The Idaho recorder. [volume] (Salmon City, Idaho) 1886-1927, 1921-10-07
POTATO TALK BY
MAN WHO. KNOWS
BENZ IS EXPERT AND TELLS
COED DEAL ABOUT. SPUD IN
ADDRESS-N. p. VISITORS.


Just shade of his Scandinavian an = =
.estry as Dane. but yet is American
through and through, appeared be- :
fore Salmon audience last Wednes-
day night to lecture on the potato. :
The speaker let his patriotic alleg- i
lance be known right at the begin
the potato had been slandered by the
"Irish" when everybody !.
knows it is American in origin. Mr..
Benz, who is working with the North
ern Pacific railroad in its policy of
the country through which
it passes, is their potato expert, pro-
dusing hundreds Of carloads of this
crop ntheir American perfection. He i
Undoubtedly knows the potato.
Tells All About Subject.
The interested audience never fail-
ed for moment to follow the sepak- |
Ter in his lecture as he told all the
business from the selection of seed to
4 the marketing of the finished crop IN
It's perfection. He said one hundred
Der cent potatoes are grown only by
Sne hundred per cent farmers. 1t Is
tommOn sense science applied to the
business and nothing else. He said
lit was the thing to do to plan three
Or four years ahead as to the ground
10 be seeded. Then plow deep and
plant shallow, with persistent culti-
vation of the surface. The prepara-
tion of the potato field is as impor-
cant as the preparation Of the gar
lden patch. The selection Of seed is
lhighly important, not the big mealy
thbers that are better for table use
but the smaller ones that have the
stronger vitality II not so much de-
1velopment.
Hhoroughbre Potatoes.
n Mr.. Benz described the thorough
, bred potatoes and how they are pro-
lduced from such selection, by cutting
: the seed into four parts and then
! marked as planted in section Of four
The elimination Of diseased seed ma.
be secured by cutting away Of the
stem and where it generally appears
y never at the eye end, which il Tho
I strongest part in reproduction. Tht
{. speaker also described methods o.
Is dipping potatoes, sack and all, int,
!, solutions Of formaldehyde and corro
n siye sublimate for the eradication o
scsb and various forms Of fungus dis
eases.
ExAcf SCIENCE Ol business.
% There is no such thing as goodluc
m or bad luck in raising potato croI
re If the right kind Of ground be pre-
~ pared In the right kind Of way nm
J. then planted with the right kind q
r seed selected in the right way Gro
failure IL improbable.
~ The time to make selection Of see
| is right now. when the potatoes al
inthe ground or just taken out an
! a mass of sprouts and what not "A
/ matte dtogether. lie said potatoe
should indeed not be permitted
| sprout at all until just before plan
ing time when the process doesn't u
jure them for planting. This may !
accomplished by placing them
sacks in warm place and then turi
ing them over to the sun form day
day for three or four days. After Gu
ting for planting the parts should
exposed to the air for nature to so
up the wounds made nthe cells
prevent too much waste of the plal
sustenance when the sprout starts
| come through the soil. The keepir
of potatoes in the cellar. TO keep the
from getting too warm or too co
was fully described. From 36 d
II KTttN 10 30 utkIttH u dt1IEhttNit "
the proper temperature all the tin
through the winter. II permitted
get too warm potatoes turn too mu
to sugar and sweet potatoes exec
the kind that grow in the south tr
To name are an abomination. {
speaker declared. Whether plnntil
time should be in the dark Of
lmoon or the light of the moonshi
was all "moonshine" in the opinion
Mr.. Benz and moonshine farm
was not the kind To succeed with a
lcrop. He advised potato farmers II
all other farmers To call for exps
advice from the county farm ageI
who are in touch with the state c
IIleges having to do with problems
Ithey have been overcome by exp'
Iliments that establish the best met
ods.
a A has been said Mr.. Benz Ii :
Hive of Denmark. In the early da
OF the settlement Of the Yakima v
ley he appeared in that region a.
uiutheran minister. afterward turni
Hihis attention to farming To eke ou'
Ullivelihood. IL was then that he W.
III in for potatoes and became known
III the king of the northwest in the b.
iness. making quarter of mill
dlilarB on which he might have rel
ed had not the railroad managem'
drafter him into their service 10 Il
charge of their Montana experim'
Hfarn.
T.. r. Benson. another man of M;
IN the service OF the Northern Pac
a. immigration commissioner, y
III present "a speak in the meeting.
IItalbed about the new Interest aroui
in many communities by improsi
uljiving conditions in rural eommu
Ulties. where the-back -to-the-land mo
ment has had IL best results. I
has been accomplished notably b.
appropriation bY the state Of CALI
MIA in one instance to build mod
homes with modern conyenien
where small crops are produced pi
Jlitabiy on small farms. Mr.. Ben
"a Il