The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1914-08-22
June Showers in Shawnee
County Boon to Farmers.
FIVE TRAIN LOADS POTATOES
Equivalent Has Been Shipped
BY Two Local Firms.
Topeka Is IN Important Potato
Shipping Center.

Contrary to advance notices the Kaw
valley has produced great crop OF
yield. but there are many growers who
claim that the crop is better than nor
NAL. Early in June one Shawnee coun-
ty grower with four or five acres of
potatoes would have sold his entire
output for $50. Showers came and
soaked the ground and his yield has
been 100 bushels to the acre. Promi-
nent growers claim yields averaging
between 100 and $50 bushels to the
acre.
Topeka shippers have handled sew
eral hundred bushels of Kaw valley
potatoes this season. They are doing
q record business. The demand il par
ticularly heavy at the present time.
Heavy Potato Shipments.
Two Topeka firms, Whiteker Broth
ers and w. o. Anderson. each have
shipped more than 100 carloads Of
''spuds' this season. They send out
three or four loads a day. These two
concerns have shipped the equivalent
Of five solid trainloads Of potatoes Of
forty cars each, or six million pounds
the last week an average of between
forty and forty-five cents q bushel for
their potatoes loaded on the cars.
w. o. Anderson. local dealer, said
today: There has been the most Pc
culiar condition this season we have
ever known. The fields that were
frosted last spring are those that have
produced the best potatoes. They are
large and smooth, while the others
due to q second growth-are knotty.
The smooth potatoes have been bring
ing as much as 10 cents q bushel more
than the poorer potatoes.
The growth OF the potato plants
that were nipped by the frost was
seriously ehecked. Consequently when
the Juno rains began there was prac-
tically no tuber growth. On the other
hand. the potatoes set early on the
plants not injured by frost. but when
the dry weather arrived the latter
part Of iaay they became dormant.
Later when the ground became water
soaked there was second growth
with tho result that the potatoes were
covered with knobs. The rains start
ed q growth of tubers on the frosted
plants. and they grew large and
smooth.
| Topeka IL Cente-
Topeka furnishes a great market for
| the growers OF potatoes in Shawnee
and adjacent counties. One local
| commission nan estimated that $500
carloads Of potatoes are handled in
this city in twelve months. Topeka is
I q distributing center for the potatoes.
| Thousands Of bushels are shipped here
| from other states when the local sup
| ply has become exhausted. The Kaw
valley crop will practically be disposed
| of by October 1.
i Irish potatoes have always been an
| important crop in Shawnee and the
/ acreage devoted to this staple has
/ steadily increased from the early set
II Element OF the county.
II All Grow Potatoes.
Although nearly every farmer raises
II enough potatoes for his own use, the
II production for market purposes ha.
n been developed most extensively along
the Kaw river bottoms. Nineteenth
II of the potatoes grown are of the Early
II Ohio variety. Generally speaking lit
tie attention has been given to the i'm
II provement Of seed.
II The annual potato crop of Shawnee
county aggregates 100000 in value
II 160, 900 buhels in round numbers. o.
II course the market price varies.
H. Topeka Is a big center for the potato
industry. Including those potatoes
THAT are shipped from other points BY
the local commission men q million
dollars worth of potatoes are handled
in twelve months. F. L. S.
Editors note: This il the thir.
teenth Of = series Of articles on agri
culture in shawnee county published
| in the state Jo,1rnQ1A