Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-07-08
Why Americans Are Paying High Prices for Potatoes


potatoes they could sell in a season at
the market price. The rest of the crop
was conscripted and made into alcohol.
Germany has no Oil wells and its mill
tary men saw that alcohol would have
to be used as substitute for petro-
leum after the great contest for which
they were preparing got under way.
Alcohol distilled from potatoes-hun-
dreds of millions of gallons was
stored, therefore, against the day when
army.
Since the war opened potatoes have
been the principal food of the German
people Philosophers philosophical.
poets poetized and kulture kulturiZed
IN Germany. but the lowly potato was
not forgotten. More than 100000 acres
were planted with that ol-produc-
ing vegetable in the year 1913. which
was more than double the acreage
planted in the United States. Ger
nushels: an American harvest. say.
3S1.000,000 bushels. The yield in Ger
many Is 202 bushels to the acre; in this
country 1t Is about ninety-s bushels.
The Germans plant 1872 per cent of
their arabic lands in potatoes; the
Americans. Is per cent. Twenty
eight per cent of Germany's crop goes
on the tables of its people. as against
6S per cent in this country Here corn
is fed to live stock. German pigs are
fattened on potatoes. Farmers in Ger
many plant twenty-four bushels of
seed potatoes to the acre: America n
farmers. about eleven bushels. Mr..
Sweet. however. plants thirty bushels.
The German climate is favorable for
potato culture, but not any more so
than is the climate of Minnesota. and
that state alone could grow all the
potatoes eaten by the American people.
The fact of the matter Is that the
potato has been specialized in Ger
many. and. except in certain regions,
neglected in the United States. The
per capita consumption in this coun-
try Is 23-5 bushels; in Germany 1t
ranges from g. -5 bushels among the
well-to-do people to II bushels with
the laborers in the eastern part of the
empire.
X
There are years in the bountiful
United States when potatoes are i'm
ported. Such was the case In 1901.
when 7.oo0.oOo bushels were purchased
abroad. Eight million bushels were
imported in 1908 and 13.OO0.O0O bushels
in 1911. And with the potatoes bought
in foreign lands came new diseases
and that Is the reason the Secretary
of Agriculture in the fall of 1912 pro-
hibited importations from Great Brit
ain. Germany and Austria Hungary. 1t
is true that the climate in the greater
part Of this country is too hot for the
production of market potatoes. but
there Is actually no reason why po-
tatoes should ever be imported, or
that the price ever should reach 81 a
The American potato. in flavor. tex
ture and color is inferior. Dr. orion
says, to the potato grown in Europe.
1--WE need" he told the writer. i'm
proved varieties. adapted to our eli
mate. Seed brought here is not sue
II Va
varieties. especially one for baking
one for frying and one for Salads"
Varieties are needed also. that can re-
sist disease. Germany breeds such
potatoes. The late blight causes the
loss of millions of bushels yearly in
the United States. Yet it can be con-
troIled by the use of Bordeaux mix
ture. Intensive farming is required in
the growing of market potatoes. Such
farming pays the producer. in that 1t
increases his crop. and the consumer,
because 1t lowers the price.
In Aroostook county. Maine, the
production of potatoes has been re-
duced to a science. The largest mar
ket-Boston-is $50 miles distant by
rail- The climate is cool and the grow
potatoes Is planted. after harvest. in
oats or spring wheat, with which is
sown clover and timothy. The crop
is cut the second year for hay and
then plowed in the fall. the clover sod
going under as an enricher for the
soil. In the spring the field is har-
rowed not once. but four times. Four
teen bushels of seed are planted to
the acre, and not ten, which is the av-
erage elsewhere. The seed is cut by
hand and plantd with machinery. and
from 100 to 1900 pounds of the best
commercial fertilizer per acre is ap-
piled to the land.
Tho growing crop is cultivated from
six to eight times. and is sprayed reg
ularly. Harvesting Is done with a ma
chino that will dig three acres of po-
tatoes a day. Similar methods changed
somewhat to meet different soil and
climate conditions. are followed in Mon
mouth county. N. j.. where there are
1000 potato farms and where 4.00O,OO0
bushels of potatoes are often grown
in a season.
Copyright. 1917. by James B. Morrow.)