New Britain herald., 1918-05-01
LEARNING MORE 0F
 VALUE OF POTATOES
War Is Developing Knowledge on
 Many New Lines

New York, May 1.-The opening of tn spring drive for a further develop ment of potato production in the United States was made the occasion of a recent discussion of the worlds potato crop and it's future, in a lec- ture before a class in economics in the educational department of The National City Bank of New York. Recent developments, said the lectur- CT, promise to greatly increase the importance of the pototo as world food crop. While. the potato sup plies more starch food per acre than almost any other crop, it has been until recently considered of com para lively little importance in interna- tional trade, or as food Which could be stored for permanent use and widely distributed. But the eXi- gencies of the war have sharpened the wits of the scientific world, and now it is found practicable to so pre- serve the potato by grinding and dry ing that it is transferred from the list of local and perishable crops to one which may be produced in almost un- limited quantities in certain areas and distributed to any part of the world.
 While the potato can be grown in almost any temperate zone area, nine tenths of the worlds crop of 5000, O0O,000 bushels is in fact produced in a half dozen countries, and almost ex- clusively in Europe and North Amer ica. Germany, Russia, Austria Hun gary, France, Great Britain and the United States produce in favorable years about 5,Oo0,0OO,O0O bushels of l,;1 o,.,ir I of the world produces but l 900, ,O00. Yet these six countries. producing five-tenths of the worlds potato crop have only 45O, 100000 peoples, while the pota toless section of the world has population of over 1,200. .000,- 900. Thus fully two-thirds of the population of the world lives outside of the area growing that extremely important food plant,t the potato.
 The people of that section pro- ducing the worlds potato crop have at last learned how to put it into condition in which it can be readily distributed in condensed form and available for food at any time or place, a great forward step in sup plying the food requirements of the rapidly increasing population of the world-for the worlds population has more than doubled in the century in which the application of steam to transportation developed new pro- ducing areas and power to inter- change their products with the al- ready densely populated sections of the old world.
 This new system of turning the potato into 8, condition in which it can be readily distributed has, quite naturally. developed in the country which has the largest potato produc- ton of the world, Germany. Fac tories for the crushing and drying of the potato and turning the product into four for man, fages and cubes for animals or alcohol for the chem ical industry and also as a substitute fc1 petrol have grown from about dozen a few years ago, to over 400 in 1914, and $40 in 1916, with a ca pa city to turn into this condensed form more than 1000. o0o bushels of potatoes a year. The reduction in weight is about 60 per cent while the rrod,,ct can be preserved almost iu- definitely.
 Germany is by far the largest po- ,ato grower of the world producing about 2,ooo.oOo,ooO out of a world crop of 6,000,00O.oo0 bushels. using them a, food for man and animals and the production of alcohol for use in her industries. and for the produc- tiCn of heat and power when neces- sary. Next in line is European Rus sia with an annual crop of about l. 100000, 900 bushels; ustria-Hungary 500, 0,000,000: France 500,000.000, United States 45o,000,000 and Great Britain 300,000,000 bushels. These six countries, Germany, Russia, Aus trla- Hungary, France, United States