The Princeton union., 1921-06-23
LEADS IN POTATOES
MinnesOta's Certified Seed Acreage in
1920 More Than Double That
of Nearest Rival.
Steps Are This Year Being Taken to
Raise the Standard of Ger
tilted Seed Potatoes.

potato ccrtifcation and inspection are
being received at the office of A. G.
Tolaas, state inspector, at University
farm, giving assurance this early that
the number Of applications will equal
if not surpass the number received
in 1920, with Minnesota leading all
other states in the union in this partic-
ular phase of the farming industry.
In a tabulated summary Of potato
seed certifcation in the United states
and Canada in 1920, Minnesota leads
all states in the number of applica-
tions for inspection, acreage, number
of fields certified, acreage which final
ly qualified, and in bushels actually
certified. Minnesota last year raised
317,975 bushels of certified potatoes;
Wisconsin was second with $4,000
bushels; New York third with 1884,
PAP bushels and Maine fourth with
100000 bushels.
The total number of bushels certi-
fled for all of Canada was 234,552.
Eight different varieties of potatoes
passed muster in Minnesota, ard sold
at from 25 cents to $1.0O per cwt above
the price for ordinary stock.
Reports from different states of
which there are IA carrying on potato
seed inspection and certifcation work,
show that the applications for inspcc-
tion in 1920 embraced 1865 acres,
while applications for inspection in
Canada embraced 1913 acres, making
total of 2O,279 acres. In the United
States 6,618 acres qualified for certi-
fication with approximately 636,930
cwt, while in Canada 1896 acres quail
fled with total of 140,371 cwt. These
figures do not give the total yields
from the fields inspected but refer to
the amount of certificate stock listed
for sale.
After showing the development of
certifcation in potato growing states,
Mr.. Tolsas says that in 1919 applica
tions were made for $500 acres of
which $3.50 acres qualified. In other
words, approximately 431a per cent of
the acreage inspected met the require
ments prescribed in the different
states. In 1920 approximately 81 pei
cent of the acreage met the require
ments. The fact that large percen
tage of the acreage passed the require
ments last year is taken as an indica
tion of the employment of better meth
DDS of those having their fields in
spected. The large increase of appli
cations over 1919 indicated, too, the
increasing interest that is being taker
in certification work by progressive
seed potato growers in the seed pro
'ducing sections of the country.
Steps are being taken this year tc
raise the standard of certified seed 20.
tatocs and eliminate complaints OF
buyers who occasionally in case OF
long shipments find their potatoes not
quite up to the mark. "Now that con-
fidence is becoming established in Ger.
tification and seed potato buyers are
willing to pay premium for certified
seed," says Mr.. Tolaas, ''it is up tc
the growers whose potatoes have met
the certifcation requirements to put
up their stock in an attractive way
Final inspection in most cases is made
shortly after harvest before any grad
ing he's been done. This leaves the
work of properly grading and remov
ing undesirable tubers, such as those
affected with dry rot, which may have
developed after the final inspection, tt
the grower. In the last analysis the
grower should see that every sack Of
potatoes he loads into the car will
stand a rigid inspection"