New Britain herald., 1925-09-12
THE PLIGHT OF TCBERs IN NEW ENGLAND

IN NEW ENGLAND
 To the amateur potato growers who fiourished hereabouts during the war, the job seemed easy - at the start. All 1t required was to plant the seeds and let nature do the rest. But they discovered in short while that raising potatoes was more like work than almost anything they could do, and be- tween the ravages of potato bugs" and the blight" 1t was anything but ideal outdoor sport. The elder ly gentlemen who didn't go to war, but who wore their arms out jerk ing at the spraying apparau, and the women and children who helped doing the same. can testify that raising potatoes was a terrible or deal in patience and effort. It was not surprising, therefore, that as soon as the war stopped the anna teur potato raisers also stopped,
 Now comes the interesting intel Iigence that the potato crop in New England is on the down grade, and that this entire tier of states this year is not raising as many pota- toes as Maine used to raise alone. But New England is not the only region failing 10 produce it's quota of tubers, as the other tuber-grow- ing regions likewise report a sub stantial falling off in the crop. From the looks of things, potatoes are going to cost more. There were 424,000,00o bushels of potatoes raised in the United States last year. representing the yield from S,753,- 900 acres. The yield was an in crease over the year before, but less than in 1922. The potato crop has been cratic for half a dozen years, and scarcely year has passed since the close of the war that the gentle men in Aroostook county, Maine, have not had something to growl about. Last year they were terribly upset because of a potato embargo in England against American tubers; this year the annual growl probably will be centered around the small crop. But if the prices continue going up not much of a growl may be justified, even with 8 short crop.
 Some of the most noteworthy eX- perimentation in the realm of po- tato growing was done by the Con- necticut experiment station, which after an investigation extending over |
 a period of 1S years reported it was possible to make net gain of S15 an acre from the use of bordeaux mixture in spraying plants. Since that time the method invented in Connecticut has been adopted throughout the entire potato-gro ing industry,
 The potato, gift to the world from the continent of America, re- mains the most popular and wide ly-used vegetable in the world, but is more intensively cultivated In Europe than in America, the United States ranking fifth in world pro- duction of this crop. Cultivation of the crop, however. closely approXi- mates the domestic demand, and in such nations depending upon the potato for sustenance to a greater extent than We do the cultivation is relatively greater.
 There is much to be said in favor of q greater use of potatoes. Boiled potatoes average 440 calories to the pound. which is more than any other vegetable, and is half the fuel value Of eggs. Their energy yproducing value, hecause Of their high per centage of carbohydrates, chiefly starch. is great; and nine tcnths oi their nutritive content can be readi- ly disested. In the United States however, only one seventh of the food used by the average family consists of potatoes. The food ex, perts tell Us we could do better by the lowly tubers and gain in th' process.