264 



AGRICULTURE OF MAI] 



THE CARE AND IMPROVEMENT OF SEED 



POTATOES. 



Clarence; A. Day. 



Figures are dry facts and census reports are dry books ; but 

 the last census report contains some figures which are of great 

 interest, showing as they do the importance of the potato in- 

 dustry and the leadership of Maine as a potato producing 

 state. The following are from the census report for the year 

 1909: 



Average yield per acre. 



Bushle.s. 



10-year inc. 

 — % 



U. S 



Michigan 



New York 



Maine (except Aroostook) . 



Maine 



Aroostook 



106.1 

 104.6 

 123.2 

 183.9 

 210.3 

 231 



13.1 

 29.3 

 27 



73.6 



The report shows that, although a few states have a much 

 larger acreage and produce more bushels in the aggregate, 

 Maine leads the country in the rapidity with which the indus- 

 try is growing and in the average yield per acre. Indeed, the 

 average yield is almost twice that of the whole country. 

 "Aroostook far exceeds any other county in the United States 

 in the production of potatoes." When the relative amount of 

 improved land in the several states devoted to the potato indus- 

 try is considered, the position of Maine becomes more remark- 

 able. Less than one per cent, of the improved land in the 



