Vol. LIV. No. 2384. 
NEW YORK. OCTOBER 5, 1895. 
$1.00 PER YEAR. 
WHOLESALE SEED-POTATO GROWING. 
THE ECONOMIES OF LARGE PRODUCTION. 
A Big Enterprise in We tern New York. 
[editorial correspondence.] 
Part I. 
It is getting to be an era of “big things” in agri¬ 
culture. That great Georgia peach orchard, the en¬ 
silage-making at Ellerslie Farm, and other enter¬ 
prises, all show how, here and there, men are concen¬ 
trating the forces of agriculture after the manner of 
manufacturers. A further illustration of this tendency 
is found in the seed-potato farms of the Edward F. 
Dibble Seed Co., which I visited last week. The busi¬ 
ness of growing seed potatoes has been wonderfully 
developed in the past 15 years. Formerly, but few 
growers bought new seed, except of the newer varie¬ 
ties. The general practice was to go to the bin in the 
spring and select seed with more or less care for the 
season’s crop. Now there are thousands of growers 
who never 
think of using 
their own crop 
for seed, but 
import stock 
from other lo¬ 
calities because 
they believe it 
to be stronger 
and less liable 
to disease. It 
is much the 
same principle 
as that fol- 
lowed by fruit 
growers — who 
buy all their 
nursery stock 
because they 
believe that the 
growing of 
fruit and the 
production of 
nursery stock, 
are two very 
different kinds 
of business. 
It is getting 
to be more gen¬ 
erally under¬ 
stood each year 
that certain 
parts of the 
country are pe- 
cu liarly well 
adapted to the 
growing of seed potatoes. The climate, soil and sea¬ 
son of planting are such that scab and blight are 
almost unknown, so that both vine and tuber make a 
strong and vigorous growth. Naturally, seed potatoes 
grown in these sections would be more likely to resist 
disease and make a strong growth than would those 
grown in sections where blight and rot prevail to 
weaken or check the plant. It would not maxe so 
much difference with wheat or corn, but the potato is 
the most likely of all crops to carry such disease or 
weakness in its seed. The Dibble Company believe 
that their section of western New York is specially 
adapted to the growth of seeds. Beginning in a small 
way on Mr. Dibble’s own farm, they have enlarged 
their area, until to-day they have over 600 acres of 
potatoes under their control. This immense area is 
divided into tracts of from 5 to 20 acres, embracing 
all sorts of soils, and all within a radius of 12 miles 
of headquarters. It is probably the largest acreage 
of seed potatoes controlled by any one firm in the 
country. The, object; of this article is to show,what, 
economies are possible in wholesale potato growing, 
as well as to compare varieties. 
“ Do you have much difficulty in securing growers 
for your potatoes?” I asked Mr. Dibble. 
“ Yes ; more or less so, as you may judge from the 
fact that we have covered so much territory to obtain 
600 acres of suitable land. VVe want good soil with a 
strong clover sod if possible, and, above all, a cai'eful 
farmer who knows the principles of improved culture, 
and will carry them out. VVe do not like a farmer 
who undertakes too much..” 
“ What terms do you make with growers ? ” 
“We agree to pay them a certain price per bushel 
when delivered, without respect to the market price. 
This price, of course, varies with different varieties. 
The grower contracts to cultivate and fertilize the 
crop in certain ways, and we reserve a general over¬ 
sight of this culture. It must be done in a satisfac¬ 
tory way to fulfill the contract. I think you will ob¬ 
serve that our fields are generally clean and thrifty 
as compared with adjoining ones. That is largely 
because there is a definite plan about the culture, 
which is faithfully enforced.” 
“ What soils do you prefer ? ” 
“ That varies more or less with the variety. In 
general, a ‘ warm, open, loamy ’ soil is considered 
best for potatoes, but for growing the best seed crop, 
we like to vary that somewhat. Our Rose seedlings 
do best on a lighter soil—inclined to sand—while 
such varieties as Freeman do better on heavier and 
damper locations. A variety like the Rural New- 
Yorker No. 2 does well anywhere. With that variety, 
it is more a matter of close or wide planting than 
of soils.” 
“ Do you fertilize heavily ? ” 
“Yes; we use both manure and fertilizer, and a 
sod, too, if possible. On our own farm, we use a good 
deal of Buffalo stockyard manure. We get this de¬ 
livered at our railroad station at $20 a car-load. It is 
a great bargain at this price, for it is almost pure ex¬ 
crement of sheep and bogs, just as it is taken from 
the cars. The ‘bedding’ has been almost entirely 
eaten. Our first move is to put at least 15 good loads 
of this manure on an acre of sod. We also make 
considerable manure on the farm from boarding 
horses through the winter. We turn these horses 
into a box stall, and feed them one feed each of hay 
and straw, and four quarts of bran per day. They 
keep in fair condition on this, and there is some profit 
in it for us at $1 per week.” 
“ When do yon apply the manure ? ” 
“During the winter, when the ground is frozen. 
There, for example, is a field of rye and Crimson 
clover. The two crops were sowed together, and have 
made an excellent growth. The manure will help 
carry the clover through the winter. Next year, 
early in June, manure, rye and clover will be plowed 
under for potatoes.” 
“ And you use fertilizer, too ? ” 
“Yes, from 600 to 1,000 pounds per acre in the drill.” 
“What kind of fertilizer do you use?” 
“A mixture 
of o u r o w n, 
made for us by 
a large manu¬ 
facturer. It 
must analyze 
three to four 
per cent ni¬ 
trogen, seven to 
eight available 
phosphoric 
acid, and, at 
least, seven of 
potash. We 
stipulate that 
the nitrogen 
must be ob¬ 
tained from ni¬ 
trate of soda 
and dried 
blood, the phos- 
phoric acid 
from dissolved 
bone black and 
tankage, and 
the potash from 
high-grade sul- 
p h a t e . The 
manufacturer 
gives a guaran¬ 
tee that these 
substances are 
used, and we 
have two anal¬ 
yses-made. one 
by the Experi¬ 
ment Station, and the other by private chemists. If 
these chemists find the fertilizer below the guaran¬ 
teed analysis, the manufacturer is obliged to pay us 
the regular trade values for such shortage. Thus far 
we have obtained more than was guaranteed. We 
used over 125 tons of fertilizer this season, and were 
able to supply it to growers at $36 per ton—a saving 
of $6 to $8 over usual retail rates ! ” 
“ Do you plant by machinery ? ” 
“ No, our potatoes are both planted and dug by 
hand. In growing the crop for food , this machinery 
is very desirable; but with us, hand work is better. 
We want each seed piece to be sure to grow, and 
bruised or spiked tubers hurt the appearance of the 
seed. Our favorite tool for opening furrows in sod, is 
the Darnell furrower and marker. This makes an 
excellent seed bed for the tubers, and may also be 
used to cover them. The fertilizer is used in the 
drill or hill, for some varieties do better with hill cul¬ 
ture. We plant about four inches deep, and gradually 
harrow and cultivate to the vines, so that at the end 
A COLORADO POTATO FIELD. HOW THEY DIG AND PICK THE TUBERS. See Page 669. Fig. 208. 
