The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1922-09-14

Editors Note: People who have
taken the risk Of a big potato crop
this year and do not see any sure
market ahead, should remember
that they have not seen all the bad
luck that might go with such a sea-
son. They have not had to spray
the potato fields for disease nor
beetles nor potato bugs. They have
not had to buy the spraying ma
chimes and chemicals out Of an
empty purse or see their crops die
and witness the setting of condi-
lions for the killing of future potato
crops when they had potato cellars
and warehouses and implements al
ready built and bought to 60 on
permanently with the potato in
dustry.
People in eastern potato districts
have witnessed all that kind OF
troubles, as far west as Colorado,
and yet they stayed in the game and
are still in it. Sometimes we think
we are getting on easy street, and
that we deserve to remain there, and
reverses come that put us to work
harder than ever, and it does not
take" SO easily and naturally as
vaccination. We feel more or less
peeved about it until we get into the
fray and do our best.
idaho potatoes are about as free
from disease as any, and it will be
easier to keep them so, because we
have SO much sunshine and dry
weather, and potato diseases -four
ish best in humid climates. In some
states they value the sunshine SO
much that when they are ready to
plant potatoes they furrow out the
field ready to plant and do not plant
the seed until the sun has been shin
ing in them for while, to kill the
disease germs aid warm the soil.
In some of those states they dig
their potatoes amid SO much mud
that they have to wash them to
make them presentable in the mar
kets. After they are washed they
have to be dried in the sun before
they put them in the cellar for stor-
age or into sacks or barrels for
market. @
We have a good many things that
we inherited already prepared or de-
veloped for us, and we are apt to
forget that somebody worked long
and hard to bequeath them to us.
When Luther Burbank was young
fellow he became greatly interested
in potatoes, and the method of start
ing new varieties from the seeds in
tn potato balls that grow after the
bloom. We do not often see potato
balls now tho they were plentiful in
most varieties of potatoes genera
tin ago. Ask elderly people, and
they will remember them. Burbank
was raising kind Of potatoes that
did not show seed balls, and he kept
watch for a long time hoping to see
some. One day he discovered one,
and only one. He marked the place
and went to see it every day, wait
ing for it to ripen, and when it was
about ripe it disappeared. He
hunted for parts for several days,
thinking 1t might have been knocked
off by bird or some animal, and
finally found it few yards from
the vine it grew on. He saved it
and planted the twenty-six seeds in
it, and produced about twenty kinds
of potatoes, all little fellows like
goOseberries, but he worked with |
them year after year until they be-
came full size, and one variety was |
very valuable. None of the others
tested out well and he destroyed |
them. He named the one good kind |
for himself, and for over half a
century the Burbank potatoes have
been adding millions of bushels a
year to the potato yield above what
would have been raised if growers
had continued with the old varieties.
Besides the additional yield, the
quality Of the potato is much i'm
proved.
After Burbank got to operating
his farm in California he decided to
make further tests to see if he
could not produce variety that
would still further benefit the world,
and thru a series of many years he
kept up his tests and out of about
10000 new creations tested out
long enough to see what each kind
would do, he destroyed them all be-
cause none OF them were as good as
the Burbank. Some of them yielded
better, but the quality was poor.
Some were smooth and fine, but poor
in other respects. Some had deep
eyes extending nearly to the center
of tn tuber and he could not breed
them out shallow and had to destroy
them. He donated all those years of
service to us to make sure that we
might have the best. They have
been the standard potato of the
Poetic coast states, but the Russet
and the. Idaho Rural are the favor
ties in Idaho.
We haven't lost so much this year
as some people think we have. Wei
merely planted heavily of potatoes
when We were tired of raising beets
and other things. Those Of us who
had hay during the boom times sold