The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1917-05-10
POTATO MEET
BIG SUCCESS
Interesting and Instructive Program
at School of Forestry Friday
Afternoon.

That the interest in potato raising
is at fever heat in this section of Bot
tineau county was plainly manifested
by the large attendance at the potato
meeting held at the State School of
Agriculture and Forestry last Friday
afternoon.
More than one hundred and fifty
people attended the meeting and,
while the attendance was made up
largely from young people who are
amateurs in potato culture, there was
a representative gathering of success
full potato farmers from almost all the
townships tributary to Bottineau.
Pres. Smith opened the meeting by
briefly outlining it's purpose, after
which County Agent Henderson gave
some interesting and instructive
pointers on the preparation of the soil.
Concretely his advise was to plant po-
tatoes in light sandy loan soil, we'll
cultivated and we'll drained.
Prof. Shuler spoke on seed selection,
specimens of potatoes being used in
illustration. While tests had showed
that planting the whole potato yield
ed better than cutting the potatoes in
halves and quarters, he advised the
latter method owing to the extremely
high price Of seed, the extra yield not
justifying the additional outlay for
seed. He also urged treating potatoes
with a formaldehyde solution before
planting.
Andrew Wigeby spoke briefly on
preparation Of potatoes for market,
urging the selection of pure seed and
straight varieties, as mixed varieties
would have to be sorted before sold
on the market, and the grower would
stand the expense of this sorting,
whether done by himself or the buy
er. =
James A. Thorburn gave very in
teresting talk on what not to do in.
raising potatoes. Mr.. Thorburn is
one of the pioneer potato growers Of
Bottineau county and has had a
wealth of experience that is valuable.
His "dont's" were backed up with ac-
tual personal experience Of years OF
potato culture. He cautioned against
the kind of potatoes not to plant and
also offered suggestions on the most
desirable seed. He described cheap
and satisfactory potato cellar that can
be built at very small cost for stor-
ing potatoes over winter. His advise
was to plant potatoes for seed and
not for table use, as the seed pota-
toes always commanded good price
in the southern market, while the
table variety was subject to a very
fluctuating market. Mr.. Thorburn
advised strongly against spraying po-
tatoes with a paris green solution and
urged the use Of the sprayer which
dusts the dry poison on the vines. He
had a sprayer at the meeting and
demonstrated it's use.
There was considerable disappoint-
ment over the failure Of Mr.. Clement
to be present, but, in spite of this
omission on the program, the meeting
was highly instructive as well as en-
tertaining. It demonstrated that it is
not necessary to go abroad to secure
speakers or instructors for an agri-
cultural meetings Of this nature, but
that there is an unknown wealth OF
talent right at home that can fill the
bill very acceptably.
At the conclusion Of the program
the question Of organizing a cooper
ative marketing association was taken
up for discussion. There appeared to
be a concensus Of opinion that such
an organization would be very bene-
fetal and committee on organization
consisting of J. A. Thorburn, Andrew
Wigeby and Olaf Vinje was elected
to take this matter in hand. Accord
ing to the plans suggested q county
organization is contemplated, with
locals in the different sections Of the
county. - :. ..a.' IL