Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1906-10-18
GREAT POTATO DEMAND
PERSISTENT INQUIRY FROM
EASTERN sEEDsMEN FOR PURE
STRAINS OF TUBERs,; W

i 81 T. = O.
BUT UNFORTUNATELY NORTH
DAKOTA FARMERS FAIL 70
y. SUPPLY THIS MARKET. :.
| In a conversation with r. F. Flint.
assistant state dairy commissioner
who has recently returned from Wis
consin and Illinois, where he has been
assisting Commissioner Gilbreath at
the state and county fairs, he called
the attention Of the Tribune to the
persistent inquiry from tanners and
seedsmen of the above states for pure
strains of potatoes from this state.
IF the farmers of the state" said
Mr.. Flint, would pay more attention
to the purity of the varieties of .pota-
toes they grow they would quickly
build up an immense export trade in
the tubers. AS it is the state exports
large quantities of potatoes, but they
are about all used for food and it is
| rare that the careful farmer or the
scotsman Of the eastern or central
states can buy pure seed in this
| market. u.s..
"The many exhibits made at the
| worlds fairs and the state county
fairs of this states splendid potatoes
has educated the world to the fact
that our potatoes are the finest to be
found. Not only are they large and
of excellent quality, but they are uni
formly free from the ills which affect
the eastern tuber, and for this reason
| they are rapidly growing in favor with
buyers in the General and southern
state markets. But there is general
complaint that the potatoes are not
true to variety and name and the
claim is we'll founded Most of our
| farmers seem to think that a potato
is potato; that they all taste equally
good, and therefore little care is TAX
en- to secure good, pure seed and
maintain it. The varieties are very
badly mixed, so much so that half the
farmers do not know what they are
planting-and don't seem to care
what they plant so long as they get a
crop which sells we'll in the local
market.
ut is different with the farmer oil
the middle and eastern states. He
would never dream of mixing his vari
cites and he is just as careful of this
point as he is of keeping his strains
OF cattle pure. 1t costs no more tt
raise the pure article and keep it pure
than it does to raise a nlongrel and g
mongrel potato is as sure to deterior
ate in the end as will cattle that are
| allowed to mix.
"At Springfield, ILL.,, and other points
We We're told by buyers that they had
about given up the attempt to get
straight varieties of potatoes in this
state; that they had bought many car
loads of alleged early Ohio only to
| ind they were badly mixed, and as a
result they had been compelled to
look elsewhere, as they must have
what the markets demand. In other
states farmer cannot sell to advan-
tage mixed varieties of potatoes and
he has learned, as will our own farm
ers in time, that he must defer to the
demands of the best markets or 90 out
of business.
There is a profitable market for
those who can furnish the straight
goods in the potato line and l wish I
| could impress this fact upon our
farmers. 1t is not enough for the
farmer to feel so independent as to
say these potatoes are good enough
| for me, and they will have to be good
enough for the other fellow for he
has found to his cost that mixed wheat
has cost him thousands of dollars
where the profit would have been on
the other side of the ledger had he
been more careful of his varieties
The good farmer watches the market
and caters to the demand, and the
man who fails to do this is going to
land in the tail of the procession as
sure as fate. We have thousands of
eastern and middle state farmers with
US now who know what the potato
market demands as they have sup
piled the markets in their old homes
and have had the experience. These
should be the leaders in educating the
farmers to improve their products and
thus improve prices and demand"
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