The Colorado Potato Industry. 
23 
same process of selection and elimination should be gone through 
again. In this way the improvement of type and yield may go on 
from year to year. 
Many growers prefer green or immature seed to that which 
is fully developed. Experiments along th'S line with plants pro¬ 
duced from seed rather than by vegetative parts have shown that im¬ 
mature seed tend to produce an early maturing plant and also one 
that tends to produce more fruit to the amount of plant tissue but 
at the expense of vitality and size of plant. 
This law does not necessarily hold good with the potato since 
the repi oduction is accomplished by means of the vegetative portion 
of the plant. Experiments along this line with the potato have not 
been carried far enough to give definite results. 
COST OF GROWING 
The cost per acre of growing potatoes varies to a consider¬ 
able extent according to the soil, season and price of labor. One 
year with another an average of the different farms would not be 
far from the foil wing figures which are taken from a pamphlet is 
sued by the Greeley Commercial Club. 
Plowing land- f _ $2.50 
Leveling and harrowing_ | QQ 
Seed Potatoes___ 5 00 
Planting- 1.50 
Cultivating_ 2.50 
Irrigating-- J .50 
Digging- 750 
Sacks- 7.50 
Marketing- 6,00 
$35.00 
This estimate is based on what is considered a good yield or 
from 200 to 300 bushels per acre. The first six items are prac¬ 
tically uniform, whatever the yield may be, while the last three 
depend upon the yield per acre, so that a poor yield or a failure, 
reduces the cost per acre by about one half and an extremely large 
yield increases it accordingly. 
The price of Colorado potatoes has a wide range from year 
to year, but the average price for the past ten years has been 65c 
per hundred lbs. 
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