The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1915-02-25
Maitland B. Smith

Hartford, Conn. Daily Courant. Feb. 151915]
An authority once made the statement,
which hasn't yet been contradlcted, that
maize and the potato are the two great
est gifts viii, h America has given to the
rest of the world. That the potato has
been cultivated in America, and its tu
bers used for food, from times long be-
fore the discovery of America, is we'll
known, but it is not generally known
that Nj. b. Smith, Hartford business
man, has attained reputation as one of
the most successful raisers of potatoes
in all New England, where the finest po-
tatoes are produced. Through a long
continued scientific study of how to raise
this very necessary article of food on his
big farm in Maine, known as the Pearl
Brook Farm, Mr.. Smith has distanced
competitors and his product is we'll known
wherever good potatoes are desired. The
product of his farm attracts much atten-
ton and, when it is realized that last
year alone he raised more than 81 ZOO
bushels of potatoes of an unusually fine
quality. it will readily be seen that he is
the head of a large and successful indus
try, in spite of the fact that he carries
on the business as sort of side line.
CAME FROM MAINE.
Mr.. Smith came to Hartford twenty
one years ago from a farm in Maine,
where his father lived many years. The
elder Smith bought good deal of land
in the central part of the State, in Waldo
county, where potato raising is the prin-
ciral agricultural industry, Maine has
long held the blue ribbon as being the
finest potato country in the world. and
the tubers coming from the section where
the Smith farm is located command
higher price in the New York market
than those from other sections of the
State. The land there is generally level
and fertile, the climate is peculiarly
adapted to potato raising, and the yield
under the scientific operations carried on
by Mr.. Smith has reached a very high
average. Few men have studied the
matter more thoroughly than he has,
and it is interesting to hear of his efforts
to get the best there is out of the seed
he plants and of the soil which pro-
duces the potato.
THE SMITH FARM.
The Smith farm consists of about 500
acres and $50 are devoted solely to po-
tato raising. He also raises twenty acres
of tobacco, some onions, and about fif
teen acres of rye. The whole farm is in
a high state of cultivation, and 1t is
generally looked upon as one of the
most successful in the State. When Mr..
Smith father died some years ago, he
resolved to carry on the potato raising
industry there on a large scale as well as
in a scientific way. His efforts have
been abundantly rewarded, for last year
his farm produced great quantity of as
fine potatoes as any one could wish to
see, or eat.
RESULT OF CLOSE STUDY.
This has been brought about by the
closest study of conditions, careful in
vestigation into the merits of various
fertilizers, the operation of system
which Mr.. Smith has instituted on his
farm which is the standard of all other
farms, and which has resulted in crops
each year that almost stagger the i'm
aginalion of the ordinary New England
farmer. The story of how he does this
work is highly interesting one and few
people who eat potato at their monday
meal realize what a great amount of
care and industry enters into the simple
raising of the almost universal food pro-
duct. On the farm which he owns there
are about twenty men employed in the
busy season of the year.
WAY WORK IS DONE.
A superintendent has charge of the
work and he is a trained man in the
carrying on of the industry. The first
step in the raising of the annual crop is
taken in the fall, after the potatoes are
dug by machinery and taken away to the
big potato cellar which Mr.. Smith has
constructed. When the crop is harvested
the ground where the potatoes grew is
plougbed over and rye is sown. The rye
grows where the potato was raised and,
when it has reached a fair height in the
spring, the ground is again ploughed
over, the rye being put out of sight un-
der the soil. This is, then, of course,
allowed to rot in the ground, and sup
plies what is called "humus" to the
soil, which is, as every farmer knows, a
very beneficial Ingredient. This is al
lowed to decay in the ground and the re-
suit is that potatoes of unusually smooth
and healthy qualities are produced, with
the aid of a certain artificial fertilizer
which Mr.. Smith has developed. In the
old days it was generally understood that
crops would only lie grown one or two
successive years, OH lne same GROUND
but, through the operations employed at
the Pearl Brook farm, an excellent crop
Is produced every year, with no et-up in
the size of the yield. The coming po-
tato field is again ploughed over at any
tine between May LIST and June 25th for
the planting of the crop. The ploughing
Is done by the most improved machinery
and, when this is done, another machine
is employed not only to make the drill"
as it is called, but to do all the other
work of planting the crop. A small fur
row is made in the narrowed ground and
then fertilizer, composed mostly of
nitrates, is sifted into the opening made,
and layer of about two inches of soil is
put over it. With the fertilizer disposed
of, the seed potato is dropped into the
furrow and then the machine covers the
same with soil. This operation is an in
teresting one and would afford much
amusement to those who beheld it.
PROMOTING THE CROPS.
If the planting is done early in the
season, Mr.. Smiths rule is to have
whole potato put into the ground, as, in
case of rainy or wet season, one will
be surer of crop at the end of the
season. If theSseason is dry one, the
ordinary cut potato seed serves the pur-
pose as well, and the crop is just as
good. The fertilizer end of the industry