Grand Rapids Herald-Review Newspaper, July 24, 1912, Page 14

=——S SUPPLEMENT TO GRAND RAPIDS HERALD-REVIEW, WEDNESDAY, JULY 24, 1912. THREE Soedeetoasoageeseateeteateaieateetedy Sopees What We Offer You For Nothing } Let us admit that you are asked to pay a nominal cash price for your purchases. os Se ale es es ih th Oe Th ih Be a i Ra oS Seatoetoetontoetontented atestontes ‘et Ms ote eet That is no z e: & $ more, and very often less, than you would have to pay elsewhere ee axa 4 4 $ & 4 & & $ % BUT—IN ADDITION AND WITHOUT EXTRA COST < % & & & 3 * % +3 3 : as $ $ We offer yow the largest and best assorted stock We offer you in our Millinery Department the $3 % $ in Itasca County service of a trimmer whose experience has brought her é % p 3 We offer you “your money's worth or your mon- to the front rank in her profession and whose ability has 4 $ z ey back” eee) brought her favors in competition with the foremost + + 4 5 . 5 : ‘ i ‘ ZS ¥ % $ We offer you our reputation for selling honest trimmers in this county $ + & 3 : Pe : a “e & 3 3 + ps gocraine ne hormaacal sd or send your little We offer you thru our cash system what we save ~ $ $ 3 chi ca Sen NSH Ont Or Oy, ° in book keeping and ‘dead’ accounts in the form of trade $ D4 $ + . W é offer you the berefit o our 25 years exper- checks and give you one dollars worth of merchandise p< 4 $ >< zence' buying and selling merchandise ; a (from any department in the store) for $25.00 worth of + + a We offer you the benefit of our wide acquaintaince checks, a free gift of 4 cents for every dollar spent here + % 2 with the markets of the country and our independent . $ + $ $ position to take advantage of every slump in the market We offer you the same price whether your purse $ $ 2 anywhere and everywhere, thus securing lines of mer- holds $1.00 or $100.00 and you have the satisfaction of $ x * % chandise at much less than the regular market prices —— — pert goa you pay is as low as that same a = % We offer you (in connection with the Itasca Mer- article can be sold for to anybody $ = a cantilc Co.) the advantage ot buying under one roof every- We offer yow our best endeavors to please and % % 5 + thing you eat, use and wear, thus eliminating much use- satisfy you, to wait on you promptly and give you the = z hans less expense in the handling of the merchandise best service of which we are capable + + $ $ z a $s ee - cars $ ¢ S 4 | t $= es & & : asca Dry Goods Company i: z 6 $ + Sy $e zB $+ < $ (Successor to Dry Goods, Shoe and Millinery Departments of the Itasca Mercantile Co.) + + es , a4 = % [=> Read the “ad” of the Itasea Mercantile Company on another page. Ks = no - a BS etetetetetetetitetetetntetetetnetretetteteteatetetetiteletetileletetpetettveletntinetetetntebtetifrteteneteteteteattitetettitntettnetrettintitetntenetetnannleatntntntntntntntntntntnietnttntetatnintetatie cestecetetetetentntuieteteteteatntneteteteteateatntne Mbateatnneietetetetatititehtetaenintileteteatetaintiteteteteateatatntitnteteateatae ietretetetenitetetetettnintetetetntntitetetetnh: hetrtetnteretetntntnttetneletntnintnentetetate Best Potatoes in the World Yield Enormously (U. S. Census Figures of 1910). Average potato yield in the United States, 90 bushels to the acre. Average yield in Minnesota, 120. bushels. Average yield Itasca county, 146 bushels. Acreage reported 1910, 1,080; yield 157,352 bushels. Estimated crop 1911, 175,000 bushels. Potatoes insist on growing in Itasca county almost anywhere. Sand loam, sandy clay or clay loam, it is hard to tell on which the tubers will do their best. They grow in fields well tilled and manured, they grow in new land never plowed before, they grow where the earth has been scraped, with a harrow or where the sod has been cut with a disc, they have even been known to grow where the cook threw the potato peelings out at the back of the camp, with no attention but the kindness of nature. Yields of 200 bushels to the acre are common. Less than that is not considered much of a crop. Yields of 300 to 350 bushels an acre are reason- ably frequent and small tracts well cultivated have given better than 500 bushels to the acre. There is no record of failure of the potato crop in this section. The season of 1910 was one of severe drought in all the northwest, but Itasca county potatoes gave their accustomed yield of the highest quality. The season of 1911 resulted in total loss of the crop in the middle west and a shortage even in the fertile Red River Valley, but the production of Itasea county was not dimin- ished. When other fields suffer from too much water, the under drainage of Itasca county’s sandy scils protect the crop. When drought threatens, the clay subsoil holds in reserve sufficient mois- dure for the Itasca county vegetation. Upon the one condition that the supply of plant food is maintained in the soil by wise farming, there need never be a failure of the potato crop. In an ordinary year there is ample profit in selling for local consumption, At 40 to 60 cents, the local price during the most of the crop year of 1910-1911, there is a good profit in potatoes. At 60 to 75 cents, the prevailing price through most of the crop year of 1911-12, there is a splen- did profit. At $1 a bushel, the closing price of 111, or $1.40, the prevailing price in the spring of 1912, two or three acres in potatoes will buy a choice forty, or clear twenty acres of new land, or Fifteen scres in potatoes that yielded 350 bushels to the acre; better than a twenty bushel yield of wheat on 200 acres,—Neil Mullins’ farm near Grand Rapids. keep a farmer a year with something over for im- provements. With the machinery at the command of any farmer for planting, cultivating and digging, a potato crop may be handled, according to A. J. McGuire, for $25 an acre. The returns will range from $75 to $300, or even $500 an acre. Five acres in potatoes in Itasca county will yield a larger net profit than 160 acres in wheat under average Minnesota conditions. Itasea county potato growers are not depen- dent on ordinary market conditions. Thanks to the work of the Northeast Minnesota Experiment farm, to the co-operation of the business men of the county and the farmers’ clubs and individual farmers, and to the exhibits that have been made, Itasca county has developed a supply of potatoes and a reputation for them, that insure a market for all the seed potatoes that can be produced. A market is developing for seed potatoes, a quality market is developing for table potatoes. Itasca county potatoes can be sold to the critical trade at good prices when common stock goes begging. To get the best results requires storage on the farm and storage at the shipping station. Most farmers have provided themselves with root houses, which are easily built and readily made frost: proof. Warehouses are being provided at the market points, one is already in service in Grand Rapids with capacity for 10,000 bushels, which handled this year 75,000, and plans are in hand for pro- viding others at the principal stations before the next harvest. Potatoes are the poor man’s handiest croy:. An acre or so can be planted and marketed with almost certain profit. Potatoes are part of every iurge farmer’s plan of rotation and one of the surcist branches of his production. Two years ago the census bureau reported a thousand acres in potatoes with a total yield of 150,000 bushels. Last year the estimated crop was 175,000 bushels. With command of the local mar- ket and right of way in the principal cities of the country, there need be no fear of overproduction of the best potatoes grown in North America. George S. Herreid, president Deer River Com- mercial Club:—At North Branch, Minn., the bank had cashed up to April, $455,000 potato checks and expects to handle $600,000 potato money before the season is over. And our country will produce two to one what theirs will.