Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 132, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 June 1915 — POTATO POINTERS [ARTICLE]

POTATO POINTERS

Hew a Fifteen-Year-Old Club Member Raised His Crop on Irrigated Land ▲ fifteen-year-old member of the Department of Agriculture’s and Utah’s Agricultural College Potato Club has raised a crop of potatoes valued at >187.77 on one-half acre. His net profits were >141.07. This is the best record of all the Utah potato Club boys, and as a result Howard Dalton, of Willard City, Utah, the champion, was given a trip to California. Although the year was not quite so good for potato production as usual, young Dalton made a record which has probably not been exceeded more than a dozen times in that district, and then only by Merle Hyer, and the potato champion club adult experts, who had studied and put into practice the most advanced methods of farming. As others who grow potatoes on irrigated land may be interested in this boy’s achievement, below is the story in his own words of just how he did it, which may be of value to potato growers not only in Utah but in the Irrigated sections of Colorado, Idaho, Washington, California, Wyoming, Montana, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Kansas and Nebraska. Here is the story: “In the early spring I bought my seed potatoes at Burley, Idaho I purchased the Idaho Rural potatoes. They were not especially selected seed, therefore I was very careful in preparing the seed for planting. I was anxious that every seed piece had one or two perfect eyes on it I then treated the seed with a formaldehyde solution (one pint to 30 gallons water.) This treatment consisted in soaking the seed (before cutting) for two hours in the prescribed solutloii. The purpose of the treatment was to kill any scab germs appearing on the surface of the potatoes. Other than this there was no treatment given. “From March 20 to March 30 I prepared my land. I covered the ground with barnyard manure, using 8 tons of wet manure to the half acre. I plowed the land 12 inches deep, using four horses for the work. I immediately followed the plow with a spring tooth harrow. I harrowed it three different times. I did the plowing in the forenoon and followed with the harrow in the afternoon. I did this to conserve the moisture and mellow the soil. After harrowing I pulverized the elods by dragging up the soli with a square framed timber. I tried in every way to be particular about, every phase of cultivation as I figured that the secret of my success was good cultivation. “Five days later, on April 5, I again went over the land with a spring tooth harrow. The following week I again went over it with a spiked tooth harrow which kept the soil moist and mellow. Just before planting I went over it again with the square Umber in order to make it perfecUy level. On April 18 I the seed in plowed furrow* Ts. imtfces deep and the rows 30 tec* ' aparfe the seed being dropped ab 1- inches apart in the rows. ThdOu.l was then covered about 4 inches deep with a small hand plow. As boom as the litUe plants appeared above the ground I began my work on the field. lat once freed the field of weeds by giving it a thorough harrowing with a spiked tooth harrow. This I did May 5 and repeated the asms treatment on May 12. On May 26 I used the hand cultivator drawn by one horse, giving them a thorough cultivation with this implement, after which I cultivated them once with the hand hoe, cleaning out all of the wedes. “During all the time I was working in my potatoes I watched their growth very carefully, as I was warned about the appearance of plant diseases and insect enemies which might appear to Injure the plants. Fortunately, as far as I was able to detect, neither plant diseases nor insect enemies appeared, as the growing plants had such a strong, thrifty appearance. “Up to June 15 the plants had grown rapidly and gave a strong, vigorous appearance. Soon after this date they began to blossom and on June 25 I gave them the first application of irrigation water. I irrigated them on July 5 and again on July 20. The crop V&s matured with but these three applications of water. After the second irrigation the vines were so large that I could not work in them without destroying them. The operations practically ceased from this time on until the tubers were ripe and ready for digging. I sent a selected 50 lbs to the State Fair which was held at Salt Take City, October 3-10, for which I received honorable mention by the judges. On October 13, 14 and 15 I harvested the' crop and the potatoes were weighed and sold right from the field. I found on careful checking of the weights that my half acre had produced 360 bushels of marketable potatoes, the equivalent of 720 bushels per acre. “The following table will give the itemized cost of production with the net profits per half acre. Value of crop >187.77 COST Value of manure- ..—->2.00 Spreading manure Plowing —— 100 Harrowing six times— 1.50 Leveling - —— 1-00 Cost of seed} 450 lbs.. Planting seed Cultivating two times—. LOO irrigating three times— LSO Weeding once —l-50 Harvesting 18.00 Kent on land— • 8-0° Total cost Profits —.