42 
There will be money made in poultry during 
Some Factors in Profitable Potato 
Raising 
By K. R. Smith, President New ^■<)rk State 
Potato Association. 
In order to grow' a profitable potato crop in 
these days one must first provide himself 
with modern ideas, methods and equipment. 
He must start right and stay right until the 
finish. 
The first step is to plant high class seed. 
To my mind the greatest limiting factor in 
potato production today is good seed. By 
this, I mean tubers which are free from di¬ 
sease, true to type and able to yield a good 
weight of uniform edible potatoes. Such 
seed can only be procured in two ways, — 
by selecting it from good hills in a field or 
by buying it from some one w'ho has pro¬ 
cured it. Probably the latter method is best. 
A good deal of care should be given to the 
storage of seed potatoes. They should be 
kept in a dark, well ventilated storage, where 
the temperature is kept uniform and about 
thirty-three degrees. They should never be 
placed in large, deep piles as those in the 
center or bottom are not well ventilated and 
may develop “Black-Heart.” Storage In crates 
is probably the best method. 
The best potato growers disinfect their 
seed potatoes by treating with corrosive subli¬ 
mate. This is prepared by dissolving 4 oz. of 
corro.'.ive sublimate in 30 gallons of water 
and soaking the tubers for one and one-half 
hours. Any disease germs which may be on 
the tubers, such as Rhizoctonia or Scab will 
be kWlod. Seed potatoes should be treated 
before the sprouts develop and spread out 
thinly on a floor or left In crates in the 
light to "Green.” 
The seed bed cannot be too well prepared. 
It is my plan to have the seed bed deep, full 
of humus or decayed organic matter and well 
prepared. It should be made quite rich either 
by applying barnyard manure or commercial 
fertilizer. The latter may be applied broad¬ 
cast, in the row, or both. 
Cut the seed into about tw'o ounce blocky 
pieces. Size of seed piece is of more Im¬ 
portance than the number of eyes. Plant 
every hill with a good seed piece. Make 
rows straight. Plant even number of rows. 
Cultivate as soon as planted to leave fine 
mulch over field. It is good practice to culti¬ 
vate potatoes once a w'eek from the time 
they are planted until the tops cover the 
ground. A weeder may be used the second 
and fourth weeks. The principal obects of 
cultivation are conservation of moisture, elim¬ 
ination of weeds and stirring of the soil. 
The foliage should be kept free from in¬ 
sects and blight by spraying. To accom¬ 
plish this I use home made Bordeaux Mixture 
with an insecticide such as Paris Green or 
Arsenate of Lead. We make this by dissolv¬ 
ing 6 pounds of blue vltrol in 25 gallons of 
water and 5 pounds of burned lime in 25 gal¬ 
lons of water; then mixing the two by poui^ 
Ing into a barrel or sprayer, first a pail of one 
and then a pail of the other, stirring the mix¬ 
ture while putting u gether. We add a pound 
of Paris Green or two pounds of Arsenate of 
Lead and spray with a pressure from 120 to 
200 pounds each week from the time the first 
bugs appear until the foliage is dead. If 
this spraying is done thoroughly it will pro¬ 
tect the vines from bugs and blight and will 
more than pay for the material and labor in 
increased yields. 
Daniel Dean has said ‘T^otato growing is 
like a chain — made up of many operations — 
and no stronger than its w'eakest link.” It 
is essential for a successful crop that every 
operation be pursued with thoroughness. Re¬ 
member you ran plant poor seed in the best 
soil God has given us and give it all the care 
and thoroughness you will and the harvest 
will be like the seed. 
Start right with Selected Seed. 
What is Certified Seed? In order for pota¬ 
toes to be certified, the crop must be planted 
from selected seed, treated, good culture 
practiced, sprayed, free from varietal mix¬ 
ture and it must be practically free from di¬ 
sease, a good yield and true to type. Seed 
grown to be certified is inspected three times, 
twice during the growing season and once 
after digging. The potatoes are from two 
inches in diameter to twelve ounce in weight 
and put in new' bags containing 120 lbs., 
sewed and tagged with an official tag, num¬ 
bered with the serial number corresponding 
with the certificate number of the grower. 
E. R. SMITH. 
•Idaho Raspberry Plants Wanted 
We have grown and sold the Idaho red rasp¬ 
berry for many years. We have now only a 
limited supply of them. We wish to make large 
plantings of this variety on our own grounds 
and if any of our custlmers have a quantity 
they would dispose of for cash or trade for other 
plants, we would like to hear from them. We 
would also like to secure a small stock of the 
genuine Crescent strawberry and several other 
strawberries that have practically pa8.sed out of 
cultivation. If any of our customers have plants 
of the old varieties now rarely catalogued, we 
would like to hear from them. This applies not 
only to strawberries, but the other berrv 
fruits, etc. 
Hubam or Annual Sweet Clover 
This Is a new variety of sweet clover which 
matures and seeds In one year. Instead of two 
years, which is the way with the ordinary sweet 
clover. It Is claimed that It win make a fuU 
growth and mature In one year, while the regu¬ 
lar sweet clover takes two years. It Is con¬ 
sidered very valuable by many authorities and 
to highly Indorsed by the editor of the Rural New 
Yorker. We have a limited supply of seed which 
we will sell at $1.60 per pound. 
Old Varieties Wanted 
We wish to secure a small number of plants 
ofoM and obsolete varieties of strawberries, rasp¬ 
berries, blackberries, currants, gooseberries, 
grapes, eta, etc., for our experimental grounds. 
If you have any such varieties, write us. We 
win pay cash or trade other plants for them. 
We refer to varieties that you do not now see 
^tajogu^, such as Hevey or BCanchester straw- 
™*PbeiT 7 , WachuBett 
^ornlew bl^banr, eta. AOOnm L. J. Farmer, 
Pulaski. N. T. 
