The Greeley tribune., 1909-12-30

Formers club and one of the best
know that ii is the custom II
,,rririrs for the New 1 ear edlNloH g
.,,t crop statistics as high as possi
~ but I believe. that all such eNaE
-.-stad reuorts are detrimental %
d. interests of the community M
tbn end. so I hope | may be pardoncU
If give the facts and hEuieS "s
they appear 20 me. A. .,.,
Nv nprsuuaI interest In the pota-
q, bvsiuess began in 1887, so l am
,,,t I'm uosftion to tell what had
bsan done before that time. rms
Fgrf is clear to my memory, now
ever. fifty sacks per acre was tohsld-
erred q fair crop and seyentl--A's
sacks was a large yield at that JllLe'
Crop yields had been getting small
er from year to year as there haH
been no way for fertillzius and puliA-
nag up the land. Manure alone seem
ed 10 be detrimental 20 the potato
crop and many believed it TO be the
cause of sCah on the tuuers.
1t was thought that land that pro-
duced scabby potatoes would never
produce clean ones and it is oW.nE
to this fact that the old home eiALlt
mat father bought had not been sold
10 another party.
These were the good old days
that we have been hearing so much
about when the quality of our pota-
toes was SO fine. | admit they were
good to eat, but not attractive 70
sell as they were usually small,
seabby or knotty.
Breaks Alfalfa
That year, 1887. 5. p. Bliss hired
a man to break several acres alfalfa
It was an open question whether he
would break the alfalfa or it would
break him. and it was stated that one
could not auord TO plow up a.talta
for S. per acre Four hundred BUSH
els per acre was the crop for that
year on this land and the potatoes
we're large. clean and free from scah.
/ do not know whether this was he
6rst alfalfa sod to be broken up but
It was the beginning of a new era
in the potato business.
The next step forward was the
building of No. reservoir which
gave us water for later irrigation.
Up to this time it had been neces-
sary to raise early or medium early
varieties, for which our section is
not especially adopted. Later plant
rag and so later harvesting became
The rule
Here let me add is another thing
that those who criticise the quality
Of our potatoes forget; the early
varieties and lack of late water al
loved the crop to fully mature be-
fore harvest which is essential to
GOOD eating quality. This cannot
always be obtained when raising late
varieties.
For a number of years after this
the farmers were getting adjusted
- these new conditions and work
ing out system OF crop rotation.
Then almost by accident new seed
from Wisconsin was introduced H.
G. Watson, while in Kansas City, saw
\ car OF potatoes from Wisconsin that
had been rejected They looked to
Mr.. watson like they woud make
good seed. and so were purchased
aad shipped to Greeley The crop
raised from them was so satisfactory
that the next year Mr.. Rothschild
went to Stevens Point. Wis, and
shipped a number OF cars here for
Ee@d
Other potato districts were drawn
npen. c. +. Mason brought in the
first car of Rural New Workers from
New York which have been found
especially adapted to some soils One
year. 400 cars of seed were shipped
IN from the Divide and last year I
Rothschild shipped in several cars
from Maine.
The breaking up of alfalfa sod
aecessitated the cultivation OF tht
srep before it came up in order tC
destroy the alfalfa that had started
growing again. This practice is oue
Of the most important in the Guilt
vation, and distinguished this distric
from all others.
The application of water. too, haC
been improved upon. Altogether tn
methods Of cultivation which are nov
0e same all over the district hav
beea hit upon by accident or force
Upen us by circumstances.
The machinery which we use ha
largely been made for our specia
Deeds and Greeley men have invent
ID ana perfected diggers. sorter,
dAachers, cutters, baskets and sac
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