POTATO PRODUCTION FOUND PBOPI'I'IIBLE

———f

F arming—A good but demanding life claim Linkletters of Prince County

By NEIL A. MATHESON

Farming demands the besr you can put into it but it's a good way life a n d you wouldn't trade for anything else. if everyone was Like the Link- ietter fathy on Linkletteir Road and Linkletiter Shore.

Harry Linkletter and his two sons Leigh and Garth operate on a fairly large scale with slightly more than 200 acres of potatoes. sevenal hundred hogs and some feeder cattle on their 500 acres plus development. But, they insist. the small farm ls still profitable and they can cite examples to prove it. “it's not the small farm that has gone out of date. it's the small farmer" they empliaSize.

Like most people who grow

a large scale. th.

. P V Linkletter family lean to seba-.

goes. and it was a cousin. Fred Stevenson—his people came from Fredericton in who developed the variety at Fredericton. NB. some 20 to 25 years ago or more. It was Dris- (‘t.II and f\l«2irt~l".‘itl;\'eii who bio ll‘JIIl the first sehugo sued this pmviiice. llari'y Linklcltcr told me. but they sold it later

GROWING SINCE '44 The Liiiklrttcrs have growing potatoes store which was their first crop of any size They have ll‘.t'l‘(‘:€'~3.’ the acreage until last year they had 150 acres of scbva-goes and 60 of

I’.

r. G

this province— .

lkennebecs, and th slightly higher yet.

found potato production coon. over has brought some.

"It's like everything else. have to give it everything you’ve Garth said as we looked at their largest above- igrcund storage warehouse tihat provides completely frost proof car-

.sistently proﬁtable Iyears. although it financial headadies

tgot". Harry and

storage for more tam

.—a

ing at Linkletter shore potatoes while his fath

mem, 15 ACRES DAILY

The large-scale operation re- quires modern machinery and these people harvest up to 15 acres per day with a modern iharvestiiig machine—it harvest- ed 104 acres in seven days last toll in one operation. 'l‘wo me .t-un handle the operation when the digging is good. albhouglit it requires more when conditions

are more difficult.

Other machinery has also In- reused in capacity over the

I

r/

l'

or slightly earlier.

ey ntihay :0 graders can handle two carloads they have runs to roughtly 814,- fertilizer on the potato crop last ga ere . . . ' I gathered also that they have 1 They always aim at 400 bushels t what

oads.

Leigh remained with a~giroup .of men in another storage build- to grade and hr‘t‘IJhPr showed Carmen Smith and me around the establish-

er

IS. he first potato graders would handle about 100 to 150 day—that was back about 1926

the

you

ll

bags a

l in

$375 of that are saleable :puds‘ lparts of other machines In

i l

l t

[velopment and construction thatgthis province last

i l

,mechanical development that the que is manufacturing

i

.will

same time per acre. they said, and 350 to

They have 500 acres of land and rent. some more They like a three-year rotation of pota- toes, grain and hay. They used to have a dairy herd of Hol- stein cattle. Now the cattle they have are feeders. They also feed

few cull potatoes. Most of the pigs are hopper fed.

hough I came away with a story of potato production. it was a story on machinery de-

took me to the Linkletter farms.

tThe men were modest about this gfertilizer companies are

phase of their operations but. I found that they have a skill in

boys just may have inherited from Bruce Stewart— he was army's uncle and originated the machine shop that bore his name at Charlottetown until it was taken ovci by Charlotte- town Marine Industries several ears ago.

BUILT HARVESTER

The sons built a potato har- vester several years ago which was the most satisfactory machine they had used up to the present commercial one which iey ' equally well. and " handle a field Just a little

‘<

Modern tfaster, The larger two-row type

but Garth couldn’t tell me

cost them. for they some building process They made a bm-pllal‘ that has a 35-foot elevating table and ' i place the spuds just about where .they want them in the biggest 3storage building on the farm. :The bulk loaders that take the

.300 pigs at a time, but thev feed ‘spuds from the harvater hold Dough

‘200 bushels and the bin-pillar

ll unload that in eight to 10 ' t

\ iminutes. they emplmned. I The Linkletters also pioneer }ed bulk handling of fertilizer In year. so far las I could learn. though savers

‘ing the idea here this year and Ia new machinery plant. at Befde- . er. :tilizer boxes that hold stamens 3each. These stand in a farmer's ;.yard or field. the company fills itliem and the potato grower backs his planter underneath .and fills the fertiliber hoppers Iby gravity flow. ‘ But the Linkletters built 12 3 boxes that held a ton each They were able to haul two trucks. and they used their ii'ront-end to ‘hoist the boxes in place over the llioppri's and filled them by grav- ity feed.

t oxen LOYALIST LAND

"They handled 200 tons of Ibetiter for conformation and the

.1. Mutual Fire Insurance Our 80th Year OI

Continuous Service To Island Farmers....

A

dollars. Island

Insure Your

FARM

Investment

One of our representatives is near you.

Feel

free at any time to ask about your Insurance Requirements of no (NMI or obligation to you. Sufﬁcient Insurance on your Farm gives 3'00

the assurance of security from fear and worry.

Sydney B. Birch ROR.

dent

Brunch Ofﬂc.

l 'l l Grafton Sf. Charlottetown

Agent's Throughout The Province To Serve You . . . Errol Stetson. O'Lcury.

. Birch Hill. Non-ham.

Alice Gallant. Wellington Vernon Craig. Bedeqc

DIRECTORS- John Moclmsh. Tignish. President Eric Lowfher. Crapaud. Vice-Presi-

T. Leland Llnkleﬂcr. Sumo-nick. -Trecsurer

. George MccCallum.lmcItIeV 300‘“

Mutual Service and Security

P.E.I. Mutual Fire Insurance Company

Head Ofﬁce

the home-built meltine by

This Company has been serving Islanders for 80 years and has saved the policy holders many millions of

@heﬁﬁuwdwm:

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 29, 1964

SECOND SECTION Page 13-A

.lierdal-sohastoreaohasta t standard of milk production The Moases’

Year and didn‘t handle a pound:

‘so mwldigistry last year towiii theHar- ‘old W '

me.

reference was to United Empire ' the Pml’m‘; “1511f operau‘m

. , ‘ . twas renew m a paper sev- allstis who fled :that is iiowﬁra1 months ago.

the United States time . . . . . i The Luikletters came origin- g7wulle Ammm Revolution i ally from the Orkney Islands,

ﬁ‘tﬂ: “ﬁeyaﬂdwa: Eon tthe coast of Scotland. but . of "pariurmg their .they came to this provmce from bum . » . itlhe Connecticut area

made

but they received assistance

just .1“ 1 and Ned then ‘ so just as l was leaving and

me thanking two busy men for tak- higanhourormoretiodhowus

The Idxrloletiter farm. operation

w 1 large but they-Fm‘m' t Imow of smalil farm operations 5 that are successful. They used CDAE Dairy Frame“ DM_

(the WA. Moase and Son opera- tion as an example and pointed to the fact the farm produces top quality Landrace hogs. a herd of Ayrshire cattle that has topped Canada in production and ‘ produced several national pro- duction champions in the past few years, along with sortie of the best registered Shropshire dheep in the country.

HIGHEST SCORE

The Moases have 3 Superior iBreeders' certificate which de— imands at least per cent. of tt-he herd grade “Good Plus" or

sion graded 86.5 million lb. of ‘ dry skim milk in 1963, about half of total production,

Assisted by government ; grants. Canadian farmers used_ 1.3 million tons of lime on their land in 1962.

In 1952 the 220,000 acres planted to the 18 main commer- cial vegetables in Canada had a farm value of $65.5 million. ‘

of Cana- . -

Almost 70 per cent made in '

da‘s creamery butter Quebec and Ontario.

LARGE SCALE mum OPER ATION REQUIRES TOP MACHINERY

MRS. FARMERI

important facts you should know about

FUR AND WOOL STORAGE

EM: 1. They are stored in a refﬁgor- 4. Covered by hisuraiioe. which Is ate-d van Inﬁﬁided in our ogMgemplan w 'eyourgamen are our

2' :ﬂﬁfmigrczndgggﬁg wnmued vault. and for 12'months from

the time we meme your fun and woollen garments.

on

. Properly fumigatod

Sufficient Insurance . . . ? island furriers lid.

79 Grafton Street Dial 2-121!

Is Your Only

SSURANGE

Mr. Farmer . . .

'3 TIRE STORES lt .

All the premium Income stays on Prince Edward

. Clifford Simpson. Stanley Bridge Hus . . .

. M. R. ‘Md Lean. North Wilfshirc

- Mandel. Robertson. m Grafton TIRES FOR EVERY ROLLING $1.. Charlottetown .

WHEEL ON THE FARM ~ l h

We have the newest electronic vulcanizing equipment

to repair all sizes of farm tires. Having been funnel-9 ourselves. we realize the need for fast efficient one

. James I. MucKuy. III Grafton Stu. Charlottetown

Albert Linklcﬂ'er. Linklcrtcr Road Chessel Anncar. Montague

J. B. Edwin Reid. Roﬂc Bay Ralph Johnston. Long River

E. W. Johnston. Burlington

day service which we give to get. your tractor rolling

again. I’ - |’\

SPECIAL PRICES ON ALL NEW TRACTOR TIRES

Rugged construction. husky. scientifically designed much and dependable workmanship in every me saves you money in long. low cost service.

Our Service Dept.

is equipped with the w CALCIUM FILLING EQUIP- _ t MENT. See us for fast, at“ t service to all makes of M‘ ' and Farm Equipment.

nur trucks are equipped let u the spot '1: service at a: nature. Co“ I. for tho hm deal. on well as efﬁcient at“

St. Peters Rd. Dial 4-4912

Comer Granville 8: Water Streets Sumcrsidc