Vie RURAL NEW-YORKER 
31 3 
Potato Growing In Northern New York 
Part I. 
A COMING SECTION.—Aroostook has long been 
known as the big potato section of th > East 
still, there is another section, not quite as we 1 .', tieve. 
oped as yet. in Oswego County. N. V. Just a few year- 
ago one young farmer realized the possibilities in thar 
soil for the commercial growing of potatoes, and it 
lias already reached the point where it can boast of 
just as many, or even more acres of potatoes per square 
mile than some of the foremost sections. The excel¬ 
lent climatic conditions prevailing, as well as the 
ideal potato soil, have a great deal to do in bringing 
the standard up so high: yet the people themselves, 
too, deserve credit. There are no old timers, as 
would be found in other sections, but they are mostly 
young, energetic men. 
FALLING PRICES.—A season like this one will 
mean that a few of the growers will give up. Not 
that potatoes rotted, for they never seem to rot. no 
matter bow much if rains or how hot it is. Nor is 
the yield any poorer than usual. The one thing that 
causes all this unrest is the present 
“lower than cost" price of our product. 
Some beginners, to whom this season 
meant the first or second crop, who 
still had debts on hand to begin this 
season with, are struck pretty hard. 
It cost them from $1 to $1.25 per bushel 
to produce their crop, while at the 
present date they are offered about 75 
cents, or even less, which just about 
covers halt the cost of production. A 
certain man held 500" bushels of seed 
over the Winter of 1910-1920 and 
planted it last Spring. They yielded 
approximately 5.0 (mi bushels, which are 
being held in storage at the time. The 
best offer on well-graded No. 1 stock 
reaches the point of about 75 cents, 
although it is first-class stock—no rot 
or other defects. It cost about $5,000 
to finance the crop, which brings the 
cost to about Si per bushel. Compar¬ 
ing the offer he will have to stand a 
net loss of about 25 cents per bushel. 
Had that grower sold his 500 bushels 
of seed in the Spring of 1920 he could 
have received a price of $4 perJmshel 
or better, which totals $1,200, without 
further trouble, work or expense. He 
had to hire high-priced help during the 
entire growing season, and now finds 
himself in a hole. For his labor, his 
investment, his worry, lie has the privi¬ 
lege of taking that loss. Had he sold 
his seed, and not planted any. let his 
farm go without crops, or rented if, ho 
could figure on a gain of $1,200 for the 
seed, besides the money he could have 
earned working elsewhere. It all 
shows that for raising a big crop, 
which can only benefit the consumers, 
the farmer is punished instead of re¬ 
warded. 
STEADY RETURNS. — With ordi¬ 
nary returns in yield and with prices 
settled to a steady point, there is just about as much 
money in potatoes as there is in other farm crops. 
Whether that is little or much at such times depends 
mostly on the man and his methods of business and 
vmrk. Some growers believe that more money can 
be made in seed potatoes. That requires a good- 
natured temper and a broad selling ability. If you 
have these qualities and are not afraid to take a 
chance there probably is more money in this than in 
the table stock market. The grower of seed is 
usually dependent upon himself to find a market for 
his slock unless there is some selling organization 
in his neighborhood. As seed is sold for a much 
higher price than table stock, it is often hard for the 
grower to explain to the buyer the extra value of 
c.ean. healthy and vigorous seed, and the grower of 
such seed who has had little experience in the sell¬ 
ing end. finds it a great difficulty. Yet good seed, 
oi. better yet. certified seed, cannot he recommended 
too highly. The extra money that is expended in 
the first case wi.l soon come back tenfold. 
SET,LING METHODS.—The modern selling or¬ 
ganizations do doubt have done a lot in helping the 
farmer out of such difficulties, but somehow' we have 
not had very much success with an organization of 
this Kind although it was tried for a number of 
years Yet we hope tha-. the New York State Potato 
Association, which is about to be organized, will 
beln us just in this way. The methods described are 
those mostly employed in this section, and though I 
would not want to claim that they are the best, 
farmers of this vicinity practice them, and do so 
with success as to the growing part of the crop. 
STARTING THE CROP.—From 14 to IS busheis 
of seed is used per acre, while rows are spaced 54 
to 36 inches apart. We do not believe in cut seed, 
as. to our mind it lessens the vitality of that seed, 
and therefore prefer healthy, vigorous potatoes of 
No. 2 grade. The plants are 12 to 20 inches apart in 
the row. By using good fertilizer, say at the rati' 
of 2.000 lbs. to the acre, we can plant the seed pieces 
1_ inches apart in the row and 50 inches between 
rows, and yet get good-sized potatoes, and naturally 
a much higher yield is obtained also. 
>SOIL PREPARATION.—Planting potatoes on tin- 
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This picture shows a hay press iu Wisconsin run by an electric motor. The 
® fore 84 'Ound shows the connection which brings the “juice” from 
commercial power line. 
hav.u K/L JUlV-t U Will 1 
Of course the connection has to be made by oue of tin 
company's experts. 
side line will be saving batching eggs and starting 
their incubators. All realize the importance of a 
good percentage of hatch, and probably realize that 
it is dependent on the eggs that go into the machine, 
quite as much as on their environment during incu¬ 
bation. 
GOOD BIRDS REQUIRED.—In the first place: 
the hen behind the egg. No, that is only half of it: 
properly the hen and the male behind the egg, for 
in the selection of the male you are selecting half 
the blood of next year’s layers. Whatever the aim 
hi lueeding, all breeders should be extra good birds 
and in good condition have sunlight, fresh air and 
deep litter, and be so feu that they scratch hard 
and work for a living. They should have range: in 
snowy weather or in hitter cold they may be shut 
in not that if is good for them, but outdoors is 
worse. A good laying ration is a good ration for 
breeding flocks: they should not be fed too much 
cm. lest they get. too fat. I do not agree with the 
idea that plenty of mash will harm the 
hatching eggs. Mash gives them much 
needed and easily digestible nourish¬ 
ment. Let them have the mash. Let 
them have green food, too: they relish 
it. and its absence commonly causes 
lower fertility. Time spent in atten¬ 
tion to breeding stock is some of the 
best spent hours a poultryman puts in;* 
it will pay big dividends in the quality 
of eggs gathered, and later in hatches, * 
in lowered losses in brooding, and in 
better pullets next Fall. 
THE EGG AND ITS (’ARE.—The 
egg itself and the care it requires after 
it is laid is likewise a powerful factor 
in tiie percentage of hatch. The egg 
can take harm from the second it is 
laid: a hard nest may crack it, a dirty 
nest foul it. a long wait before collec¬ 
tion dull it, and so on. The nesting 
material should lie plentiful, so that the 
nest is soft, and of course it should he 
clean. Frequent collection is very im¬ 
portant. Aside from keeping the eggs 
from being soiled or chilled, it will pre¬ 
vent broody liens fitting on them and 
starting the enibryo growth, only to 
have it die while waiting for the. incu¬ 
bator. In this case the eggs pass as 
interfiles and are a needless loss to the 
operator. In collecting eggs in cold 
weather I like to use a burlap lined 
wooden pail with a cover. The eggs 
should be dated and marked with the 
pen number—this information may he 
of interest at the test and hatch. They 
should be kept from excessive drying 
and turned daily until set. T find pack¬ 
ing them iu a paper-lined egg case the 
easiest way to handle them. A tem¬ 
perature around 4.> to 50 degrees is 
about right: it' it stays over 70 de¬ 
grees long the embryo is likely to start 
its growth, and if the temperature runs 
V 
prepared soil to us seems like building a structure low the batcliability is likely to suffer, though there 
without a foundation, as such a crop would be so 
poor as barely to pay the expenses of raising. By 
“prepared” soil, we understand, that has been fitted 
the year before to buckwheat, plowed under as green 
manure, then sown to Winter rye. and that plowed 
under the following Spring when still green, but un¬ 
der no condition when almost ripe and dry. It would 
take too long for tlie soil to digest such a woody 
mess, and the potato plants would hardly benefit from 
it that season. Before sowing the buckwheat, also 
rye or rather at the same time, 200 to 500 lbs. of 
grain fertilizer is used per acre. This gives the manure 
crop a splendid growth. When plowing the buck¬ 
wheat under, which should be done when in the 
fullest bloom, we plow about 0 to 7 inches deep. 
When plowing the rye under, which is just before' 
planting time, the ground should be plowed eight to 
10 inches deep. j. r. h. 
Hatching Egg Notes 
HIE FOUNDATION OF SUCCESS.— Incubating 
are remarkable examples of badly chilled eggs hatch¬ 
ing well. Eggs are best for hatching when two or 
three days old. but if carefully handled may be kept 
a week or 10 days without doing much damage; 
after that they are less desirable, and the older they 
are the worse they are. 
CARE IN DETAILS.—Handling hatching eggs 
may seem a small matter—certainly it is frequently 
neglected—but it enters largely into the cost of a 
baby chick. Expert knowledge is not needed, but 
the strict observance of several little details can 
hardly help improving many hatches. It*is a typical 
example of the application to poultry keeping of the 
old maxim. “Eternal vigilance is the price of suc¬ 
cess.” FRANCIS F. LINCOLN'. 
R. N.-YV—Vi hat Air. Lincoln says about the im¬ 
portance of frequent collection and care in handling 
eggs intended for hatching applies to eggs for food 
purposes. Many poultrymen have their eggs dis¬ 
counted several cents per dozen because of dirty 
T . . - -...- * ---* 
a season is with the commercial poultryiuen and nests, infrequent gathering and improper storage 
before long farmers who carry a sizable flock as a before shipment to market. 
