Smyrna times., 1890-12-10
Wonderful Crop Raising.
ALMOST A THOUSAND BUSHELS OF PO-
TATOEs GROWN ON A SINGLE ACRE.

1AlOEo GkOWN On A SINGLE ACRE.
The most marvellous achievements
in crop raising ever known are the re-
suit of a competition in which farmers
all over the country have joined the
past season to win prizes which were
offered by the american Aqriculturist.
So extraordinary have been the yields
by several competitors that the result
seems to signify almost revolution in
the scientific practice of agriculture,
and the discovery of new and priceless
secrets of natures laboratory. To have
actually grown 135 bushels of oats on
one acre (43,56O square feet, 1881 bu-
shells of potatoes on one acre, so BUSH
els of wheat on one acre, and 225 bu.
shells of shelled corn within the limits
of one acre, was the magnificent total
of the Agricultural crop competition of
1889. In each class these were the
largest crops ever grown upon one
acre so far as incontestable proof had
made previous large crops a matter of
proven record. But 1889 was an un-
favorable year for Irish potatoes, there
fore the Agricuiturist renewed tfie CON
test and offered large prizes for the best
| crop grown in 1890. This years expe-
rience has demonstrated the possibility
of producing 1000 bushels Of potatoes
on one acre of land. Yet the season
has been on the whole, more unfavora-
bic than 1889, the average yield for the
whole country being placed at only 574
! bushels per acre by the United States
| Department of Agriculture One ad-
vantage, however, is that the two sea
son S were so much alike that compar-
isons of results and methods by the
| contestants last year and this season.
can be fairly and intellgently made.
The forthcoming number of the Agrj-
cmturist will give statement of the
! fOrty-One crops reported that exceed
! $50 bushels per acre. Partial reports
were received from several hundred
| farmers who estimated their crops at
from 100 to 400 bushels per acre, but
| did not think such crops sufficient to
warrant going to the trouble of weigh
ing and harvesting in the presence of
witnesses, so that all the details could
be sworn to, as required by the rules
The winner of the first prize is Will
liam J. Sturges of Buffalo, Johnson
county, Wyoming. His acre of pota-
toes yielded 974 bushels and IS pounds.
The crop was grown on virgin soil,
without manure or fertilizer, but the
land was rich in potash and the copious
irrigation was of water also rich in sa-
line matter. There were %, 500 hills
on one acre, and $50 mounds of sets,
containing one, two and three eyes,
were planted of the early Vermont and
Manhattan varieties. The profit on
the crop, on this first prize acre, was
STA, exclusive of $500 in prizes
The yield described, is of course, phe-
nomenal, but the natural conditions
were also, to say the least, unusual.
The result in the case of the man TAX
ing second prize is perhaps of greater
interest, because it was the largest crop
ever raised on fertilizers. r. A. CHS
holm, of Del Norte, Southern Colorado
is the winner of the second prize, on
crop of 847 bushels Mr.. Chisholm
used 900 pounds of fertilizer to pro-
duce this wonderful yield. His land is
adjoinin and practically identical with
that which produced the sixth prize,
(Nisbet), crop of 49l bushels in 1889 on
a heavy application of stable manure.
The two seasons, cultures, irrigation
and variety being alike, furnish sin
gular proof of the fact that few
pounds Of plant food in the right forms
so as to become available at the right
times, nave almost doubled the crop
over what it was on stable manure