Potato Award
Posted on May 29, 2025 by Jenny ONeill
Smith Farm Potato Trophy
Bronze potato award
In 1940, the Smith family of Long Acres farm was awarded this bronze potato in recognition of a record-breaking production of 613 bushels of potatoes on a single acre.
John Smith, who arrived in Westport from Scotland, purchased this property of 110 acres located near Cadmans Neck in 1882. For the next 40 years he raised cattle, planted corn, potatoes, and turnips. His three sons – William, John and Stuart – continued the farming tradition.
The farm was named Long Acres because of the considerable distance from its most northerly point to its most southerly point.
The farm was noted as an exceptionally well managed operation. The Smith brothers worked as a family team, thus avoiding the financial burden of hiring additional labor.
CHAMP POTATO GROWER SAYS IT’S QUITE SIMPLE
There is no trick to growing a record crop of potatoes – it’s only a matter of using the best seeds and plenty of good fertilizer, cultivating properly and spraying well to ward off insects and disease, says Edward M. Freitas of Island View Farm, Horseneck Road, So. Dartmouth.
And Mr. Freitas ought to know, for he just has been declared winner of the high-yield contest for potato growers in Bristol County with a harvest of 527 bushels of Chippewa potatoes an acre. This contest is held annually under auspices of the Bristol County Farm bureau and the supervision of the Extension Service.
As his reward, Mr. Freitas received a pair of bronze book ends shaped like two Irish Cobbler potatoes.
Potatoes grown on the farm of Alexander Smith in Westport have been used as the models for the book ends since the potato yield contest was begun four years ago. Similar bookends are awarded every year in Bristol County as the prize. The potatoes grown by Mr. Smith and used as the models were said to be perfect specimens of Irish Cobblers.
When Mr. Freitas first entered the contest in 1936, his high yield was 313 bushels per acre. This was increased to 398 bushels in 1937 and 427 bushels u 1938. His record of 527 bushels this year makes him one of the leaders in the Statewide potato growing contest. It took only eight of his largest potatoes to make a peck.
Mr. Freitas is not only an expert farmer but has a record of 25 years of continuous service as a school bus driver in Dartmouth without an accident. He began transporting school children with a horse-drawn “barge” back in 1913.
