we have apples to go around. We have the same problems of distribution, better cultivation, and better protection, that you have.

I hope some of you will come and visit our society meeting in January. You will not learn much from us, but you will learn to catch our enthusiasm.

I am very glad to be here again. I thank you for the honor conferred on me in making me an honorary member of your society. Prof. Irish: I am certainly very glad to be here. Then years ago this fall I attended the first and last meeting of this society. I then was a student at the college here. I had the pleasure of coming down and spending a few days and carefully noting the personnel of the society at that time. From that beginning I watched the development and work of the society with a great deal of interest, probably more so than any other society outside of our own. I find a good many names still connected with the society that were active in its work at that time. On the program I find the name of Mr. Reeves. Of course, none of those gentlemen will remember me at that time. I also remember Mr. Bomberger, Mr. B. F. Ferris and Mr. J. C. Ferris and Mr. C. F. Gardner. I must say, as I remembered him then, he looks younger today than he did then. Mr. Patten, I remember. Also Dr. Dennis and M. J. Wragg, his father, Mr. John Wragg, and a great many others that might be mentioned, I remember.

That having been the first Horticultural meeting I ever attended, it made a lasting impression on me. In our own state there have been some changes in the organization, but the work has been going on and quite a little has been done. The most important work in the last two or three years has been the taking of an orchard census of the state. The entire state has been canvassed, county by county, and a record of the number of trees made, and that information. has been tabulated and will be published in a few months. That, we believe, has been one of the most important pieces of work the state has undertaken. We have also had very many interesting Horticultural meetings. Their plan has been to hold these meetings in different parts of the state so as to create a greater interest in the fruit growing industry in that state.

I must not take more of your time. I again thank you for making me an honorary member of your society.

Mr. Duncan I do not know whether I had better take up any of your time. I am scheduled to give you a talk later. This is my first visit with you. Yet, I do not feel that I am a stranger to Iowa

in the horticultural field, because I lived for many years in Marion county, and know you have the same problems we have to work out in regard to fruit growing. I am very glad to be with you. I certainly appreciate the honor bestowed upon me. I hope many of you will come to our meeting in January, and we will try to give you the glad hand of welcome.

The President: We will now take up the regular morning program. The first paper is entitled, "Mangel Wurzel," by Levi Mossman, Urbana. The writer of the paper not being present, the Secretary will read it.

MANGEL WURZELS.

BY LEVI MOSSMAN, URBANA.

My experience with mangel wurzels or stock beets is not complete, but it has been very interesting to me. Some claim that they contain only about 25% of protein that sugar beets do; personally I do not know. It is evident that the sugar beets are harder to raise or to get a good stand of than mangel wurzels. The golden tankard is recommended, and I believe rightly so, as the best dairy mangel wurzel; but it is not as good a yield and in size, and I believe not so hardy or sure to grow as the long red variety. In fact I think nearly all best things are the most difficult to raise. Be that as it may, I am sure that it pays well to raise and feed mangels if one has the time and capacity to do it right. I have never raised anything which produced according to the richness of the soil better than mangel wurzels.

Two years ago I tried to raise a combination patch of sugar beets, golden tankards and mammoth long red mangels on some land which varied in richness almost as much as the beets differed from each other. The result was I got practically nothing from the sugar beet seed, too little to consider from the golden tankard, and not enough to save from the long red, except a small piece beside an old barn, which yielded at the rate of probably fifteen or more tons per acre.

Last year I had a patch on rather sandy soil and the average was small except where there had been a large pile of manure about nine weeks; but we got several wagon loads off from a half acre. This year

we used for the purpose a rich weedy corner with a "draw." The medium forepart of the season was very dry, but in spite of this, the weeds grew abundantly, and as I had plenty of corn for one man to tend, I left the mangels as a secondary crop, and several times it looked a good deal like the weeds might choke out the beets, but by patient toil with hands and other tools, up to a horse and truck cultivator we won out until the beets began to develop their giant tendency nicely. We had the best,

most even yield in size this year that we have ever had, although there were several blanks in the rows, especially of the golden tankards, probably mostly on account of the early dry weather. Most of the blanks were filled in with turnip seed. The average weight of our long reds this year was close to eight pounds each. Some were scabby, but only a small per cent. I prepare the ground for planting the same as for corn except a better harrowing. I use a Matthew's Gem garden drill for seeding; next I roll the rows with a thirty pound iron roller with a six inch face. As soon as the rows are up enough to follow, I hoe them with a double wheel arch garden hoe. This year I got some beet hoe attachment for my Salzer's Ideal Cultivator, which I use as soon as practical between the rows. The next time I cultivate with a horse I drive the reverse from which I did the last time, and thus dig up at the ends where I could not going the other way.

Last year the long striped potato bugs attacked the crop, and was apparently making headway for its destruction by eating up the tops. We sprayed the tops with strong kerosene emulsion, and the bugs soon left the beets and did not return. But the emulsion was a little too strong for some of the beets, as it killed a few of them.

At harvest we pull by a twist pull, let dry awhile, rub off what dirt we can reasonably, detop and cord away in a ventilated cellar.

My price delivered on the local market has been 20 cents per 100 pounds, $4.00 per ton, tops included, or 25 cents for trimmed, and 30 cents for cellar shrunken. But our crop this year was injured by the hard frost of the 20th of October, so I reduced the price 5 cents per 100 pounds accordingly. They are excellent to feed in winter and early spring.

Prof. Beach: In connection with that paper I desire to say that I have taken occasion to look up the census reports of 1909 as to the value of the fruit and vegetable crop of this state. The total value of the fruit crop for that year, in round numbers is $5,600,000. The value of the vegetable crop, not including potatoes and sweet potatoes was a little less than that. This does not take into account, however, the nursery stock and horticultural products.

The President: If there is no further discussion, we will take up the next paper, "The Potato Situation in Scott County." by Prof. G. R. Bliss, Davenport.

POTATO SITUATION IN SCOTT COUNTY.

BY G. R. BLISS, DAVENPORT.

Scott county, Iowa, has long been noted for its heavy production of potatoes. It stands pre-eminent among the counties of Iowa in the production of barley, potatoes and onions. The following reports from the State Year Book of Agriculture give an idea of the extent of the potato industry:

Despite the extent of this industry in Scott county it has been steadily losing ground in the last two or three years and if the present rate of decrease continues, promises to soon take Scott county out of the list of heavy potato producers just as various other sections of the state which at different times have grown large numbers of tubers now produce practically none. Among such sections might be mentioned, Central City, Anita and Shenandoah. The causes for the falling off in production are three: In the first place, while Davenport is a splendid local market and could consume all the potatoes which Scott county could produce, neverthless, market facilities are very unsatisfactory and the growers of this county regularly receive from 20 to 25 cents per bushel less on the average than those growing potatoes in counties with smaller production. In the second place, the low yields due to unfavorable weather conditions during the past two seasons have tended to discourage many growers. In the third place, the potatoes of Scott county do not rank up in quality with those of some more northern sections. This is due chiefly to the fact that growers have been paying little attention to this phase of the subject and many of the potatoes are green and immature and a large number are very scabby. A prominent wholesale house in Muscatine informs me that it finds that it cannot, with profit or satisfaction, buy potatoes at the leading centers of production in this county, such as Eldridge, Walcott and Donahue, because the growers will make no effort to furnish a quality of tuber which will meet the demands of their customers.

The potato growers of Scott county are mostly of German descent. They are industrious, hardworking people and seem to take naturally to the growing of this crop. They have a splendid soil for the produc

tion of potatoes and are, as a rule, well equipped with machinery, such as diggers, planters and other tools for potato growing. Their methods of preparing the ground and of cultivating are thorough. As a rule, they practice spraying and keep the Colorado potato beetle well in check, although practically nothing has been done towards the control of the early blight by spraying.

They are just beginning to recognize the need of treating seed with formaldehyde for scab, but they have grown potatoes on their farms so long that the ground in many cases is thoroughly infected with this fungus and consequently the treatment is often ineffectual. In many instances treated seed has produced clean potatoes but in many instances, - due either to lack of thorough work or to the presence of the fungus spore in the ground, the results have been disappointing and the great bulk of potatoes produced are more or less scabby. This, coupled with the small size due to the dry weather of the past season and the lateness in ripening and watery texture of the tubers, has placed the Scott county potato in a bad position on the market and thousands of bushels of northern grown potatoes have been shipped in and sold over the city of Davenport at prices ranging from 90 cents to $1.20 per bushel. Home grown potatoes have sold as low as 32 and 33 cents in the markets at Eldridge, Donahue, Dixon and Walcott, while in Davenport they have brought various prices ranging from 50 to 75 cents per bushel. This has been the poorest potato year Scott county has known for a long time and probably not one farmer in five has any more than made expenses from his potato patch, and in some cases entire crop failures have occurred.

It would seem a pity, since Iowa does not produce enough potatoes for home consumption, to permit this industry to decline in those districts and among those people where it seems especially fitted to flourish, but this decline is certain unless the following changes in culture and marketing of the crop are quite generally adopted.

In the first place: Men must learn to rotate the crop and not produce potatoes on the same land over two years in succession. They must use the ground in the production of some other crop for a period of at least three or four years. Moreover the seed must be treated with formaldehyde each season. In this way only can the scab be controlled. The Scott County Farm Improvement League has conducted some experiments on the treating of scab during the past season at the State Orphans' Home farm. Seed treated with formaldehyde, and planted on new ground, which has not grown potatoes for several years, yielded 103 bushels per acre and the resulting crop was especially free from scab. Seed from the same lot, treated with sulphur, planted on the same ground, produced 89 bushels per acre and the resulting crop was comparatively free from scab. Seed from the same lot, which was not treated, yielded 93 bushels to the acre and the resulting crop was quite scabby.

In the second place: The farmers of Scott county must have a better stand to start with. A poor stand, in many cases, cuts the yield more than half. This past season, in some cases, farmers had to replant, due