The Delta independent., 1911-04-07
A crop OF spuds on Adobe.

va
Two years aev was rCIu that
poLa.oeS couiun'L De ra.Seu QG auO vt
SOILS. me s.LIi.ls salu IL nau peen
.rleu nunIper OF uImes anC away s
with lailLle. 1 repneo, CoIoraoo l.
a potato STATE ana therefore IT can
Hot De IN lne clImaIe, out must De
me SOIL or mS.nou OF cuI,iNaLAon.
said l was gong to RAISE potatoes Of
md out why not. i succeeded, and
now for the lnetLCd. ] inquired il
,nere was any element lacking in
the soil and was told that potatoes
require more nitrogen than is found
N the corn belt.
What are the conditions in the DO
tato region? Potatoes need a sandy
Ioam which implies decayed vege-
tatio such as we find in timbered
pejts or where much vegetation has
decayed. In other words. where tn ere
IS Il rainfall sufficient to produce
these conditions. Out here on the
arid praries, what little vegetation
grows dries up and is blown away. My
first object was to see if we could
find any soil approaching the ideal
conditions for the growing of pota-
toes or If not, to make that soil. |
found a piece of land somef sixty
rods from the Fountain river. The
soil was fine sand and adobe mixed
and yet having adobe enough to run
together and bake when il became too
wet
The plot was in an alfalfa field.
on slight roll where hay had been
: a r. cd nv
had, in connection with the alfalfa
field, been twice thoroughly irri-
gated the spring before we selected
it. The waste hay lying around had
been burned off. leaving an inch or
two of half rotted mold. This. to
my mind, gave almost an ideal soil
fro potatoes. ! had the ground
plowed about nine inches deep
better twelve to fifteen. Then we
smoothed it. My idea was to plant
the potatoes near the surface, and
then with a two-horse cultivator and
strong team to throw heavy
ridge over them and do the irrigat-
ing between the rows never allowing
the water to rise up as high as the
potatoes. but leaving capillary attrac-
AAbA ~ AAApANAt4 lAAt IAAEtS.
However. not having a team and
pillow OF my own. had man throw
up single furrow ridges with
twelve-inch plow. such as is done by
sweet potato ralsers With a right
hand pillow. he began on the left OF
the patch and threw a single ridge.
He drove back empty but his near
horse in the furrow, set his clevis
we'll to one side and threw a second
furrow. Then in returning he strad-
died the first ridge, tipped his pillow
to one side and let the double tree
and handles dress the first ridge,
and so he did with all the ridges.
| then pressed a hole in the ridge
with a stick. dropped in a potato,
pressed II down to about the natural
level of the soil and firmed the
ground over the seed. The stand
was ideally good.
AS soon as the potatoes needed
moisture we ran water between the
ridges some ten hours until the
ridgs lad time to absorb il. Then
As soon as the soil was dry enough
to admit of cultivation, we ran
iourte en-tooth. onehorse cIltivator
twice b. ween the rows leaving a fine
soil mulch. With a garden rake we
dressed the ridges similarly. leav-
ing the whole patch well covered with
a soil mulch two or three inches
deep. Thus we irrigated and culti-
waited right along until the potatoes
were made. The yield was about
100 bushels to the acre, but II
did IL again, / would count on not
less than 200 bushels. The principal
points to be noted are these: First
TO have plenty of humus plowed into
the soil next to irrigate whenever
the soil seems TO need it-and to
lrrigate long enough to allow the
ridges to absorb the moisture. Some
one says people irrigate a little but
the ridges never find IT out. Cultivate
as soon as the soil is dry enough.
never let the soil bake after irriga
tion-cultivate at once. The variety
Of potatoes and time of planting are
not essential although every grower
should raise some standard variety
hat yields well in his locality and
which has good reputation in the
markets to which he ships. The
larger the district for one variety.
the more each farmer will receive
Tor his crop. r. PAIGE, in Field
and Farm.
HELPFUL WORDS.