 
and with a plentiful supply of water, a good, paying 
crop every year seems assured. With potatoes worth 
more, bushel for bushel, than wheat, the question of 
the most profitable crop should be easy to answer. 
Machinery can be used on these level plains in every 
stage of the work from planting to digging, so that 
the crop may be produced as easily and even more 
cheaply, bushel for bushel, than wheat. To be sure 
it cannot be held from year to year as the wheat crop 
may, but this is really in its favor. The price of 
potatoes will have to fall to a pretty low figure to be 
below the cost of production. The demand is likely to 
increase, and transportation facilities to improve, so 
that the outlet for the crop will grow larger. The 
future of potato growing in that region does, indeed, 
look bright, and the potato instead of wheat will 
have to be crowned king. Long live King Potato ! 
AcColorado Woman's Potato Field. Every Alternate Row Dug. Fig. 17. 
