The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

Ly SIIOIIIIIIlliIQIFSIIIUIfiIIIIIIIIGOVIIIIIIIIIIIIIPIIMPPIIIIIIlllwIH Potatoes are big business county top Ontario producer By BRIAN BAKER ALLISTON Ideal potato gowing soil in Simcoe Coun ty has put the county in first place as the leading potato producing county in Ontario said to be in the neigh bourhood of 20 per cent of the entire production With an average of 300 bags or more per acre the county is also leader in production potatoes per acre The favorite soil type for potato growing in this area 18 acccording to Keith McRuer ag rep for South Simcoe Tioga Sand fine ON THE FARM of Clarence Leach Alliston Earl Murray checks 20ton load of sec tioned and treated seed L225 diesel engine VIIIKICIII iNVllNAIIONM nuvtsvu llFIIIIIIIIIIIIIIRIIIIIIIIIIIIIUIIlII ZSWK siltlike and welldrained an cient lake bottom deposit of undetermined depth Alluvial deposits the lighter moraine deposits on the highlands and in the ex treme west of the area wind blown de sits of surficial soil are al being used to good advantage for potato produc tion MECHANICAL WAY Ever since the early set tlers began growing crops it has been known that potatoes grow well in Simcoe County said Mr McRuer For decades some far tatoes ready to go the ourrow hydraulic planter filler which can fill the fourrow planters with triumph of tractor engineering new and differ ent breed of tractor to fill your work gap Its versatile tractor with powerful 24HP watercooled Quieter 3cy1inder perfectly balanced engine forward reverse and PTO speeds rear Category 3point hitch with stabilizer only SPECIAL $3495 60004 wheel drive The little tractor thats big on work Perfect for less than full scale farm work complete 125HP watercoolel 2cylinder diesel tractor the 86000 is built to work hard economically and efficiently 1g arm K2 For the Ultimate in Economy Come in for free demonstration Kubota gives you one thing more KIIBIITII mers have specialized in the growing of potatoes in this area but it was not until the 1950s when new markets began to open up and new methods of mechanical han dling became available that potato growing really began to expand Today roughly 1700 acres in Simcoe County are now devoted to potato production Actually there are now fewer producers than there were several years ago but these producers are growing more tatoes with far less labor ue to the trend toward ton and half of seed and fertilizer in minute to save valuable planting fime Baker Photo YOUR DOLLAR GOES FURTHER KUBOTA TRACTORS Time Tested Dependable 175 The tough little tractor that doesnt act its size For people who want more than garden tractor scaleddown model of big tractors with big tractor features Powered by 17 HP watercooled diesel engine IO speeds forward and reverse Category 13point hitch with stabilizer Hydraulic system easily lifts up to 13501bs Lzes The one compact with power and pull to spare For versatility and ease of use this powerpacked 30HP compact is hard to beat Perfect balance exclusive spherical combustion chamber and high grade filters are some reasons for its fine performance service large scale operations and mechanization Today particularly in the Alliston Lafontaine Beeton and west Simcoe areas potatoes are handled more on an assembly line system Seed potatoes fed by con veyor go through cutting machine that cuts the tubers the right size to seed through the planters Then fungicide is fplied and the prepared se rolls continuously up into bulk trucks that can carry 10 to 20 tons to planting field where enough at time are unloaded from selfunloading trucks into the four row plan ters to plant about one acre Another truck fills the planter with fertilizer All sorts of sophisticated machinery is used in preparing the land and con trolling weeds and insects Tractors up to 300 hor sepower pull double discs 24 feet wide and cultivators up was feet wide Sprayers with nozzle booms 11 feet wide make short work of spraying the crops or this job is now being done by air planes at the rate of 100 acres in three quarters of an hour HEAVY MACHINERY When it comes to digging two and fourrow machines with chain elevators scoop up rows of potatoes elevating them as the dirt drops back through the elevator chains before dropping the potatoes back on top of the ground Later follow huge potato combines that pick the potatoes up and load them on to 12 and 20 ton selfunloading hopper trucks sorting out all soil and trash One type of harvester uses pneumatic air pressure to pull the potatoes off the sorting bed so that all rocks which are heavier by volume remain on the sor ting bed and are carried right on off the end back onto the ground Massive hydraulic rock pickers run over the ground prior to seeding can eliminate the rock problem by removing 100 tons of rocks or more per 100 acre farm The harvested potatoes may be hauled directly to the buyers or processing plant or they may be hauled to custom storage or onfarm storage Onfarm storage usually con THIS MODERN potato harvesting scene is on the sists of long steel buildings where the potatoes may be stored hundreds of tons per bay 15 to 20 feet deep with elaborate ventilation systems to take away the heat generated by the tubers Twofootwide plank covered trenches along the centre of each bay serve as part of the ventilation system during storage and as part of the bin unloading setup when the potatoes are being moved out to market by way of let ting an elevator pickup be run along the bottom the trench as the planks along the top of the trench are removed to allow the potatoes to roll down in the trench onto the elevator According to Mr McRuer the chief varieties grown in Simcoe County are the chief processing potatoes Ken nebecs and relatively new variety Superior and netted gems and the good old stand by Irish Cobblers Netted farm of Elgin Blakely Alliston It includes self gems are favorites for baking potato The first two are favorite processing potatoes The bulk of seed potatoes come from the Maritimes and to lesser extent from the United States Few seed potato growers are operating in Ontario but where ob tainable some Ontario seed is med When it comes to fertihzmg the potato crop growers do not hold back They rely upon the information gained from soil tests which tell them exactly what fertilizer analysis is required and how much per acre Fertilizer requirements on the same field ma change from year to year epending on the production of previous years the type of soil and how much the crop in the previous season took out of the soil Application by weight may range from half ton to threequarters of ton We unloading bulk truck trac tor and potato combine There is no such thing as standard type of potato fer tilizer emphasizes Mr McRuer Growers use just whatever the ground calls for and this may vary greatly not just from one soil type to another but from farm to farm or field to field on the same soil type Many growers are finding it necessary to apply in ad dition products that will bring the acidity or pH level of the soil back into line where it has been ut out of balance by crops an fertilizer Likewise he notes that here is not set time to start planting Where it is right for one grower to start planting at an earlier date it might not be right for another on another type of soil to start planting until two weeks later Type of potato also has bearing on planting dates Soil should be warm and not toodamp To break up the disease and inrvesting two heavy rows of potatoes at the rate of st cycle most growers have using some form of crop rotation Some grow potatoes for two years on the same land then rotate with one or more crops of clover mixed grain oats and barley barley white or even tobac co Some plant crop of rye immediately after harvesting the potatoes However as the value of potato growing land goes up many growers are trending towards potatoes after potatoes relying on fungicides insecticides and herbicides weed killers to keep up high healthy potato production much the same as corn grain producers have so successfully managed to do Rye is often planted im mediately after the crop is harvested to prevent wind erosion on soils where this is possibility especially in some Alliston areas coles nursery and garden centre four miles per hour BakerPhoto Growers in Simcoe Coun ty have done great job in controlling what in some countries is major potato pest the Colorado beetle comments Mr McRuer CROWN GARDEN CENTER HWY 93 AT CROWN HILL NOW OPEN EVERGREENS SHADE TREES FLOWERING TREES SHRUBS PERENNIALS SOGREEN and CIL FERTILIZER 20 OFF LAST YEARS FERTILIZER Now Have Professional Landscape and Horticultural Consultants to Serve You GOOD SELECTION Bark Chips Roses Trees Evergreens PerenniaIs Fruit Trees FERTILIZERS For every purpose White Stone Chips Peat Moss SPRING BULBS ODohIios Begonios lilies GlodioIi Tools Gardening Tools Hwy 26 726l5 Minoslngs Potting Soil Timbers For Landscape Use For all your Garden Needs The Plant People