The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1908-04-24
By A. j. Mcclure, Superintendent of the
Experimental Station at Grand Rapids,
Minnesota,

Potatoes is the main marke
crop for northern Minnesota. TIL
soil and climate is especially favor
able to their growth. Under fai
conditions they yield from us t
225 bushels per acre. The cost O
growing them need not exceed So
per acre. The market price tn
past five years in this section of tn
state has averaged 90 cents pc
bushel, -Four acres of potatoes ar
grown On the Experiment farm
every year. They are grown in
rotation with wheat, clover AM
fodder corn. The ground is ma
nured lightly for the fodder corr
and again for the potatoes. TIL
carmen No. l potato is grown ex
clusively on these four acres. Othe
varieties are grown on small plots
and in comparison with the Carmen
but none have been found to yielt
so well or as satisfactory in genera
as the Carmen. The carmen is ;
white potato, oval in shape and
medium to late in maturing. 1t i:
quite firm in texture, good flavor
keeps well, and is one of the best
selling potatoes On the market
The Carmen No. 3 potato is fire,
quently inquired for in comparison
with No. l. They are practically
the same. For an early potato the
Early Sunlight or Early Ohio is
recommended. The past year
modern potato machinery was used
on the Experimental farm-The
AspinwalI planter and sprayer and
a Hoover digger. These makes"
of potato machinery are not recon-
mended as better than others, as
they were not used in comparison
with other makes" They proved
practical and satisfactory, however,
and for growing potatoes on a
large scale potato machinery is
recommended From three to four
acres can be planted or dug in a
day. The sprayer sprays four rows
at time and a four or five acre
field can be gone over in quarter
OF day. For a potato digger to
work at its best the field should be
quite free from weeds and grass,
also of stones. In the growing of
potatoes there are a few general
rules that are profitable to follow
Select good seed. Get good var
1ety and keep it pure, and stick to
it till you are sure of improvement
by changing. By selecting the
best potatoes for seed every year it
becomes a better variety. Small,
inferior seed tends to run out the
crop. Scabby seed produces scabby
potatoes, and not only this but it
1nfests the soil, so that potatoes on
the same ground within the next
two or three years will be affected.
For this and other reasons potatoes
should be grown on the same land
but once every third Or fourth year.
Scab may be destroyed on seed
potatoes by treating the seed with
formaldehyde. One quart of for
mandehyde in three-quarters of
a barrel of water. Put the pota-
toes i'll sacks and submerge in the
barrel for two or three hours.
This formaldehyde is a poison and
potatoes treated in it should be
used for seed only. Tornado
hyde can be bought at any drug
store. 1t is cheap, and the treat
ment takes but little work, and
should be used whenever there is
any sign of scab. A sandy loan
soil is best for potatoes. 1t should
be high land, or we'll drained, as
potatoes drown out quickly on wet
soil. In the rotation potatoes do
best following clover. The soil
cannot be too rich. The yield may
be increased from third to one
half through barn-yard manure.
On the Experiment farm the pota-
toes are planted in rows thirty
inches apart and eighteen inches
apart in the row. After planting
the field is narrowed thoroughly
every week till the potatoes are up,
and then cultivated every week or
ten days throughout the growing
season. The past two years the
vines were sprayed for blight though
the disease was not prevalent to
any marked extent. The treat
ment used was blue vitrol five
pounds, quick lime three pounds,
dissolved in fifty gallons of water.
This is known as Bordeau mixture
and may be used for various kinds
of blight. In spraying the potato
vines with this treatment Paris
green was also used with it to de-
stroy the bugs. In growing pota-
toes it is advisable to grow the same
variety throughout the neighbor-
hood. Where one or several car
loads can be shipped of the same.
variety of potatoes it commands
much better market. This cannot
be done where every farmer grows
a different kind. In storing pota-l
toes there are few points that are
well to consider. To keep well,