The Glenwood post., 1923-03-01
ern state that showed decreased crop

What can be done with the crop?
Will an emergency rate help move the
Colorado crop2 Has it done so in the
past with other crops to the advantage
of the grower? Terminal market prices
have usually lowered commensurate
with lessened freight rate, SO the con-
sumer, but not the grower, got the
benefit.
Utilizing culls and low grade pota-
toes in stock foods takes considera-
BILE volume. of the underpriced potatoes
and, could this practice prevail all
over the producing districts, only the
better grade and more desirable table
stock potatoes would remain and mar
ket demand would eventually absorb
the visible supply. Potatoes cooked
with an admixture of barley, wheat,
oats, or rye, is good stock ration,
supplemented with forage Tt is now
being fed to hogs, sheep and cattle
with profit by the stockmen following
this practice. One stockman has fitted
up cheap, but serviceable cooking
vat, holding many bushels, that he con
siders is making it profitable to feed
even his better grade potatoes to his
livestock at the present prices prevail
ing in Colorado potato districts. One
cattle feeder affirms this ration of
cooked potatoes with an admixture of
grain and plenty of alfalfa hay is
giving good wo-pound gain per ami
NAL per day.
Many growers who stored the whole
or portion of their crop at harvest
time find the potatoes must be closely
sorted on taking out now to ship
These losses are caused by storage dis
eases, chief of which is powdery dry
rot. Unless these storage cellars are
most thoroughly cleansed and fumi-
gated, germs of these diseases remain
over to attack the next years storage
crop. Losses this season have been re-
ported as high as 30 to 40 per cent.
Such losses are indeed deplorable
When the organisms causing dry rot
get into the tuber through wounds in
the harvesting process or by issue of
tuber being broken down by field
frost at one end of tuber, decay sets
up and the tubers decay in very
short space of time. This is especially
true if storage has a warm moist at
mosphere.
What of the 1923 crop? Needless to
say the acreage in potatoes will be
greatly cut down all over the nation.
We had plently of potatoes on hand
last spring. There was no particular
demand, at price the grower felt
willing to take, so he planted an in
creased acreage to use up the potatoes
and "trusted to luck Too many all
over the late potato producing states
did the same thing, and the falling
prices were inevitable.
nv ohattu ptalCS puIcdu u dpTICul-
tural economies has recently compiled
statistical table that shows $50 per
cent only of the 1929 crop grades U.
s. No. 1-264 ,2O7 900 bushels. 25.7 per
cent. U. S. No. 2-116,172, 900 bushels;
15.7 per cent culls-70, SOC, 900 bushels
These figures tell us facts no words
can more fully emphasize.
We hope diversity of crop shall be
considered by growers in our trade ter
ritory of 1923. Last year we urged
most earnestly lessened acreage of
potatoes and an increased acreage of
sugar beets in our Western Slope pota-
to districts so as to meet the minimum
acreage of sugar beets required by the
Holly Sugar company to justify put
ting the Delta sugar factory in condi
tion to slice beets. We barely reached
the minimum requirements.
This season we feel confident the re-
duced acreage planted to potatoes in
commercial potato districts throughout
the nation will justify near the normal
acreage of potatoes being planted with
in our principal commercial districts
Then stable prices shall be more likely
to prevail. 1t is when "we put our
eggs all n one basket we suffer most.
The surplus states that increased
their potato paintings for 1922 were
Maine, Vermont, New York, Pennsyl-
vania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minneso-
ia, North Dakota, South Dakota, Ne
braska, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado:
Utah, Nevada, Idaho, Washington, Ore
gon, California. The total shipments
for these nineteen states for the three
seasons l92O-1922 were as follows:
1920, 92,o2O,OOO bushels; 1921, 121,.
100000 bushels; 1922, tup to Decem-
Der ny 54,144,Ooo bushels.
The total estimated crop is 273,120,.