219 
American Agriculturist, March 1, 1924 
Potatoes and Dairying 
They Fit In Well As a Cash Crop 
P OTATO growing By H. H. LYON much fertilizer last 
is still one of the year as had been their 
lines of endeavor for securing a cash crop 
for the dairy farmer. The present is any¬ 
thing but encouraging for promoting the 
potato growing business but it is never 
correct to dodge from a given policy that 
has been established after sufficient con¬ 
sideration. If potatoes seem to be the 
right line for a cash crop on any farm 
then it is the right thing to grow them 
this year. This statement may be modi¬ 
fied if all the help or a considerable 
amount of it has already gone. Such 
seems to be the case on many of our 
farms. 
It was not, however, so much advice 
about growing potatoes this particular 
year that I had in mind when I com¬ 
menced to write. It may have been that 
I was thinking more of our dairy section 
as a potato growing proposition. Some 
of the best potatoes are grown in the 
dairy regions. It is often remarked that 
quality of potatoes come from the up¬ 
land farms where the cow thrives. In 
not a few cases, too, high yields come 
along in some of these localities. Not 
only market potatoes are grown on dairy 
farms but certified seed is likewise pro¬ 
duced of high quality. High yields are 
frequently found but they may not 
average so high as in some of the special 
potato sections. 
There is one thing certain and that is we 
have cheaper land than is to be found in 
any section that I know of where potatoes 
do well with possibly one exception. Now 
cheap land is worth while if productive 
and especially if one has but a limited 
amount to invest. 
Two Long Islanders Try It 
Two Long Island potato growers came 
to our back farms and made a purchase of 
farm land. They bought for but little 
above the amount they had been accus¬ 
tomed to pay in annual rent. It chanced 
that I called at both farms last summer 
soon after the potatoes were up. Each 
man had somewhere around 26 acres 
they were looking fairly well. 
One piece was as good as any I saw on 
my trip through the town. The others 
seemed to be a little backward but com¬ 
ing along. 
These farms were of considerable size 
and I felt that the potato program last 
year did not offer the most attractive 
outlook. I suggested to these men that 
they might be safer in their farming 
program if they had a few cows to help 
out in the way of an income. They be¬ 
came excited at once for they declared 
that they would not milk cows under 
any consideration. They appeared to be 
willing to work hard for several months 
to grow and market a crop of potatoes 
but to be tied the year through to a cow 
proposition was unendurable. My argu¬ 
ment went for naught. 
It seems that they did not use nearly as 
custom on the sandy soil of Long Island. 
Of course they found cultivation harder 
than in the sand. They had a full equip¬ 
ment of machinery for growing potatoes 
and they understood the needs of the crop 
and how to best handle the machines. 
Spraying was done but not to the extent 
that had been called for where potatoes had 
been grown more intensively. It seemed 
to me that they had not prepared the 
ground as well as I would like for a good 
crop and the soil was considerably stony. 
If possible I would select fields somewhat 
less stony and would get the land plowed 
in the fall so as to be ready for earlier 
cultivation, at least a part of it. All the 
cultivation that can be done before plant¬ 
ing is desirable. 
While there were things that occured 
to me and that will probably come to 
their attention as they gain experience 
they got quite a crop of potatoes. One 
man did much better than the other. He 
was a more thorough farmer. However 
the crop was none too good and the best 
product was only a little over 3000 
bushels. 
Our markets were bad as might have 
been expected. The man who did the 
best got busy and by the means of a 
truck, took his crop to a manufacturing 
center some 25 miles away and sold them 
out a bushel or a few bushels at a place. 
He was successful in making sale of the 
greater part of them at a dollar a bushel. 
Potatoes were sold for shipment at 35 to 
60 cents a bushel. This farmer is said to 
have been fairly well satisfied with the 
first year experience. The other man 
appeared to be discouraged. 
From all that I can learn the experi¬ 
ment of the more thorough farmer shows 
very good results and a prospect of real 
success with money to buy a high-priced 
farm that might be better. But potatoes 
may be grown here. The other farmer is 
likely to go back, where he came from. 
CAN WE MILK COWS THE YEAR 
ROUND WITH SAFETY? 
READ Mr. Babcock’s article with much 
interest and I believe that with proper 
attention to the upkeep of the animal’s 
bodily requirements as well as the neces¬ 
sary elements for the production of a full 
flow of milk and maintenance of the good 
health of the cow it may be done. I have 
owned several cows that withstood the 
ordeal but the principle which acts as a 
physic to evacuate the bowels of the calf 
not being present in the milk I have 
thought it better to resort to a mild drug 
like syrup of rhubarb or cascara sagrada 
to produce that result. 
My neighbor who keeps but one cow for 
family use thinks he is ahead of the game 
by breeding only on every other year and 
gets as much milk and of as good quality 
the last year as the first.—W. B. Sutton. 
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