Cost and Profit With Potatoes. LARAMIE, 1894.-Cost per acre, including, fertil izer, seed, labor, etc. Average yield of fifty varieties, 118.4 sacks. .$50 00 Value of crop at 1c per pound...118 40 Net profit per acre.. LARAMIE, 1895.-Cost per acre.. .$68 40 .$35 00 LARAMIE, 1896.-Cost per acre. Average yield of fifty varieties. Value of crop at c per pound... 44 50 Net profit per acre. Average yield of fifty varieties, $950 $31 50 91.4 sacks per acre. Value of crop at c per pound... 47 05 from treated and untreated seed. Value of crop at 1c per pound..... 86 88 Net profit per acre. LANDER, 1895.-Cost per acre... Average yield of thirteen varieties, 66.66 sacks per acre. $54 38 $33 50 Value of crop at 14c per pound... 83 32 Net profit per acre. $49 82 WHEATLAND, 1895.-Cost per acre... Average yield of thirty vari- $59 80 .$28 00 Value of crop at c per lb. ... 22 05 Loss per acre. WHEATLAND, 1896.-Cost per acre.. Average yield of forty-five va- Net profit per acre.... Average net profit per acre at Wheatland for all varieties grown and three years.. $ 5 95 $24 00 27 37 $ 3 37 $19 10 The above estimates of cost and profit with potatoes are based upon the reports of the superintendents of the experiment farms, and the cost given in most cases is an estimate of the actual cost of raising the potatoes grown in the experiments. Where actual cost is given it is high, for in the first place experimentation is expensive, and in the second place very small areas were grown, an acre or less in each experiment. Where small acres are grown the cost per acre would be more than upon larger areas. On the other hand, the small areas of potatoes grown for experiment would probably produce larger yields as a rule than the yield upon larger areas, which would make the profit greater. At Lander in 1896 such small areas were grown of each variety that computing the yields per acre was not justifiable, at least for this purpose, so we have not made an estimate of cost and profit. The apparent large yields from these small areas makes the profit per acre amount to over $150. The average yield of so many varieties is lower than the yield from any of the better kinds. The last two seasons at Wheatland several of the varieties either produced very small yields or failed altogether. Averaging these in with the others made the yield so small that the crop grown in the experiment in 1895 cost more than it was worth at the local market price. The value of the crop is computed from the yield and the local wholesale market price for each place and year. Esti mated cost and profit is not given at Saratoga or Sheridan, and for only one year at Sundance, as the estimated cost per acre and market price of crops were not given in reports from those places. We believe that on large areas the total expense of raising and marketing a crop of pototoes under irrigation should not ordinarily exceed thirty dollars per acre. Taking our indicated average yield of 150 bushels per acre and an average price of one-half cent per pound, gives an average net profit of fifteen dollars per acre. The relation of potatoes to other crops on the farm, their place in the rotation of crops, and the favorable condition in which the soil is left by potatoes, together with a net profit of fifteen dollars or more per acre, gives them a high rank among our field crops.* Station, *For estimates of cost and profit with wheat in Wyoming, see Bulletin No. 25, Wyoming A Famous Authentic Yield of Potatoes in Wyoming and How It Was Obtained. In answer to a letter to Mr. Herbert Myrick, editor of that standard and progressive agricultural paper, the "American Agriculturist," we have received the following account of a prize acre of potatoes grown upon the farm of Mr. Sturgis, in 1890. Mr. Sturgis' farm is situated upon the "Little Piney" creek in the northern part of the state. On account of its authenticity and value, along with the information in regard to methods of planting and raising potatoes, and to make it a matter of history in the state, the statement as received is published in full. The account appeared in "The American Agriculturist" for December, 1890. "THE FIRST PRIZE CROP." "Where it was grown.—Buffalo, in northern Wyoming, Johnson County, about latitude 444 degrees, has the honor of growing the greatest potato crop on record and of capturing the American Agriculturist first prize of $250 for the largest yield of potatoes on one measured acre in 1890, also a like prize offered by special act of the Wyoming Legislature to the man who would bring the American Agriculturist grand prize to that enterprising territory. "The Contest Acre was a rich sandy loam, in its native state bearing a heavy growth of blue-stem grass, naturally dry, and worth about $20 per acre. The virgin soil was broken up for the first time in the spring of 1888, when it was planted to vegetables, without cultivation. In 1889 it was in garden crops, worked with a cultivator and shovel plow, but no manure of any kind was ever applied to it. It was plowed April 7, 1890, six to eight inches deep, with a Bradley sulky plow and three horses, taking one man half a day. April 14 it was thoroughly harrowed by the Perfect harrow, drawn by three horses. It was marked out in furrows two and one-half feet apart and six inches deep, made by the sulky plow, the sets being dropped eight inches apart in the row, making 22,800 hills on the acre. The planting was done by one man from May 7 to 14, the ground damp and in good growing condition, but after that there was no more rain. The seed was all dropped and covered by hand. A thin board three inches wide, with three two-inch holes eight inches apart and eight inches from each end being used to drop by. The seed was covered two inches deep with a garden rake. When the potatoes came up, more earth was raked into the trench so as to almost cover the plant. The potatoes were cut with one, two and three eyes to a set, the piece being as large as the potato would admit of; 1,560 pounds of seed were used. About one-half the acre was planted with the Early Vermont variety the rest being Manhattan, Rural New Yorker No. 2, and three of Mr. Sturgis' own seedlings. The largest and best seed was selected from fifty bushels, but fully 3,000 hills did not come up, and were not replanted, as it was so late. In digging Mr. Sturgis found sets that were still sound and had never sprouted, and recommends to cut, plant and cover potatoes the same day, covering as fast as dropped,-as important suggestion in so dry a climate. The seed was all of his own raising. "Irrigation. The crop was fairly up June 12 when both soil and air were cool and dry. The single plow was run through the furrows on one-half the acre on June 18, a man with a hoe following and pulling the soil away from any plants that were covered, and pulling and cutting all weeds. Five days later the balance of the acre was gone over in the same way. On July 5 it was plowed out again, and July 7 was hoed and hand-weeded. On this day about one-third of the acre was irrigated, and by July 8 the whole acre had |