The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-01-29
Plant EarIy Potatoes.


 The wise man said that there was a time for all things, a time to weep and time to rejoiee. a time to SOW and a time to reap. This Is true in regard to va rlous crops. There is a time when 1t will nav to grow certain crops and time
 when the planting of the same crops would bring financial loss. The potato erop-that is the early potato as grown in the south for shipments to northern markets-furnishes strong object les son. from the fact that there Is a time to plant and a time when we should not plant.
 First. I want to give little of the his- torv of the efforts made with this early notato crop: also wish to give some ex- neriences and timely advise regarding the growing of early potatoes for shipment to the northern markets, and what l say about the potato crop along this line IS equally true for nearly every crop grown for shipment by our southern farmers. The success and profits from all such crops depend largely upon the misfortunes of others. This is perhaps more nearly true of the potato crop than any other
 The whole matter of success and pronts Tn any of these perishabe crops, grown for shipment, narroWs down 10 what l have so often stated and tried to impress upon our readers, which Is the importance of organization, cooperation and educa- tion. .
 Why did our potato growers of 1904 all make money out of their crops2 1t came largely in consequence of failure, the
 misfortune of 1903 The crops or the northern growers of the year l5o5 was a short one and the great potato mar kets of the northern cities were sold out of potatoes early in the season, ana thls made a great demand for the early crop
 nf 1e04 But conditions were completely re- versed in 1905, for in 1904 the growers or
 the north again produced a great crop or potatoes and these sold cheap through the entire season. Fine stock sold as low as IS cents per bushel as late as May and sold so low that merchants mad to
 send their teams out to the country TOT their supply for they were so cheap thas farmers would not loose time from their farms to haul them to the markets.
 Our southern growers in the spring or 1905 excited over the results and prohts of the crop of 1904 rushed headlons in spite of all advice and reason, 1nto the
 planting of a great acreage or potatoes
 What was the result? Financial suicide.
 What would have been saved If our farm- CTS had only investigated this matter and learned that the people upon whom they
 were depending to buy their crops Woulu not pay 75 cents to s1 per bushel Tor new potatoes, when they could buy me old stock for 20 cents per bushel, Here IS where the importance of education eohies in. When a man concludes that he wants
 to plant a crop for shipment, nc shouiu ask himself the. question: who Is to puy this crop and what are the chances or my getting enough out of 1t to pay me for my labor of growing 1t? It Is ahso-
 lutely necessary for tho grower 10 ac- quaint himself with all these conditions.
 Besides this. he should also know what
 class of goods that 1t will pay him to
 pack and ship He must. If he expects to
 succeed take into account that ne ls a
 long way from the market, that there ls a long haul and many chances TOT oeldy i, and, in conscequence of this, he shouia
 know the importance of careful grading,
 packing and shipping only hrst-class goods, put up in such an attraeelNe way
 as to catch the eye of the buyer.
 The grower should fully understand now to nreparei his seed beds and what plant foods to use for each crop so as 10 pro, duce not only fine appearing irult anu vegetables, but crops grown With s@ucn @ plant foods as will make the frults hri, h, and able to hold up in good condition un,il l they can reach the market To get thls result in early potatoes we must use potash. The bad season of 1905 aggravated the bad market condition and many or the potatoes where the soil was overfed wlth nitrogen became soft and rotten betofe they reached the markets. But in splte oi all these adverse conditions many or our older associations, who thoroughly under stood and practiced these matters, hnaue
 some money out of their potato crops. oe- casionally a new association made money I have in mind an association at Amory,
 Miss. that organized. They plahteo early potatoes and following the lnstrue- tions of my book on potato growing, lucy were able to produce 200 bushels Of a me onalit,, of notatoes per acre. These were carefully sorted and cleaned, packed prop erly shipped to Birmingham and hetteo
 the growers $1 per sbushel l hauled half bushel of these potatoes in my car TOT more than two months Of our hottest sum
 rner weather, and they kept in pertecl
 condition. I mention this to show wha' education means to our growers along
 these lines. The only way by which oul
 southern growers may make money ou'
 of many of these crops is to stay with them year in and year out, through advef- sity and prosperity and not be piunSers
 plunging in when the price IS up ano plunging out when the price Is down Stick to potatoes as we have to cotton ah ana
 we will succeed. When cotton wen'
 down to cents, did our farm
 CTS quit cotton? No, they had te stick by 1t and instead of quitting cotton they began to organize, cooperate ana ed
 uoate, and what is the result? We nave 10 cent instead of cent cotton.
 The potato growers of the great potat' growing states can no more anord t' quit growing potatoes when they gel down to 15 cents per bushel, than could our cotton growers quit growing cottof when 1t got down to cents per pound They have made money by staying bS the crop. This brings up another though in this connection and a very importan one. too 1 have tried to impress upoI our readers, that in view of the Ions haul and the uncertainties of the market the importance of keeping stock on tn' farm, so that If prices do not JustifS ahipment. the crops may be fed to stoel on the farm and sold in the form of poul try, mutton, pork or butter fat. In thii way the farmer always has ready mar ket for all that he can produce. Thii Is good way to dispose of cheap pota toes.
 In 1905 l foresaw the crash that wal bound to come to the early potato crop so I advised our readers to plant spar ingly and provide stock to eat the croI if there was no market. Had they needed our advice 1t would have been grea saving of money and labor and with las years experience with potato growing, nc one wants to listen to any advice abou potatoes this season yet, this Is the sea son for our southern growers to agair plant early potatoes and the farmer whC goes at the matter In an intelligent way will make money out or his potato croI and this revenue will come in at a tim' when money Is most needed in the coun try.
 Many of our southern farmers have thi. advantage in potato growing. They cal produce a crop of early potatoes on thei