Potato Growing in Colorado 
19 
In some instances, the grower, in order to swell the total yield per 
acre will go to the trouble of stretching gunny sacks over the grader 
so as to prevent any of the smaller potatoes from getting thru. 
In such cases, it would be more economical if the grading were 
entirely dispensed with. 
The potatoes should be graded at least into two sizes.—from 
four to twelve ounces, and from twelve ounces up. This would not 
mean that the potatoes would have to be weighed individually any 
more than in grading apples, but it would produce a uniform 
product, so that the buyer would know what he was getting, and 
the consumer would not have to buy small potatoes and earth with 
the marketable tubers. The extra cost for grading would be more 
than compensated for by the higher prices obtained, and in the 
utilization of inferior potatoes as food on the farm. 
There are commercial graders of the improved type now on 
the market, and should be utilized by the grower. The only way 
to obtain uniformity in grading and packing would be to have a 
community grader where all potatoes in a community could be 
graded at one place before being loaded on board a car. By such 
method, the whole crop could be taken from the field and hauled to 
the grader, and run thru the same, returning to the grower the 
inferior product to be taken back to the farm for feeding purposes. 
In most cases, the community grader should be located at the load¬ 
ing station. 
* 
So long as grading is left to the individual grower, so long 
will the present confusion and disorganization exist, and so long 
will the grower obtain a lower price for his product. There are a 
great number of instances that have come under our observation 
where buyers have re-sorted or re-graded the crop bought from the 
grower and sold them at a higher price—more than paying for the 
cost of grading and the loss in weight. 
The question of uniform packages is also important. There 
is no reason why a sack of potatoes, should not have a standard 
weight, either 100 or 120 pounds. This would eliminate consider¬ 
able trouble and make it easier to keep track of sales, as each sack 
or each container would weigh the same. 
The question of using boxes as containers for potatoes, has 
been agitated and met with more or less favor. Personally, we 
believe in the box as a package for potatoes, especially if special 
grades are put up in this way. The potatoes will suffer less in 
handling, and besides, would provide a convenient package for the 
small household to buy. But the box is not the proper package for 
the average grower under the present conditions, as the potatoes, 
in some cases, would not be worth more than the box. Where the 
