The Bemidji daily pioneer. [volume] (Bemidji, Minn.) 1904-1971, 1905-01-30
Tubers Thrive Well in This
Section Of the State Of
Minnesota.
THE CARMEN VARIETY SHOW
THE BEST RESULTS.
Field Potatoes Can Easily Be
Made to Yield 1865 BusheI
to The Acre.

Bulletin mber 43 of the ex Z
detrimental sub station at Grand
Rapids deals with potatoes and
is as follows
Northeastern Minnesota is es-.
pecially adapted for potato grow
ing as potatoes do best on soil of
a sandy nature. Considerable at.
tention has been given to potato
growing at the Northern Expert
ment Farm. Over 60 different
varieties have been tested as to
adaptability, yield, quality etc.
From 3 to - acres of potatoes
have been grown every year, so
that field conditions and the cult.
walton Ct potatoes as a market
crop have been studied as well as,
test of varieties.
VARIETIES: In the variety
test as in test Of oats potato has
been found that seems best for
this section Of the state. The
Carmen potato has done best at
the Experiment Farm both in
Yield and quality. It's a white
potato some what oval in shape
and rather late in maturing.
There are two varieties of Car.
men; Carmen No. 1 and 3, but
the difference between them is
very slight. Aside from the
Carmen there are a number of
varieties that do very well, among
which might be mentioned, the
Pingree, Wonderful, Uncle Sam,
Early Sunlight, Maggy Murphy,
Burbank and Prize Taker.
Foran early potato the following
are used: Early Ohio, EARLY Sun
light, Prize Tal1er and EARLY Tri-
umph. For a field potato the
early varieties are not as desir-
able as the later ones unless in.
tended to market early, as the
vines die early and give the weeds
a chance to grow. Furthermore
they are not as heavy yielders as
the later varieties.
At the present time the market
favors a white potato over the red
and in size, medium rather than
very large.
YIELD: The field potatoes (644
acres at the Northeast Expert
ment Farm in 1904 yielded 1875
bushels per acre Of these over
95 per cent were marketable.
there being very few small ones.
In 1902 the potatoe crop averaged
2O2 bushels per acre. This may
be considered the maximum
yield under field conditions. In
the variety test (small plots a
much larger yield is freq uently
secured, but for a field 200.
bushels per acre is extra good.
SOIL: AS was stated in the
beginning potatoes do best on
sandy soil The soil, however,
must be rich in fertility to pro-
duce a good yield. Ordinary
farm land should always be
MANFRED for potatoes.
It is important to select rather
high ground for potatoes or
ground that is well drained.
Potatoes drown out very easily
where there is an excess of water
in the soil. Use the same ground
for potatoes only about every
third year. Potatoes are more
subject to disease when grown
successfully on the same soil.
In this section Of the state
where the farms are necessarily
small potatoes should be grown
for market, as there is no field
crop more profitable for the
small farm than potatoes. Du-
luth and the Iron Range towns
will afford a good market for po
tatoes and the farmers of north
ern Minnesota should supply it..
It should not be the aim to
make potatoes the only market
able crop. One line farming
whether wheat, potatoes or cot
ton always brings about the same.
result; "a run out farm. a.
good share of the crop whether
the farm is large or small must
be fed on the farm, and sold in.
the form of meat, butter and
*