Newark post., 1914-10-21
Potato Culture And
The Potash Supply

In my last article on "Impor
tant Potato Conferences, y | prom
ised our readers later a discussion
on the cultural practices together
with the yields in the various po
tato districts of the United States
Perhaps we would get our great
est value from two districts will
which we are closely interested
the first, the Aroostook district in
Maine, from whence comes our
Irish Cobbler seed, and also dsi.
trict which completes to some ex.
tent with our late fall crop; the
second district, that known as the
Norfolk district of Virginia, COM
prising the vicinities of Norfolk on
the Western Shore of the Chesa.
peake Bay and the counties of Ac-
tomac and Northampton on the
astern shore of Virginia. This
latter district is our first competi.
tor in the early market.
The Aroostook district is unique
in that it is a country made rich
by the potato crop. The famous
Aroostook potato district lies in
the eastern part of Aroostook
county, including the country
reaching from Cary to Stockholm,
a distance of nearly 80 miles as the
crow flies and varying in width
from 25 to so miles. Probably no.
where in America has a plant re-
ceived better culture. The youth s
"air castles are built of pota-
toes The mortgage has been lift
ed and the new building erected
from potatoes, and | want to say
the farmsteads Of Aroostook are
such as any farmer may be proud
of. Everything is subordinate to
the potato crop. 1t must be plant
ed on time and it will be sprayed
regardless of the hay or oat crop.
1t is the big cash crop. The rota-
tion of oats, seeded down with
mixture of clover and timothy;
the latter or hay crop may occupy
the ground two or three years
when it is followed by potatoes
one or two seasons. The use of
fertilizer for the potato has grad
ually increased. Five or ten years
ago they were using 1000 to 1000
lbs. per acre; now they are using
from 1900 lbs. to one ton. One of
the growers, Mr.. F. 0. Simonson
of Limestone. Maine, showed us
splendid field Of Cobblers, on 60
acres of which he used 50 tons of
fertilizer that cost him $500 per
ton. | could see no evil effects of
such heavy application. ThE
yields depend entirely upon the
culture, fertilizer, and rotation.
All planting, cultivation, and har-
vesting with the exception of
picking) is done with the aid of
machinery. Much of the blowing
is done in the fall. The potatoes
are planted rather shallow, about
three inches deep. The Robbins
Improved planter is quite gener-
ally used The rows are usually
placed 32 inches apart and the po-
tatoes dropped IA inches apart in
the row. They are given from 4
to 6 thorough cultivation, the last
two or three consisting of ridging.
Here we find practiced the highest
ridging in any potato district of
the United States. The soil is ell
evated IA to Is inches, leaving
deep burrows between the rows.
This practice would permit of too
much drying in our central and /
southern potato districts. The crop
is sprayed from two to five times.
The well-kept fields, free from
weeds and almost perfect in stand,
white or purple with blossoms, is
a sight worth seeing. The recent
average yields in Aroostook are
probably 100 barrels, that is, about
275 bushels. One hundred and
fifty barrels is an excellent yield,