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Show TELLS HOW HE WON BIG PO CONTEST Howard Dalton of Willard Throws Interesting Sidelights Side-lights on Matter EXPLAINS METHODS Report Is Filed With Box elder County Supervisor of Agriculture Specal to The Tribune ERIGH M CTTi Dec 17 The re port of Howard Dalton of "W Uard the successful contestant in the potato growing contest held m the state dur ii tie vear 1914 is n ost interest ng and shows the value of potato growing: when done under scientif c methods Dalton s report was f led yesterday : with Professor J "W Glenn supervisor of agr culture in the schools of Box elder county For h s success young Dalton was awarded a tr p to the expo s t on at San Francisco next year wit-all wit-all his expenses pa d Bee des this he made an excellent prof t from the half acre alone that was entered in the con test as ti ill be shown by the following report In t e early part of 1914 I bought irty eecd potatoes I purchased the Idaho Rural potatoes They were not specially b elected potatoes, therefore I was very careful in preparing the peed for planting- I was anx ous that e ery sped piece had one or two pe feot ejes o It I then reated the teed w tfa. Torn a de yde solut on (one pint to thirty gallons of wa er) Thla treat nent cons sted of soak ng the seed, before cutt ng for two hours in the prescribed solution The purpose of the treatment was to k II any scab yerms appearing- ontl e surface of t a potatoes Other than th s there was no treatn ent g ven Preparation of Land F om March 0 to of I prepared my and I co ered the land with fer Izer us ng- e ght tons of the ma te a to the ha f acre poking Ueve nches deep and immediate y to lowed the p ow Tilth a spring tooth harrow go ng o er it three tin es I did the p ow Dg in the forenoon and foDowed v, th the harrow in the aft ernoon to conserve the moisture and me low the o Af er harrowing I pu erized the c ods by dragg ng up the 0 I tv th a square fran e timber ry ng n e er wa to be pa lcular about e er phase of culti atlon as I fi"n ed that the e re of my sue cess was good cul ! at on Fire days later I aga n went over the land with a spring tooth harrow The following week I did the same th n whic kept the so I uio st and mel ow Just before panting I went o er it again wit a srj are mber in 0 der to nake it perfectly level On April 13 I p anted t e seed in p owed furrows four nches deep and the ro vs thirty inches apart the seed be ng dropped about twe ve inches apart in the row" The seed was then cov ered about four inches deep with a small hand plow and as soon as the 1 tt e p ants appeared above the ground I began mv wo k in the field at once removing a 1 the weeds bv gl ing t a tnorough harrow ng w th a spike tootl harrow Th s I did on May 5 and repeated it on May 12 and on May 6 used the hand cu tl ator drawn by one horse g vlng them a thorough cultlvat on with tl s Imple ment af er which I cultivated them once with the hand hoe cleaning out a 1 the weeds Rapid Growth Noted Lp to June 15 the plants had grown rap d j and gave a strong vigorous appearance Soon after th s date they began to b ossom and on June 2o I gave them the first app icatlon of Ir r gation water irrigat ng them on Ju y 5 and aga n on July 0 The crop was matured with but three ap plicat ons of water After th second rrigat on the v nes were so tall that I cou d not work In them without de etroying them The operat ons prac t Cally ceased from th s t me on unti the tubers were ripe and ready for d ging I sent a selected fifty pounds o he state fair which was hed at Salt Lake City for which I ece ed hono ab e mention by the Judges On October 13 14 and 15 I harvested the crop and the potatoes we a we ghed and .sold rig from ne j fie d I found f om a carefu check ing of tl e we ghts that my ha f acre had produced 360 bushe s of marke ab e potatoes he equi a ent of 30 bus els p acre The fo owing table wl 1 gi t e Itemized cost of produc tlon w th the net p oft per half acre "Va ue of fer zer $2 cost of spread ng fe 1 1 ser $4 p owing $1 harrow ng six t mes $1 60 cost of seed (4o0 pounds ?5 e e ng $1 p ant ng of seed $ cultivat ng St Irrigat on, $1 50 weed ng $1 50 ha est ng $18 rent on land $S tota cost of p oduct o S46 o0 value of crop $18 77 cost of product on $46 50 net p oceeds $141 27 Th s e perime t was conducted on a ha f acre of ground and goes to show that pots o cul ure Is wo th $ 82 S per acre in th 3 port on of the ata e |