The Colorado Potato Industry. 
i3 
and the fourth 24 hours at 2.37 feet per second or a total of 668,232 
cubic feet of water. This field was 1,300 feet long by 660 feet 
wide which gives an area of 858,000 square feet or 19.74 acres, 
and a depth of water over the field of 9.35 inches. The difference 
in the irrigating water between the old potato land and the alfalfa 
land was *4.41 inches. This field was planted just previously 
to the alfalfa field and the potatoes ripened (or the vines died 
from Rhizoctonia) about two weeks earlier. The yield was 
about 130 sacks per acre as against something over 150 sacks for 
the alfalfa land. Frequently a greater difference than this results 
between alfalfa land for potatoes and land preceeded by other 
crops. It would hardly seem that the difference comes from the 
amount of plant food in the soil for after potatoes have been 
grown 011 soil even three years, the cereals grown on it will pro¬ 
duce heavy crops. 
The difference in the amount of water can be attributed to 
the physical condition of the soil in the two fields. The decay¬ 
ing alfalfa stems and roots make the land more porous and the 
first irrigation particularly takes more Water to fill the soil. 
Harvesting the Crop. The potato harvesting is done so 
far as possible with machinery. The diggers used are the Peter 
Brown and the Doudon type of machines. With these the potatoes 
are plowed out and elevated over carriers that separate the tubers 
from the soil and leaves them scattered on the ground. Four or 
six horses are used on these machines. One machine will keep 
from ten to fifteen men busy, depending on the yield, picking, 
sacking and hauling from the field. While these machines are 
not perfect, they leave the potatoes well separated from the soil, 
providing the soil is not too wet nor the vines and weeds to numer¬ 
ous. Sometimes a harrow is run over the field before digging to 
knock down and tear out some of the vines that would clog the 
digger. When several rows are dug (depending on the number 
of pickers) the picking and sacking begins. The potatoes are 
picked in baskets and dumped onto the sorter. This machine is 
simply a frame on runners to which a horse may be attached to 
keep it alongside the pickers. On this frame, two seives, made 
of heavy wire, are placed, slanting to the back so that the large 
potatoes that will not go through the upper seive roll down into a 
sack. The smaller ones go through onto the lower seive which is 
a finer mesh and roll into another sack while the very small potatoes 
and soil fall through the second seive to the ground. 
If the potatoes are to go direct to the market, the sacks are 
filled and set off on the ground. A man follows the sorter and 
with a needle and coarse twine closes the sacks by sewing up the 
top. The filled sacks are then loaded onto wagons and hauled 
