HOME AND FARM MAGAZINE SECTION
Growing Good Potatoes in the Pacific Northwest
Some Ideas on the Homely "Spud" by Men Who Know Whereof They Write
J The whole world eats pota
toes. What more natural then
that the world should want Its
potatoes ot the best This ar
ticle, illustrateJ by photo
graphs, by Western Washing
ton , Experiment Station, tells
how' to raise the best.
By 3. L. STAHIj
. N'E of the most stable crops that
can be grown by the farmer in
western Washington is the po
tatoes. It is a crop that usually pays
excellent returns when god culture 1b
practiced, but often gives very Indif'
ferent returns when neglected.
The Ideal soil for potato growing
. cannot always be had, but a good crop
may be secured from quite a variety
of soils. Potatoes like best a deep rich
garden loam. Such a soil may con
tain considerable sand, but one con
taining much heavy clay should be
well manured before planting to po
tatoes. E,arm manures are the best
addition a soil can receive to put it In
good physical condition. With pota
toes the manure can be applied the
fall before planting so that the Cach
ings from the manure may soak into
the soil during the winter. Better,
etill, if rotation is practiced the ma
nure can be added to a crop grown a
year previous to the potatoes. Clover
Is a good crop to grow just previous
to potatoes.
A grower can make no greater mis
take than planting in a poorly drained
soil, as good drainage is absolutely
necessary for the production of
smooth and disease-free tubers.
Preparation of Soil
Plowing should be deep, before
planting, unless the soil is deficient in
humus, and when this is the case the
humus content should be Increased
and the depth of plowing increased ac-
cordlngly. After plowing It is neces
sary to work the soil fine, putting it
In the best possible tilth. Pieces of
sod or hard lumps of dirt have no
place in the well prepared potato seed
bed.
According to chemical analysis the
soils of Western Washington, In gen
eral, are lacking in lime, potash and
phosphorus. Reports of potato grow
ers who have carried on tests of com
mercial fertilizers, in a small way, by
applying sulphate of potash, acid
phosphate, bone meal, and lime in va-1
rlous combinations, show that in some!
cases the applications gave increased
yields while In others they did not.
This indicates that there is consider
able need for further experimental
along this line.
Varieties for Planting
Of over a hundred varieties and
seedlings tested at the station for the
past three years the following have
given the best results: Earliest of All,
Early Beauty of Hebron, Early White
Ohio, Vermont Gold Coin, American
Wonder, Pride of Multnomah and Up-to-date.
Varieties which have been
tested for only a year but which are
very promising varieties are: Pride of
the Valley, Puritan, Uncle Sam, Satis
faction, Burpee's Early, Sir Walter
Raleigh, Champion, Rural New York
er, Carmen No. 1, Carmen No. 3,
Netted Gem. .
Early Rose and Burbank. two pop
ular varieties, have not given good re-1
suits in yield or smoothness of tubers, i
Maggie Murphy and Wilson's Choice,'!
two excellent varieties, were not In
cluded in these tests.
Earliest of All. True to Its name,
the earliest of all the varieties tried;
ready for use four days to a week
earlier than Early Rose. Tuber white,
smooth, roundish In shape with
abrupt ends; quality good. Excellent
for home use or early market and
very prolific.
Early White Ohio. Very similar In
shape to the well known Early Ohio,
but It has a white skin, making a
very desirable market potato as well
as an excellent one for home use.
Vermotat Gold Coin. A medium sea
son white variety, roundish In shape,
flattened, smooth and of excellent
quality. It Is prolific and very hardy,
growing on a variety of soils.
American Wonder. A good stand
ard mid-season variety of an oval
shaped, white potato. It Is good in
quality, prolific and very popular In
some localities.
Pride of Multnomah. An excellent
late white variety with smooth, oval
or kidney shaped tubers. The quality
Is very good. Many growers consider
this the best late variety.
Up-to-Date, A very proliflt late
variety which has shown Its worth at
this station for several seasons. The
tubers are white, smooth, oval in
shape, solid and with very shallow
eyes. In quality it is excellent. We
can recommend this as one of the best
late varieties grown.
Seed Treatment Before Planting
If hill selected seed cannot be se
cured, the tubers used for the seed
Ings should be smooth and uniform
as to size, shape and color. This will
give a more uniform field of potatoes
than if the seed was badly mixed. All
diseased and discolored potatoes
should be discarded. Before plant-
planting and contains enough food
material to support three or four
vigorous stalks until the plant has de
veloped Its own roots. When cutting,
all pieces showing signs of disease
should be discarded. Only clean
and healthy seed should be planted, as
rotted or scabby seed Is apt to inocu
late the soil with spores of the disease.
It is best to keep an antiseptic solu
tion, such as formalin, nearby, for
cleansing the knives after a diseased
tuber has been cut.
Planting
Depth of planting will depend upon
the character of the soil. In light,
sandy soils which tend to dry out, the
A poor type for seed. Eyes too deep.
VARIETY SPECIMENS
Tuber irregular In shape.
Early Beauty of Hebron, 8ft Oz.
Vermont Gold Coin, 8ft Oz.
Up-to date, 8ft Oz.
Pride of Multnomah, 6ft Oz.
ing the seed should be soaked in a
good antiseptic solution to kill all
spores of disease which might be
clinging to the surface of the tuber.
A common solution for this treatment
is one pint of formalin (commercial
formaldehyde), In every 30 gallons of
water. Place the seed In sacks and
soak them in the solution two hours,
then dry the seed before cutting and
planting. Sacks or palls in which the
cut seed Is placed should receive the
same treatment as the tubers.
The seed can either be cut or whole
tubers planted. If planting Is done
very early In the spring and the field
is apt to overflow, whole seed will be
less apt to rot than cut seed. Other
wise, it is considerably cheaper, and
just as well to plant cut pieces. A
seed piece weighing two or three
ounces makes a convenient size for
seed piece should be planted four or
five inches deep, while three Inches is
wide enough If the soil Is heavy. Early
potatoes should not be planted quite
as deep as later varieties.
The distance between rows and
and hills will also depend on the soil
and the variety of potato. Varieties
which produce large tubers should be
planted closer than those which pro
duce small tubers. Good care will
also permit closer planting than If the
soil is to be neglected. The usual
planting distance is from 12 to 18
inches in the row with rows 30 to 40
inches apart. Varieties which pro
duce large tubers will usually require
from eight to 12 sacks per acre for
planting while varieties having small
er tubers will require from five to
seven sacks.
Cultivation
Soon after the seed is planted, cul
tivation should begin. Harrow thor
oughly every week or 10 days until
the plants are well above the ground.
After this the surface soil should be
cultivated often enough to hold an
earth mulch and keep weeds from
starting. Cultivating deep, close to the
plants, after they are half grown is
apt to break off many lateral roots
and this should be avoided. Some
growers raise the teeth of their cul
tivators nearest the plants so that
they can stir the soil close to the rows
without cutting off lateral and surface
roots. Hill or ridge cultivation also
tends to destroy many of these roots
and unless the soil Is wet or the va
riety apt to grow out of the soil, hill
ing should not be practiced. The crop
is easier harvested by this method
and it is an easy habit to acquire, but
in general It Is not the best practice.
Spraying
Late blight has become so preval
ent in western Washington fields that
spraying Is almost a necessity. Bor
deaux mixture should be used in such
sprayings. At least two applications
of Bordeaux should be made, and
during a rainy season more will be
necessary. Make the first application
when the plants are eight to 10 Inches
In height Watch the plants to see
when it is necessary to make later ap
plications. As long as the Bordeaux
shows plainly on the foliage of the
plants It will not be necessary to make
a second application. Drench the
plants thoroughly. A little squirt of
spray on one plant and a little on an
other will not control this costly di
sease. The expense of spraying will
vary according to the ease with which
the material may be mixed and ap
plied and the strength and amount of
material used. Two applications of
Bordeaux mixture were made during
the summer of 1913. One was made
when the plants were about 10 Inches
In height and the other when they
had almpst covered the ground. Bor
deaux mixture 4-4-60 strength was
used for the first application and 100
gallons per acre did the work nicely.
For the second application 5-5-50
strength was used and 200 gallons per
acre was required. The first applica
tion cost $2.50 per acre, while the
second cost was almost doubled. Most
of this seed was taken from the field
that had been badly blighted the pre
vious season but no diseased seed was
planted; all the seed was treated for
scab and planting was In clean land.
In return for this trouble and expense
about 20 tons of potatoes per cre
were harvested practically all free
from blight and scab. Many grow
ers who failed to select and plant
clean sed and neglected to spray.
harvested less than 50 per cent, of
their crop. Some report a total loss.
Selection of Seed
One of the most important prin
ciples of potato growing and one,
which is too often neglected is the
selection of seed. We would not plant
screenings to raise a wheat crop nor
use our poorest stock fur breeding
purposes. Why then should we sell
our best potatoes and use the culls
for seed?
Shortly before digging time go
through the fields and mark with
stakes the healthiest, best formed and
most vigorous plants. Dig thlso hills
first and save the uniform tubers
from the best yielding hills. Use these
tubers for the selected seed of next
year. If the grower has a large acre
age of potatoes he can plant the se
lected seed in rows near the main
field, giving them as good care as he
gives the main crop. From these
rows he may choose out the best hills
each year for the selected seed of the
next year, using the remaining rows
for seed of the main field. For a
small field enough seed can be se
cured directly from the selected hills
without growing the selected rows in
addition.
It Is good practice for a grower to
have a small variety field where he
can try several varieties and deter
mine those best adapted to his par
ticular conditions. Different strains
of the same variety often differ In
more characters than the varieties
themselves. Some growers by careful
selection are securing strains of va- .
rieties which surpass the parent
strain, while others are securing new
varieties. While this may seem an un
important practice to some growers,
nevertheless, it has a tendency to pro
duce and maintain only the best
strains of the best varieties.
Storage and Varieties
Growers differ On the subjects of
storage and market. Some believe po
tatoes should be kept out of doors and
covered with earth while others prefer
to have a storage room or cellar for
storage. All, however, agree that
Btored potatoes should be kept cool
and dry.
Potatoes kept out-of-doors are usu
ally piled In a dry well-drained loca
tion and covered with boards and a
few Inches of soil to protect them
from freezes and rain. They should
not be pitted In a hole in the ground
or piled on a poorly drained location,
for water is apt to collect around the
tubers and rotting soon takes place.
When stored indoors the tubers
keep best in bins, sacks or barrels In a
cool, well ventilated room.
Whether It Is a better practice to
market in the fall Just after harvest
ing or whether storage and spring
marketing Is best depends much upon
local conditions and the object for
which the crop Is grown. Potatoes
grown particularly for seed are kept
in storage and sold In the spring.
With good facilities for storing, some
growers find It more profitable to
hold their marketable tubers and sell
them In the spring when prices are
usually high. Others claim the dif
ference between fall and spring prices
will no more than balance the loss by
shrinkage In storage.
Catering to a fancy potato trade la
sometimes quite profitable, but such
a trade Is usually quite limited. Car
load lots of one or two varieties are
usually more easily marketed than
small quantities, or even large quan
titles containing several varieties.
A potato trade that seems at present
badly neglected Is the seed potato
trade. It is hard to secure good seed
potatoes In western Washington, par
tlcularly Is It hard to secure seed from
selected hills. This station has been
selecting seed potatoes of several good
varieties for the past three years and
has a few hundred pounds of such
seed for sale at reasonable prices. The
amount of seed potatoes sold to each
Individual grower will be limited.