Lessons Jersey Potato Growers Are Learning, 
Part I. 
P OTATO GO'S SIP.—“Say. .Tim. did your inocu¬ 
lated sulphur knock out the scab this year?” 
“'They say George Strong, over at Perrineville, just 
gol a new five-ton auto truck—carts To sacks to a 
load." "Frank Smith told me yesterday that his 
South Jersey late-crop seed is turning out 50 bushels 
foresting. If the great volume of potatoes pouring 
into this loading station was representative of the 
shipments from the dozens of other points in the 
potato area, there'inust have been some rapid trans¬ 
formations on flic Central Jersey farms in the last 
decade, so T lost no time in visiting some of the 
to 7.200.000 bushels in 1900, and to 10,560.000 in 
1910. and 1920*s bumper crop topped the record with 
close to 15.000.OtXl bushels. Last season’s crop 
showed a serious slump, not because of a reduction 
in acreage, but due to unfavorable seasonable con¬ 
ditions. Hut this has been no mushroom growth. 
more to the acre than his Maine seed." 
“Have you heard wluit the ‘Co-ops’ 
paid yesterday?" “They say Charlie 
Brown has been spraying for aphis." 
“Tom Brooks has put in a big grading 
outfit, runs it on a power plant." “Yep. 
I use only 5 per cent of potash on 
potatoes now: seems to do as well ns 
the 10 per cent we used to put on 
before the war.” 
CHANGED CONDITIONS.—It was 
a hot, dry day in August, 1920. As I 
alighted from the train at the little 
village of Teiment. in Monmouth 
County, New Jersey, home on my vaca¬ 
tion. I found myself literally in an 
atmosphere of potatoes. As the train 
pulled out I was caught in the whirl 
of bustling activity and discovered 
that I was in the midst of the biggest 
potato shipping enterprise I had ever 
experienced. Catching remarks like 
the above as they dropped from the 
lips of the growers who had come in 
with their loads, and taking in at a 
glance the volume of business that was 
going on. I began to make some men¬ 
tal comparisons. Quite a contrast, 
thought 1. to the situation 20 years 
ago, when only a few farmers in the 
neighborhood raised potatoes, or 15 
years ago, when my father was grow¬ 
ing a few acres, and I occasionally 
was given the coveted chance to rest 
my back from the grind of picking by 
driving a load to the station, or 10 
years ago, when I worked at this same 
station as weiglimaster and clerk for 
the Farmers’ Exchange, nr even five 
years ago. when horsepower was prac¬ 
tically the only means of transporting 
the crop. 
A Bt S Y SCENE.—Here were wagons 
and auto trucks streaming down the 
road from both directions in a cloud 
of dust, laden to capacity with Jer¬ 
sey s greatest crop. Several grading 
and storage houses were scattered 
about the depot, and the typical coun¬ 
try store-postoffice, which formed the 
nucleus of the group. On the railroad 
sidings, some of them just laid, rested 
dozens of freight cars, some filled and 
boarded up ready to go out on the 
nigld freight, some empties awaiting 
their turn, others being rapidly filled 
with the tiers of burlap sacks marked : 
“Potatoes, F. S. Grade No. 1.” Loaded 
trucks were lining up. waiting their 
turn at the graders. Inside the houses 
and in the ears a small arinv was 
II was evident that the potato growers 
were meeting some very definite and 
difficult problems, but the fact that the 
industry was expanding so rapidly was 
pretty good evidence that they were 
meeting them with a considerable de¬ 
gree of success. In other words, the 
Jersey growers are learning a lot of 
new things about potatoes. 
SEARCH FOR GLEAN AND VIG¬ 
OROUS SEED.—Disease exacts a fer¬ 
ritic toll from the Jersey crop. With 
intensity of production, and the shorter 
rotations that follow, control of dis¬ 
ease through dean seed and soil treat¬ 
ment looms up as one of the biggest 
of the growers’ problems. The Cen¬ 
tral Jersey grower is placed at a dis¬ 
advantage with respect to seed. His 
home-grown regular crop, maturing 
during the hot months and ripening 
early.in the season, seems to lack the 
vigor necessary for seed purposes and 
consistently fails to produce as well 
as seed grown under a more rigorous 
environment. Consequently it has been 
the practice for years to purchase 
large quantities of seed from the 
Northern potato-growing States, par¬ 
ticularly New York State and Maine. 
Most of the seed thus procured has 
been the average run. grown with no 
special care as to disease control. Such 
a practice could have only one result. 
The Jersey growers, while importing 
seed, have been importing disease, and 
by this time they are well aware of it. 
MEETING T11E, PROBLEM.—An¬ 
other great disadvantage of importing 
seed from these Northern States, par¬ 
ticularly in the last two years, has 
been flic expense of transportation. 
Being a bulky crop, a relatively large 
volume of seed is required, and freight 
is one of the big items of expense. 
David Raetcr of Perrineville. who last 
year grew over .“TOO acres, told me that 
the freight bill on his Maine seed alone 
was $5.000—and he used a lot of other 
setal beside this. Meanwhile the grow¬ 
ers have not been blind to the problem 
and are making some headway in 
meeting it. Three special sources are 
full of promise: Certified seed from 
New York and Maine, special strains 
of selected seed grown by certain 
growers in these States for individual 
growers in New Jersey, and the late- 
crop seed from South Jersey. The 
States of New York and Maine are 
making progress in the certification 
against disease of potatoes grown for 
sml stock, and such seed finds a ready 
market among the Jersey growers. 
The quantity grown, however, is 
not nearly adequate to supply New 
Jersey’s needs and the growers must 
dojtend on other sources as well. 
"WILSON GI ANTS.’’—Growers who 
have used special disease-free North¬ 
ern-grown strains are enthusiastic 
over this source of seed. The “Wilson 
Giants” are an illustration of this 
method. Several years ago I„. j. Wil¬ 
son of Wyoming Comity. N. Y„ began 
of a special strain of the long potatoes. 
American Giants, the chief variety grown in Central 
Jersey. After several years of selection of the most 
vigorous plants, and elimination of diseased indi¬ 
viduals. he had sufficient seed of a special strain to 
grow an annual supply for sale as Jersey seed. 
When tried out in Monmouth County Wilson seed, 
did so much better than the common New York seed 
came into great demand. Mr. Wilson 
From Check-plot. Tlavitif, I Xo Sulphur Treat moil. Fin. IS ,S 
Sulfur Unsalable 
i ^inoculated_Scabby 
Clean 
Scabt 
From Plot Treated with GOO Pounds Uninocutated Sulphur. Fit/. 1SH 
Salable Unsalable 
atec Scabby Scabbv 
t'tot 'treated tritti GOO Pounds Inoculated Sulphur. Fit/. I !>0 
growers to learn the latest developments in the 
growing and harvesting end of the business. 
A SPECIALIZED INDUSTRY.—Surveying the 
whole situation. T found that certain forces have 
been at work that in 20 years have transformed 
oik' of the most fertile general farming districts In 
the country into the scat of a specialized industry. 
Early in the twentieth century New Jersey’s annual 
flop was barely 4.000,000 bushels. ’Then it jumped 
soon 
