Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1916-07-09

is right on the banks of the Yukon.
and the $4,000 crop is within n stones
throw OF the river Tho field is n
The farmhouse stands in tho enter
Of It. 1t is Il log cabin with n great
cellar under 1t where the potatoes arc
stored until ready for market. Tho
thermometer here falls ut times during
he winter TO 20 degrees below zero,
Gut the cellar is SO made that the
potatoes do not freeze Tn walls are
turred out and made double. The
board floors under tho tubers are venti-
lated and there is a lead air space
where there is any danger of frost.
me potatoes are kept in large bins.
each holding hundreds of bushels. |
found some of last years crop still in
me bin. They are as solid and sweet
rs when they came from tho fields. In
deed, 1t is hard to tell them from the
new potatoes.
NONE BETTER CULTIVATED
OR Flsi;ER FROM WEEDS
lave seen many farms. hut none
better cultivated and freer of weeds
man this potato patch. The vines reach
10 my Knees. They arc in rows which
are perfectly straight, and the pillow
goes Just one mile i'll the round trip up
one row and back down another. Billy
tells me he hopes to have six or seven
tons 10 the acre and that the patch
shouid yield about 100 tons or ever
IL SHDc'lS W Stl SIUN
per ton. so that the gross receipts
should be something like $4,000.
The soil is n sandy loan made ur of
SIT brought down by INC Yukon. The
virgin land is covered with bushes and
trees SO thick that it takes 500 and
upward an acre to clear il. Farm
wages are high. In ordinary seasons
Il land gets as much as 500 n month
and board. ard Just now Eilly is paying
MS tenants So Il month and their
BOARD. He says tina he has had farm
hafds this year as low AS $3.50 a day
anu found. although the prices in Daw-
son nave been 81 a day and on govern
ment work as high as from 81 TO 81. [
would say. howeNer that the demand
Tor iahor is limited, and the market for
potatoes and other Vegetables is con-
iincd to the small population in the
mines ana IN Dawson. Much competi-
non would take the heart out of tho
business. and If the farms were in
creased by many new homestcadcrs
there would be a rlut i'm tho morl,at
ana the prices would fall.
There is no doubt but that potatoo.
can be raised I'm most parts Of Alaska.
Luther Burbank, tho man who originate
cd the Burbank potato and who has
oecome world-famous as a plant breed
cr, was Dawson twr years :igo. i,c
says that Alaska and the Yukon will
some day be among the chief potato
lands of the world and that by proper
pant breeding. Il potato can DO evolved
mat VIII mature here to pcrfcction.
Even now the country is raising about
All that IT needs. and the potato i'm
ports are decreasing. This year the
crop is especially good. and the pota-
toes are equal in quality to those that
arc brought in from the States.
regret l shall not have time to visit
the farm Of DR.. Faulkner. lie tells mo
he is doing we'll with his cows. but that
tho milk market Is limited and the ex-
p"nse OF dairy farming is high. He Ia
now paying 500 per ton for such feed
rs hay, oats and barley, and chicken
iced costs 6 cents a pound. Cows soil
Tor S25o a head and calves ready to
wean for about $40. DIR. Faulkner has
paid as much as o5 cents for horse feed
and he tells me that a man once offered
him a dollar a pound for timothy hay.
said he: THAT would have bcen at the
rate or $1,000 a ton. The only troubls
was, I had mono on hand. 7 had some
hay which had been grown in the coun-
try. I could have gotten so cents a
pound for that. but ! needed II for my
own stock" The doctor has sixtv-ive
acres In hay this year, but he will keep
the whole crop to feed his own cattle.
FRANK Ct. CARPENTER.