Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1909-06-01
$4,000 FROM 100 ACRES
How Pottnger Gardens for 1000 Patients at Dunnipg


The writer recently spent few
hours in the farm department at Dun
ming. where the poor, the insane and
the consumptiyes of Cook county are
cared for. Under the management of
C. w. Pottinger the farm has become
a most important, adjunct both as
source of food for 1000 patients and
as successful example of industrial
training for the deficient. His results
and methods have a valuable lesson
for every man who would mingle sound
business with his agriculture. Mr..
Pottinger is the best example of
book farmer" the writer ever saw. He
not only gets help from the printed
page, but he grows good crop of his
own ideas for the general scheme and
all the details of that 100-acre garden
and the work of his 63 men, and he so
arranges these plans on paper that he
can find any item at a moments no.
tice. While the writer was working
up a headache with the effort to ask
right questions and comprehend the
rapid-fire answers, there sat Professor
Farr silently chuckling to see Mr.. Pot
finger reach for one note book after
another and make prompt and definite
reply, besides explaining other feat
ureS.
Most farmers, even the most thought
full and progressive ones, will say Il
don't know" 81 didn't set that down,
Il didn't measure it" Il never figured
than out" or 81 can't tell to three
fourths of the questions you ask about
the definite facts of what they have
done But not so with Mr. Pottinger
He knew, and he had it in black and
white, and therein lies the peculiar
value of his services What did he
know?
Exact Plan of This Years Crops.
One thing is the entire plan of the
garden. The place is divided into plots
Every kind of vegetable, its exact loca
ton in the plot, how many rows, how
far apart the rows are to be, how al
ternated with companion crops or how
succeeded by second crop, is definite
|
great deal of careful study for LOT
acres and nearly so products.
| The directions for planting, distance
between hills, number of seeds in {
Ihill, are written down, and when it is
necessary to set man TO do this worl
alone, he is sometimes given a slip o.
paper with the one line of his direc
lions for that day.
| So much care is given to double
cropping that one year he got 13l
acres and another year 149 acres o.
crops from 100 acres of land. All pc
tatoes are followed by other crops The
same season. A great companion croI
for potatoes is the Fordhook squash
they are planted in the potato field il
lrows II feet apart by simply hoeins
out two hills of potatoes for hill o
Isquashes. The latter, do not interfer'
with the cultivation, and after the pc
ltatoes have made their growth, thu
lsquash vines spread out to cover tn
lground. The, Fordhook will keep al
winter. Spinach, lettuce, and othe
ling required to estimate his yield o
POTATOES, he measured an acre in tn
morning, the potatoes were dug, ant
lat night that acre was in wax beans
Asked what time in the season thi
was, he opened a book and in less thai
La minute said, July 23"-when tn
writer caught Professor Fairs cover
lsmile. Likewise, pickle ground grow
a crop of Kolrabbi, early beans, spinac
or radshes before the cucumbers ar
Iplanted. And there are many othe
combinations.
Keeps List of jobs.
Mr. Pottinger carries a note boo
and jots down everything that need
to be done. These notes are copie
into desk book, with the word show
ling the kind of work as hauling" L
"cultivating," standing first in the lin,
When men is set to do a certai
kind of work as hauling, it takes bu
a minutes glance down the left of tn
list to see how many jobs of haulin
are waiting, and to select the most in
portant, and whatever kind of ma
is presented for work, it is easy to fin
him a job from that list. When job:
done, its line is scratched off.
Another little table showed the Gro
and manuring scheme. This plot wa
MANFRED in 1906, the next in 1907, tn
next in 1908 and the next in 1909. TIL
succession of crops is also show,
Some crops should not be grown in
mediately after manuring 1t is bette
for beans to follow beans on the sam
ground SO the bacteria of that plan
may thrive in the soil. So this tabl
| is useful.
Another chart shows by month
when each crop will be harvested, :
as to know when to begin with som,
thing else on the same ground
Seeds are tested to know their pc
centage of termination, but in thi
case it is not always practical to r,
ject seed of low termination Mr.. Pc
finger has figured out table shown
how many good seeds of each kin
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