Watauga Democrat. [volume] (Boone, Watauga County, N.C.) 1888-current, 1929-01-31

Sl III CIlC SOulty.)
"When the farmers of this county
are able to grade their potatoes
properly, they will be able to interest
the wholesale trade to an extent that
they have never accomplished be-
FORE" said J. M. Moretz, who last
fall brought a government grader
here and as result sold his potatoes
at price from 20 to 80 cents higher
for a two-bushel bag than was re-
ceived by farmers who depended
upon hand grading and asserting.
Heretofore" Mr.. Moretz contin-
ued, 1--WE have hardly been able to
touch the wholesale market, even at
Charlotte, because the wholesale
dealers have not been interested in
hand graded potatoes as long as
they could get potatoes that have
been properly assorted and graded.
Wholesale houses that handle pota-
toes in large quantities do not have
the time to inspect bags to see if
they have been graded in the right
way. AS a consequence, they prefer
to buy from those sections whose
potatoes are certified to have been
graded properly.
Last fall we brought govern
ment grader here and had our pota-
toes graded by him. He used a
regular grading machine, which can
be; bought from factories in the
north. The potatoes are allowed to
run across net, and the small po-
tatoes fall through the holes, while
the regular U. S. No. potatoes roll
across the net into the bags. 1t is
necessary, Of course, for the attend
ant Ito examine the potatoes himself
to Gull out the defective ones, but
the machine generally lessons the
Ilabor of grading them according to
size.
"Al1 the wholesalers in our large
cities need is to be taught that this
county raises potatoes that are the
equal of those they can get from
the north and east. Our potatoes
are just as good and in some ways
better than those of other sections.
Naturally, the wholesalers are not
going to pay the additional trans
portation charges to bring potatoes
from the north if they are convinced
that they can get the same quality
nearer home.
''1n my opinion, the farmers of
this county should form an organi.
zation that can bring to the atten-
ton of the wholesalers the excellent
quality of our potatoes, and then to
furnish them with bags of graded
potatoes according to the U. S.
standard. This could be done at
very little expense by providing
warehouses at strategic points in the
county, with a grader at each ware
house. Then the potatoes could be
graded and stored there, and they
could be shipped out as the demand
required them.
"This is the plan that we follow
ed this year. Although it was a
very bad potato year, since most of
the mountain farmers had to wait
until the coast crop was disposed of
before they could ship the mountain
potatoes to market, we were able to
put our potatoes on the market at
once, because they were already
graded and sacked ready for ship
ment. We had telegraph orders for
potatoes right along until our crop
was practically disposed of at
prices ranging from 1920 to $3.50,
delivered in Charlotte. That, of
course, means from $1.7O to $500
here, but it is a better price than
most of the farmers got. This diff
ference in price certainly pays for
the trouble of grading and sacking
the potatoes properly"
Mr.. Moretz then gave some valu-
able advice about the cultivation of
potatoes.
"The ground should be plcwed
and narrowed early" he said, Sin
order that as much moisture as pos
sible may be conserved in the
ground. 1t should be ploWed ard
narrowed once and then made ready
in the usual way for planting. A
good turf is the best soil for po-
tatoeS.
"The planting should be done
some time in April, so that there
will be no danger of freeze after
the potatoes come up. There are
several ways of treating the seed
potatoes so that they will be i'm
munized from diseases. We used last
year a good commercial dipping
dust, which can be obtained from
dealers in seeds and farm supplies.
Another good treatment is to dip
the seed potatoes in a solution of
bichloride of mercury. In this way,
the spores of some diseases, which