Golden Valley chronicle. (Beach, Billings County, N.D.) 1905-1916, 1910-09-23
KEEPING UP POTATO QUALITY
Practical Method is to Set Aside Piece
of Land for Growing Seed for
Following Year.

by T. A. HOvERsTAD. Superintendent
of Farmers lnstitute.)
II is quite q common belief that po-
tatoes will run out" when they have
beer grown on the same farm after
a number of years, unless the variety
has been changed. That potatoes do
run out" or deteriorate both in yield
and size is quite common expert
ence. 1t is doubtful whether this run
ming out is unavoidable. Some grow
ers seem to be able to grow the same
variety on the same farm year after
year and still the size and quality do
not seem to deteriorate. An Institute
associate reported that a particular
grower in his neighborhood had kept
the same variety on his farm for thir
ty-five years, and instead of running
out it was gradually being improved.
The reduction in the size of the
tuber and in the yield is doubtless due
to Indifference in seed selection and
neglecting to take proper care of the
growing crop. Very often the best po-
tatoes are sold or consumed at home
and only the small and inferior ones
are used for seed. When the potatoes
are growing, there is very little done
to protect the potatoes from insects,
weeds or plant diseases. Under these
conditions it is not at all strange that
potatoes will run out" In order to
keep up the quality and yield some
plan must be introduced and followed
that will give the potato the best
chance to grow and develop. One of
the important things to consider is
the selection of the seed. This is a
matter that the eXperimentors have
given a great deal of attention to, and
more and more data is reported every
year.
The writer has found the following
method to be practical under farm
conditions: A separate piece of land
is set aside for growing the potatoes
that are TO be used for seed the fol
lowing year. This seed plot should be
piece of land on which potatoes have
not been grown on the previous year.
1t should he in good condition in re-
gard to filth and fertility. This piece
Is marked out in squares. Potatoes
can be grown in hills about three and
half feet apart each way. A num-
! Der of uniform sized, smooth pota-
toes should be of the type that the
After they are properly treated, each
potato is put in its proper hill before
it is cut. Each potato is then cut into
four pieces so that all the potatoes
grown in one hill will come from the
same potato. During the growing
season any hill that does not show
health and vigorous growth should be
destroyed When the potatoes are
ripe and ready to be dug, each hill
should be dug separately and the po-
tatoes in each hill should be studied
separately. 1t will be seen that there
! is great variation in the yield of each
hill. At this time the potatoes that
are to be used for the seed plot the
following year should be selected.
Only those hills should be selected
that contain the largest number of po-
tatoes of the type that is desired. The
! product from each hill can be kept
separately until the following year
and it can be put in a separate row by
itself In this way the strain or sub
varieties can be kept separate. Only
those that show themselves to be
good producers should be grown. Aft
er the potatoes for the seed plot have
been selected. the rest can be used for
seed for the field of potatoes the fol
lowing year.
Doubtless there is going to continEe
to be demand from the south tor
northern grown seed potatoes 1t
should be wise plan for the North
Dakota farmer to establish a system
of selection, SO in case the demand for
seed potatoes will continue to be good
they will be ready to furnish the
market with superior article The
experimentors in growing potatoes in
the south have shown that potatoes
from the northern grown seed has pro
duced so much better yields that il
pays the southern farmer to buy north
ern grown seed every year rather thar
try to raise potatoes from their owl
home grown potato.