The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1912-04-30

%AdtkiS ~ LHS pAaAhSSS AOl
at least ten townships. a territory a.
least twenty miles east and west, NORTH
and south, and ! learn from the banks
that there was marketed from these
ten townships since Oct. ], last year
about 100000 worth of all the pro-
ducts from the farm, stock, grain, p0-
tatoes and butter from at least -four
creameries, everything sold amounted
to about 100000. Not a bad showing,
is it, ! am rather proud of the fact,
The farmers around Sabin In a terri-
tory OF seven miles across sold in the
same time since Oct. 4, more than two
thirds as much in potatoes alone, to
say nothing Of stock and grain and
other produce. Please take notice that
this territory is only about o~ne-seventh
as large as Parkers Prairie territory.
We have heard OF the man who had
a barrel of money, but the farmers
around Sabin literally have II. by the
wagon load. Just think of the idea
when we get to raising potatoes around
Parkers Prairie as they do at Sabin!
Then, my old friends would have to
take a light wagon and team TO town
to haul their money home that they
received for their crops.
On March 8 / saw 400 sacks of po-
tatoes brought in and remarked that
it was probably a busy day, but was
told that it was a very light day, and
n a often 5000 sacks were brought in
IN a single day. I saw farmers bring
ing In their crops of potatoes and TAX
ing home from $50 to SIS and in some
cases 500 per acre for their share of
the work. Show me the man near
Parkers Prairie who received $50 per
acre the past year for his crop and 1
will show YOU 500 farmers who did not
receive $50 and many not more than
SO per acre.
One old German farmer l approached
on the potato question freed himself
as follows: Potatoes have been the
making of this country and of me. Po-
tatoes have been raised around here
about eight years by the farmers gen.
orally, but Schroeder has raised them
for fifteen or sixteen years, and the
funny part of it is that he got rich
before any one Of US knew it. We
thought he had a lot of hard work in
his bones and no brains, but it Develop
ed that we had the work and little
money and Schroeder had the brains
and barrels of money. But at last
we caught on and now we too like
friends are reaping rich harvests every
year.. One thing we notice that the
land once planted to potatoes yields
about one-third more OF wheat, oats or
barley than the land hat has no pota-
toes.
A clerk in the store of Boyd & Wyatt
said: I'VE all picked potatoes in the
fall; when / vas a boy Is years old
my younger brother and / used to pick
from $50 to 175 bushels per day and
received az cents per bushel and this
lasted from three to four weeks. O.,
yes, I like to pick potatoes" he said,
and I could not see that he was just
as expert in tying up bundles and
counting change as some Of the clerks
at Parkers Prairie who do not know
what a potato looks like until it is
cooked up on his plate.
Sabin has three warehouses that will
hold $4,000 bushels of potatoes, and
one wheat elevator that holds $4,000
bushels. Henry Schroeder's home is
about one mile northeast and is a
splendid country homestead - the
buildings alone valued at $40, 900. 1
saw the record Of three farms that
were sold in the past six months, one
eighty acre farm was sold for $50, one
eighty acre for $3.50, and one $50 acre
farm for $62.5O per acre, all cash sales
and bought by old residents who had
made their money raising potatoes.
About 4:30 p. m. J.. j., Hill very kindly
had a passenger train arrive at Sabin,
and by paying Is cents I was allowed
to ride ove to Fargo. I registered at
the Hotel Gardner, where 1 had ar
ranged by phone to meet Mr.. Schroed-
er. Mr.. Schroeder arrived about S
o'clock and after a hearty handshake
l was invited to dine as his guest and
afterward ! asked many questions. To
all inquiries he gave intelligently and
freely all the information possible.
When asked about the beginning of
his potato raising, Mr.. Schroeder
gave me this information: 81 began
raising potatoes Is or Is years ago by
planting two acres. 1 peddIed them
out in Moorhead and Fargo and made
good money, hen / planted three or
four acres and sold them with the same
result. l then tried twelve or fifteen
acres, then thirty-five or forty-fve,
and a man came up from Minneapolis
and paid me $4,000 for this forty-fve
acre crop. 1 can tell you 1 felt pretty
good over this $4,000. 1t was the be-
ginning of a new life for me and my
family. We thought the question out
along this line, if there was money in
potatoes where three or four acres
were raised, also money in twelve or
sixteen acres, and still more money in
thirty-hve or forty five acres; why not
money in 100 to 200 acres-and we
have planted $50 to 800 acres every
year since. This season we expect to
plant 400 acres, and will have to en-
large the warehouses accordingly"
When asked il there had been one
year in the sixteen that he had rails
ed potatoes that he had not made
good, he very quickly said no, not one,
and when pressed to know the profits
for the past season, Mr.. s.. hesitated
and he said he did not like to make a
statement for the newspapers, but told
me c~onfidentially. and ] can tell you
the balance was on the right side of
the ledger, SO much so that he would
have represented the value of the best
$40 acre farm around Parkers Prairie
and have money left. When asked if
there was any danger of overlooking
the potato raising, he said no, we wiz
have t. raise enough to feed the peo-
pie OF the United States before we
can overstock the market. There are
thousands OF bushels of potatoes land.
ed in New York every week from Eu-