The Leader, enterprise and press. (Fitzgerald, Ga.) 1915-1921, 1917-07-11
fIil,) Enterprise:


BeardstoWfi Qil,) Enterprise:
A number of Beardstown people are
this year testing out scheme for
greater production of potatoes. In 3
number of gardens large sugar bar
reis may be seen These barrels with
the head and bottom knocked on,
hav been placed over potato hill
and as fast as the shoots CONS
through the earth the gardener piles
oa another layer OF dirt BY this meth
'oa it is expected the shoots win keep
fergsng upward to the light until the
vine is four or FIVE feet long. 1t is
expected to bear potatoes. then all up
and down the vine. Several garden
ers are testing this plan.
FOR the, intensive raising of pota-
toes hovere. a Missouri man has con-
ceived what appears TO be the right
idea. 1t is very likely that the sugar
barrel theory sprung from this Mis-
houri mans plan by which he raised
AZ bushels of potatoes on a plot OF
ground only 8 foot square. s,,4,s''. :.
The, following article. was. published
some weeks ago in the Commoner.
The authenticity of it was investigat-
ed; by the Illinois Central RAILROAD
Company's garden department, of
which L. w. Park. the vicNvpresident,
is the head, and the same was found
to be true and correct.
Forty two bushels OF. potatoes in
the season Of 1916 from plot of
ground only eight feet square, or an
equivalent of over $4,000 bushels to
the acre of ground space used, was the
astonishing feat of R. E. Hendricks,
a resident of Kansas City, Mo-.
This sensational achievement was
made possible by the use of an entire
1y new and original method which,
when generally introduced, promises
not only to revolutionize the potato
growing industry throughout the
world but to solve the problem of an
unfailing source of cheap food supply
for the nations of the earth.
The story of Mr.. Hendricks sue
cessfu1 experiments in potato growing
covering a period of three years,
sounds more like fairy tale than a
recital of facts. yet it is so unique and
interesting that it at once commands
attention. Expert gardeners and farm
ers who have looked into the plan
carefully pronounce it not only prac-
teal but call the originator the great
est plant wizard of the age. and do
clare that he has a~vthing in plant
CT ture and intensive agriculture beat
en- by wide margin.
Like all great discoveries, Mr.. Hen
bricks method of raising potatoes is
founded on such a simple elemental
principle that one wonders why
someone didn't think of it before"
He had often WATCHED the potato pile
in the cellar bin, which every spring
sent ont its shoots through every pos
.sible crack and crevice. Sometimes
those 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
+ this pile was removed out into the
bpen and given soil and fertilizer with
proper conditions of light and mois-
!. ure, that the potatoes would grow
nd produce their kind
Discovers New Method
Three years ago he built what he
allied potato pen," which was moth
rg more or less than huge potato
i'll, the sides of which were sup
orted by a loosely constituted en-
osure, built after the fashion of an
d rail fence. Within this enclosure
only 8 feet in size, he planted his po-
toes in thin layers of dirt and ma
re, piling one layer on another I'M
the pen was eight feet high The
'otato pen" became a mound of
Gen. He had found that his pota-
es not only grew better than they
in the cellar but at digging time
was able to harvest forty bushel of
fine potatoes as are grown any
here. The following year he secured
rty-two bushels in the same sized
n, and last year the astonishing to-
of AZ bushels.
Jp to this time Mr. Hendricks has
lducted his experiments unknown
but few of his most intimate asso-
ties, but owing to the present food
Prtage, and the nationwide cam