IIOME AND FARM MAGAZINE SECTION
9
The Life History of the Potato
5OCR hundred years ago, before
r the white men ever heard of the
Plant, highly Intelligent Indians
(Incas, they called themselves,) were
cultivating polatos In the .mountain
valleys of Peru. These Indians had
developed a system of writing, and
had erected great buildings, and had
done many other things of whjeh any
race of people 400 years ago might
have been proud. They did not know
anything about gunpowder, however,
and when the Spaniards found them,
the poor Incas were easily conquered,
aud the Spaniards took from them
large quantities of gold and other
treasures, and, incidentally, the tu
bers of the potator
These potatoes were evidently a
form which had been developed by
the Incas by selection from the wild
type which may be found In the
Mountains of Peru, Chile, Mexico and
Southern Colorado to this day. In
the hands of the Spaniard, the potato
found Its way to Southern Europe,
Bnd to the first American colony in
Virginia.
One of the most interesting men
who lived in England 300 years ago
was Sir Walter Kalelgh. He was
always looking for something new,
had considerable money, and was a
friend of Queen Elizabeth. At that
time, all the leading nations of the
earth were sailing forth to investigate
the new world which Columbus had
discovered a hundred years before.
Origin of "Irish" Potato.
Sir Walter Raleigh being placed
as ho was also sailed forth. He
hoped to find gold, but instead found
the potato and tobacco plants. The
potato plant had been introduced into
Virginia a short time before, from
Peru, and Sir Walter Raleigh took it
from Virginia to his estate near Cork,
in Ireland. He tried to get the Eng
lish people to like the potato, but
they would have nothing to do with
it, fearing, because of its relationship
to the deadly nightshade, that it was
poison.
The Irish peasants, however, recog
nized its value, and during the large
part of its early history the plant was
cultivated more in Ireland than in
any other country. That is the rea
son we call it the "Irish" potato,
when It Is by right of origin the Peru
vian potato or American potato.
During the sixteenth century and
the early part of the seventeenth, the
potato was very little grown outside
of Ireland. Gradually, people began
to see that it was possible to grow a
large amount of food on a small
acreage by using the potato, and so
the peasant people of Ireland, Ger
many, France and Russia grew the
potatoes more and more.
Appearance of "Tiliglit."
Drawings of the plant made In the
early days indicate that it was very
much the same then as it is now. The
varieties, however, were much differ
ent. In 1840, a disease appeared
causing blight and rot, which is now
common everywhere, but at that time
the potato plant as commonly culti
vated had never before been attacked
by It.
For several years, potato crops
failed all over Europe. In Ireland,
the trouble was especially serious,
and thousands of people died from
famine, and thousands of others came
to the United States to avoid the scant
food supply. Something had to be
done. A. variety had to be secured
that could withstand, to some extent
at least, this new disease. New va
rieties were grown from the seed
balls. These new varieties seemed to
do all right for a time, and then they
deteriorated and became diseased.
It now seems as though it is neces
sary to start new varieties about every
10 or 15 years. Many or our gooa
varieties, however, have lasted for 30
or 40 years.
Ilurbank's Potato.
A little over 40 years ago, Luther
Purbank, a young man of 23 years,
planted a lot of potato seeds which
he had secured from tne seea Dans,
which look like little green tomatoes.
One of these seedlings stood head and
shoulders above the rest, and. he
called it the Burbank. It soon be
came the leading American potato,
and to this day ranks quite high.
Mr. Carmen, who, a number of
years ago, was editor of the Rural
Xew Yorker, a farm paper which Is
still published in New York, became
much interested In potatoes. He got
his subscribers to send in seed balls.
He planted thousands of these seeds,
and secured two or three seedlings,
which to this day are well known
over the entire United States. The
most famous is the Hnral New York
er. The Carmen and the Raleigh are
also well known.
The Feachblow, an old-fashloncd
American variety, was crossed with
the Hebron. The resultant seed ball
was planted, and one of the seedlings
was the Early Ohio.
Since the potato plant passed out
of the hands of the South American
Indians, it has gone through some
wonderful changes. New varieties
have been continually coming up,
growing old, passing away.
Favorable Conditions.
The final word has not yet been
said in potato varieties. It may be
mat some of you will plant seed
balls, and, like Luther Burbank, se
cure new varieties better than any
we now have.
The native home of the potato
plant is semi-tropical America, at an
altitude of 4000 to 8000 feet. The
high altitude means a long, cool, even
season. The wild potato has tubers
about a quarter of an Inch in di
ameter, and the character of the soil
didn't make much difference with it.
Our cultivated potatoes are often
three to eight inches in diameter, and
in order to do well, the soil must be
fairly loose and easily pushed aside.
The small wild potatoes didn't need
much in the way of water. Our large
cultivated potatoes must have a large
supply of water.
Putting all these things together,-
It seems that the situation best
adapted to potatoes is a cool, moist
climate and a light, friable, rich soil.
The irrigated mountain valleys of
Colorado, Idaho and Montana supply
these conditions splendidly. Maine,
Wisconsin and Minnesota, with their
cool, moist climate, and rather sandy
soil, raise splendid potatoes. For the
same reason, England, Scotland, Ire
land and Germany grow good pota
toes. The soil in these foreign coun
tries is often rather heavy, but they
make it friable by applying large
quantities of manure. Moreover, it
doesn't seem to make so much dif
ference if the soil is heavy, provided
it is kept moist by light rains.
Kiln-Drying Process
Is Found to Be Rapid
THE Forest Service has been mak
ing experiments, at its Madi
son, Wis., laboratory, in kiln-drying
grand fir (one of the white firs), a
species which is abundant in Oregon
and Washington. These experiments
have resulted in a very rapid and sat
isfactory process of drying the fir.
First, the green lumber is heated
clear through to the boiling point by
allowing live steam to escape Into the
kiln until a vapor temperature of
225 to 230 degrees F. is reached.
For one-inch lumber, this should con
tinue for about four hours, and is
designed to prevent surface drying
and also to aid In the evaporation of
some of the moisture In the wood.
The live steam is then turned off,
and the humidity reduced from about
100 to 40 per cent. The temperature
of air and circulation should be main
tained, however. At the end of 16
hours, the humidity is still further
reduced to 30 per cent, and the lum
ber removed at the end of 30 to 44
hours.
The length of time for each opera
tion will depend upon local condi
tions or circumstances such as
method of piling, kind of lumber,
initial amount of moisture and the.
exactness with which the required
conditions of drying can be main
tained. The piling Is an important
factor", for the lumber must be so
piled that there is free circulation of
air over every part of it. Edged
stacking or piling is fhe best.
Although this method ot drying is
very rapid, the lumber showed very
little checking, no discoloration, but
slight loosening of the knots, and
slight case-hardening. In material
that is not to be resawed, probably
this latter difficulty would not ap
pear. At all events, the amount of
circulation and high humidity at the
same time tends to diminish or pre
vent this effect.
The tests from which this method
was developed were made with a spe
cial humidity-regulated kiln. Simi
lar results may be obtained by using
somewhat the same process by the
oven or non-draft method now quite
extensively used in the Northwest. In
fact, any type of kiln may be oper
ated in this manner by closing the
ventilators to prevent draft. It is
important that the lumber be heated
through by means of a steam bath,
and that a temperature of 225 to 230
degrees F. be maintained. It is dif
ficult to control the humidity in most
of the kilns now in use, but as the
drying proceeds, the humidity auto
matically drops and the required
conditions are approximated.
The forest service is co-operating
with 54 railroads, mining companies,
pole companies and cities in making
tests of wooden ties, timbers, poles,
piling and paving blocks which hava
been given preservative treatments.
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These 5 Reasons
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OODPYEAR
AKRON. OHIO
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Maker, of Goodxear "Tire-Saver" Acceuoriei. Maker, of Gcodyeor "Wing" Carriage Tire, cad Other Type,
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