The Glenwood post., 1915-12-18
POTATO VARIETIES

with the close, of the potato harvest
season for 1915 the time seems oppor-
tune to call to the attention of both
the grower and the scotsman the desir-
ability of considering seriously very
material reduction in the number of va
rieties grown in any given community
or section of the country.
1t has been the history of every other
staple crop that the fewer the varieties
grown the more easily they are market
ed. The pioneer fruit grower in Amer
lea tried to grow as large list of va
rieties as he could afford to purchase,
while today the tendency is to reduce
the list to the least number that can be
depended upon to meet the market re-
quirements. The reason for this is that
it has been found much easier task
to sell large quantities of one variety
than an equal quantity made up of Il
large number of varieties. 1t is be-
lieved that the same principle applies
to the potato crop.
In a recent publication by the de-
partment, Bulletin No. 176, system Of
classification of potatoes is presented IN
which the leading commercial types are
referred to II groups, and list of the
varieties studied which are thought to
belong to each group is furnished. In
many cases the varieties listed in each
group are so nearly identical that in the
opinion of the author of this bullentin
there is no justification for the reten-
tion of more than 10 per cent of them.
The commercial grower should de-
termine what group or class of potatoes
is best adapted to his climatic and soil
conditions, and then confine his efforts
to not more than one or two varieties
within that group. In this way it will
be possible for him to become more
familiar with the behavior of the va
riety he is growing; to recognize its
special cultural requirements; and TO
offer for sale much more uniform and
high grade product than where he is
dissipating his energies on a dozen Of
more varieties.
The potato growers of some of our
Middle West states, particularly those
of Wisconsin, are being strongly urged
by their potato specialists and state as
sociations to adopt the community plan
of growing potatoes of one, or, at the
most, two varieties. In this way the
buyer can be assured of securing a
uniform stock, in carload lots, of Green
Mountain, Rural New Yorker, or other
classes of potatoes.
The movement must come from the
grower through confining his efforts to
a few varieties, preferably not moro
than one or two. These should be Sc
lected intelligently, with reference to
soil and climatic conditions. For ex-
ample, the Green Mountain group IS
particularly we'll adapted to the cooler
and moister sections of the United
States. The Rural New Yorker, while
succeeding under similar conditions, is
also able to produce satisfactory crops
where air and soil temperatures are
higher, and where the summer precipi-
tation is scant, provided moisture is
abundant in September and October.
The Irish Cobbler group, consisting of
early varieties, is at its best in the
north, but also produces well when
planted as an early truck crop in the
south.
The size of the seedsmen's lists is
very largely, if not entirely governed by
the grower, and the remedy lies wholly
with him.
The efforts Of the potato grower,
dealer and scotsman should be directed
as follows:
/. Reduce the variety list to few
standard and commercial varieties.
2. Standardize these by careful Sc.
lection and culture.
8. Adopt the community plan of
growing but one or two varieties and
advertise this fact to the public.
4. Demand a higher grade seed po-
tato from your seed grower or dealer,
but in SO doing be willing to pay a
correspondingly better price for it.
| Editors Note.-While the above is
not strictly applicable to our western
slope potato districts, especially as 10
seed varieties, there are some good
suggestions in the article, and our po-
tato growers may take them for what
they are worth. 1t occurs to us that
the suggestions in regard to confining
a certain community to very few seed
varieties are worthy Of careful consid-
Grafton. This plan has been followed
by our Carbondale growers and others
of Garfield county, who have learned
from experience the varieties best