The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1919-03-27
A SUCCESSFUL SHOW
First Days Potato Institute at Arm
DRY, Despite Bad Roads, At
tended by Many Farmers.
Excellent Displays of Tubers- of
Those Who Were Awarded
Premiums on Exhibits.

10 growers lnSClCuCe at the armOry.
The meetings are being held by the
agricultural extension division, uni
versity farm, cooperating with the
farm bureaus of Mile Laos, Isanti
and Sherburne counties. Instead of
the routine farmers institute of the
past the meetings are in the nature of
two-day school on the vital and spe-
cific problems of potato growing, a
million bushel industry in the Prince
ton community.
The meetings are in charge of Mr..
Kirkpatrick, assistant farm bureau
and county agent leader. Other
speakers on the first day were C. d.
Patterson and A. F. Kranz, university
farm, St. Paul; Knute Bjorka, county
agent, Isanti county; Verne Steward,
former county agent and o. A. Dahl
berg, the present county agent, both
of Mile Laos county.
In a study Of the cost of growing
potatoes conducted yesterday by C.. D.
Patterson, extension worker in farm
management, the farmers at the meet
ing submitted figures showing the
average cost of producing potatoes in
the Princeton community under pres
ent conditions to be So cents per
bushel. This took account of labor
and all other costs. According to the
speaker this was about one-third
higher than the pre-war cost of pro-
duction on farms in this section of the
state. At the afternoon session the
same speaker pointed out the relation
of good amount Of livestock COM
bined with moderate annual acreage
of potatoes as successful. factors in
| making potato farming profitable.
A. r. Kranz of the horticultural de-.
partment, university farm, explained
| factors influencing potato yield. Ac-
| cording to Prof. Kranz climatic con-
ditions constitute the one greatest fac.
tor limiting yield in this part of the
state. Vigor of the seed potatoes
size of seed piece, selection of seed,
if closely looked after, will go far to
offset bad climatic conditions. At the
afternoon session the speaker ex-
planned the ways Of detecting mixture.
of varieties in the standard varieties
Early Ohio, Triumph, Irish Cobbler
for early, and Green Mountain, Rural
New Yorker, Burbank, Burbank Rus
set and King were emphasized as the
eight standard varieties for Minnesota.
! but each community should, by agree
ment, further limit it's varieties i'm
order to secure more profit in the
business.
! More clover with a consequent i'm
proved crop rotation, more silos, saw
ing forage and stimulating the keep
ing of more livestock, were empha-
sized by County Agent Knute' Bjorka,
Isanti county, as vital part of the
| potato improvement project. The
average acreage of potatoes per farm
in that county is about 61@ acres, while
the average of corn is only about one
half as great. The potato acreage is
about III acres for every man, wo-
man and child in the county. The
speaker contended that this was too,
large in relation to the corn and clover
acreage and the small number of silos.
in the county to forerun permanent
ly profitable type of farming.
The potato improvement project Of
the Mile Laos county farm bureau
was discussed by Verne Steward and
o. A., Dahlberg, past and present coun-,
| ty agents, One of the biggest prob
lens is the limiting of the number of
~ varieties grown and freeing the varie-
ties from mixture. Accordingly
strong attempts are being made to
get several good farmers in some
town to grow total of 100 acres of
seed fields, which will be inspected and
have the mixture culled out while the
plants are growing in the fields. This
will give a fairly adequate supply of
seed Of pure strain to furnish neigh
bors who want to get started with
stock.
K. A. Kirkpatrick stated that the
Mora community last season, from a
survey conducted by the farm bureau
there, lost $4,000 because of mixture
in varieties. Brook Park, Browerville
and Bertha were cited as other COM
munities where the loss has been rec
ognized and steps have already been
taken by the farm bureaus to prevent
it in the future.
"Ten Potato Profit Points" was the
subject of Mr.. Kirkpatrick's talk at
the afternoon session. The talk en-
braced an outline of the practices of
the most successful potato farmers in
growing their crop. We hope to give,
this outline in a future issue.
Premiums Awarded.