The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1917-07-10
AZ BUSHELS OF POTATOES GROWN
 ON 8 FOOT PLOT
Missouri Mans Methods Promise to RevoIutionize
 The Industry


 the season of 1916 from a plot of ground only eight feet square, or an equivalent of over 2S,0O0 bushels to the acre of ground space used, was the astonishing feat of R. B. Hen dricks, a resident of Kansas City, Mo. This sensational achievement was made possible by the use of an en- tirely new and original method which, when generally introduced, promises not only to revolutionize the potato growing industry through out the world, but to solve the prob lem of an unfailing source of cheap food supply for the nations of the earth.
 The story of Hendricks successful experiments in potato growing, cov ering period of three years, sounds ! more like g. fairy tale than a recital of facts. yet it is so unique and in teresting that it at once compels att tention. Expert gardeners and far mers who have looked into the plan carefully pronounced it not only practical, but call the originator the greatest plant wizard of the age, and declare that he has anything in plant culture and intensive agriculture beaten by a wide margin.
 1 Like all great discoveries, Hen
 
 founded on such simple elemental principles that one wonders why I some one didn't think of it before." He had often watched the potato pile l in the cellar bin, which every spring sent out it's shoots through every pos ] sible crack and crevice. Sometimes these sprouts would crawl out along the floor a distance of seven feet in order to reach the light. From this beginning he conceived the idea that if this pile was removed out into the open and given soil and fertilizer, with proper conditions of light and I moisture, that the potatoes would I grow and reproduce their kind. Three years ago he built what he called a potato pen," which was I nothing more or less than a huge po- l tato hill, the sides of which were supported by loosely constructed I enclosure, built after the fashion of an old rail fence. Within this en- closure, only eight by eight feet in size, he planted his potatoes in thin layers. of dirt and manure, piing one 1 layer on another until the pen was eight feet high. The potato pen" be- | came a mound of green.
 l He had found that his potatoes not only grow better than they did in the cellar, but that at digging time he was able to harvest 40 bushels of as fine potatoes as are grown anywhere. l The following year he secured 32 bu- I shels in the same size pen, and last year the astonishing total of AZ bu- shels.
 Up to this time Hendricks had con- ducted his experiments unknown to but few of his most intimate asso- I ciates, but owing to the present food shortage and hte Nationwide cam paign to speed up food production, he decided to give up his discovery for the free use of people everywhere The details of the construction, and management of these potato pens, as described by Hendricks, outline g. plan by which any one having access to a plot of ground no larger than a flower bed can raise all the potatoes needed for an average family for a whole year. The potato pens may be built eight feet wide by, any length, just so they are built strong enough to heep the sides from spreading. i Most any kind of good stout material can be used. If light lumber or
 boards are used the pen may be braced through the center with wires. .1 Rich earth and well rotted manure must be on hand in sufficient quanti- ties to fill the pen up to the top.
 Hendricks potato pen is built six feet by eight feet, inside measure
 ment, and six feet high. 1 The pen is built as each layer is placed and planted. You can use Ike inch boards for the ends and sides,
 leaving 2 1-2-inch space between the boards for the potato sprouts to : come through. Start the pen with a. six-inch layer of dirt Then mark off the plot a foot apart each way, . 1 ,;xr of cv>o fNr ipf all around between the outer TOW of potatoes and the inside of the pen.
 Plant a potato seed at~ every cross line or intersection of the plot, AS
 hills to the layer of dirt. Then put : an inch or two of well n-rotted manure over the potatoes and sprinkle good with water. Then lay six inches more Of dirt and mark off as before, plant, manure and water again. Repeat this
 operation with enough layers to fill the pen to the top. To keep the dirt from falling out of the pen as the layers are placed, draw up old straw or hay against the cracks or crevices. As the pen rises place on the fourth
 layer of dirt in the center of one
 side. about two feet above the -j ground, a moist tester.'' This is
 made of any piece of timber about the
 size of the arm, piece of 4x4-inch by three feet long, place so It Will
 protrude from the pen about foot.
 After the potatoes have been planted three weeks loosen the tester. pull out and run your hand in to deter
 mine the moisture. By so doing you
 will know how much water to use on
 the pen. After the tester has been once removed this can be repeated
 once or twice week. Watch the tester land keep the dirt in proper condi- : ton.
 The pen should be, near a water supply so that it can be we'll watered !. during dry weather. It should be . watered from the top about twice a week unless rainfall is sufficient. The moist tester' will always enable the
 grower to determine oao proper mois-
 ture conditions. The top layer of
 dirt should be sloped gently toward
 the center, so the ground will absorb
 and not shed rain, but care should : be taken that mud be prevented from forming on top and baking to a crust : When the earth is dry the mound !, should be sprinkled on the top and sides.
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