Vol. LXVIII, No. 3086. 
NEW YORK, MARCH 20, 1909. 
WEEKLY, $1.00 PER YEAR. 
• A FAMOUS POTATO COUNTRY 
Prosperity Built Upon Water. 
One January day nearly 30 years ago the writer 
was herding cattle near the river just below Greeley, 
Colorado. A tnan rode in from one of the outlying 
farms and stopped to talk. He had 150 bushels of 
potatoes safely buried in a dug-out, and was on his 
way to Greeley to see if they could be sold. He was 
finally able to dispose of them, but he was obliged to 
haul them one load at a time, as that was all the 
market could handle. Even at that time a few far¬ 
sighted men saw a future in potato culture, yet none 
of them could dream of the outcome as we find it 
to-day. Where at that time a single wagonload would 
fill the market there is now a famous “potato belt” 
tus and the coyote. Irrigation means to the farmer 
not only the application of water at the right time and 
in the most economical way, but a thorough under¬ 
standing, as well, of the topography of his land, en¬ 
abling him to grow his crop so as best to carry the 
small irrigating streams at an even and moderate 
speed down the furrows. 
Next to the problem of water the use of Alfalfa 
as a fertilizer plays the most important part in the 
making of a big crop. The fibrous Alfalfa roots 
reach down into the soil to a depth of from six to 
10 feet, loosening it, and when rotted supply con¬ 
stituents which furnished by commercial fertilizers 
would cost $15 an acre. On land to be used for rais¬ 
ing potatoes Alfalfa is allowed to grow for two years, 
and makes three excellent cuttings of hay annually, 
one of wheat, oats or sugar beets, after which the 
ground is again renewed by planting to Alfalfa. By 
such rotation two large and highly profitable crops 
are taken from the soil every five years. Irrigation 
of the potatoes does not begin until the latter part 
of July, when the plant is well grown and ready to 
blossom. A little later when the potatoes begin to 
set the ground is kept moist until the middle of Sep¬ 
tember, when frost nips the vines, causing the tubers 
to mature and ripen. The great value of late irriga¬ 
tion to the potato crop has demonstrated the neces¬ 
sity of storing water in reservoirs for this purpose, 
as the months of July and August are often without 
rainfall, and the creeks and rivers from which the 
ditches draw their water are nearly dry during these 
months. From the time of planting until the harvest 
'K 
A COLORADO POTATO HARVEST. DIGGERS AND “SPUD RUSTLERS.” Fig. 117. 
covering 24,000 acres—all under irrigation, and just 
ihe right kind of potato soil. The annual output 
from this “potato belt” is 10,000 carloads, 2,500,000 
sacks, or 5,000,000 bushels of 300,000,000 pounds. The 
crop is shipped in bulk as far east as Illinois, and in 
smaller lots to New York City. In the perpetual sun¬ 
shine of the Colorado climate, with water when needed 
and thorough culture the tubers mature fully and thus 
are of perfect quality. Their reputation has made 
"Greeley potatoes” famous all over the West. 
Our pictures show that after the potatoes are cut, 
practically all the work to picking up except irrigating 
is done by horse power. A correspondent who knows 
this “potato belt” gives the following facts about the 
culture: 
Irrigation is without doubt the greatest factor in 
profitable potato growing. .Soil and climate are of 
course essentials, but without irrigation the now 
fertile plains would still be but the home of the cac- 
which more than pays for its expense. The third 
Spring, after the Alfalfa has grown several inches in 
height, it is plowed under, the heavy tops acting as a 
sponge to retain the moisture in the soil and further 
fit it for the planting of the crop, which is done from 
May 15 to June 1. 
Wisconsin, Michigan and the Divide district of 
Colorado furnish more than one-fourth of the seed 
planted each ye'ar. The other three-fourths is sup¬ 
plied from potatoes grown from foreign seed the year 
previous. 1 he raising of potatoes by irrigation is a 
somewhat forced cultivation, causing the tubers to 
remove rapidly from the original type, hence the 
necessity of renewing with seed from non-irrigated 
sections. Five or six sacks of seed are usually planted 
to the acre, the Greeley district alone using annually 
from 120,000 to 125,000 sacks. The farmer may 
plant the same ground with potatoes two successive 
years, but usually a crop of potatoes is followed by 
all work on the potato crop with the exception of 
irrigation is done by machinery. A planter puts the 
seed in the soil, and as soon as the vine is well started 
a cultivator drawn by four horses, stirs up the ground 
to a depth of six inches and cuts down the weeds, 
continuing to do this throughout the Summer until 
the size of the vine interferes with the working of 
the machine. 
About the first of October the potato digger with 
its four or six-horse team is driven into the field and 
makes great furrows across it, leaving in its wake 
long, even rows of big potatoes. The “spud rustler,” 
as the potato picker is called, is also there. No one 
knows from whence he came or whither he goes, but 
like birds of passage, he and his comrades flock down 
on the farmer, who obediently accedes to his yearly 
increasing demands of better feed and pay, for like 
Alfalfa and water the “spud rustler” is indispen¬ 
sable in the potato season. The potatoes are gath- 
