Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1912-01-12
| Imports and Exports of Potatoes
1901 10t1

1901 1871.
The recen announcement that large
quantities of potatoes are being i'm
ported into the United States lends
interest to statement prepared by the
Bureau of Statistics, Department of
Commerce and Labor, showing the i'm
ports and exports of potatoes during
term of years. While the production
of potatoes in the United States is
usually sufficient to meet the require
ments of its population, there have
been a number of occasions following
short crops in the United States on
which considerable quantities were i'm
ported. On other occasions, when there
were shortages abroad and large crops
in the United States, considerable
quantities were exported. The total
imports of potatoes into the United
States in the last ten years aggregated
%, S45, 634 bushels, valued at $40, 1885,
no, or about 48 cents per bushel, this
valuation being based upon the whole
sale market price in the countries from
which imported and does not, there
fore, include the cost of transportation
or duties paid, the rate of duty being 25
cents per bushel of 60 pounds both
under the present law and its immediate
predecessor. The exports of potatoes
fro m the United States during the
same decade amounted to 10000, 566
bushels, valued at SO, 1918, an aver
age of n cents per bushel.
Potatoes imported into the United
States come chiefly from Canada, Mex
leo, and Bermuda in America, and Scot
land, England, Ireland, Germany and
France in Europe, while in recent years
small quantities have also been brought
from China, Australia, and the Canary
Islands. The potatoes exported go
chiefly to the West Indies, Central
America and Canada, the largest guam
titles usually to Cuba, Canada, and
Panama and lesser quantities to other
Central American States and the West
Indian Islands. Small quantities have
also been sent in recent years to China,
Hongkong, British Guiana, the Philip
pine Islands, French Oceania, and GER
tain of the South American countries,
but practically none to Europe which,
although large consumer of potatoes,
is also large producer.
The worlds potato crop, so far as it
can be measured statistically, runs be-
tween 5 and 6 billion bushels per annum,
but these figures do not include the
production of China, North Africa, and
most of South America, the original
home of the potato, which was found
under cultivation in South America by
the Spanish discoyerers and trans
planted to Spain and thence to other
parts of Europe. Germany is by far
the largest single producer of potatoes,
her total crop for 1909, the largest
available figures, being LIS million
bushels, against LIB million in Euro
pean Russia, 613 million in France, $50
million in Austria, 1874 million in Hun
gary, 1877 million in Great Britain, 1870
million in Ireland, SO million in Canada,
and 377 million in the United States.
New York is the largest potato
producing state in United States, her
product in 1910 being "a 1-2 million
bushels, against 35 million in Michigan,
% million in Maine, % million in Penn
sylvania, 25 million in Wisconsin, Is
million in Ohio, 2-3 million in Illinois,
IL IL million in Iowa, and about 10 mil
lion bushels each in Minnesota and New
Jersey, while practically all the remain
log states are represented with totals
ranging from one million to million
bushels each.
The largest importation of potatoes
during the past decade occurred in 1909,
being l-3 million bushels; the largest
exports of the decade occurred in 1911,
being 1-3 million bushels.