A HILL OF POTATOES. 97 



Whether the crop has since reached the amount of the crop of 

 1883 is doubtful. Probably it has not quite come up to that, 3'et the 

 area of potatoes, especially in Aroostook County, has been from year 

 to year on the increase, while the acreable yield has been just about 

 kept up, varying from 3'ear to year only according to whetlier the 

 season is favorable or not. In the older parts of the Stale probably 

 the acreage continues without great change either way, though it is 

 fulh' kept up, yet on the whole our better care in cultivation and 

 closer attention to the demands of the crop have given us, under the 

 same conditions of season, an increase in the acreable yield in 

 the State at large. Probably the Member of the Board of Agricul- 

 ture will claim that the aggregate crop in Aroostook County, last 

 3'ear, 1886, was larger than in any previous year. Then it is safe 

 calculation, on the basis of the census figures, to sa}' that in the 

 State at large the crop of 1886 approximated ten million bushels. 

 ^ Potatoes are found on the farm and in the hands of every owner 

 of land in the State of Maine. Not only large farmers grow them, 

 not only the small farmers grow them, but every garden that is large 

 enough has its plot of potatoes. A crop of universal growth in the 

 State and measuring in the aggregate at least ten millions of bush- 

 els, I submit whether it is not of suflficient importance foi' us to give 

 investigation to, and for us to inquire into the methods and practices 

 of culture, and reach out for something which shall promote its 

 increase. No attempt has yet been made to even measure our knowl- 

 edge pertaining to its production ; in fact, it is a question whether 

 we have definite knowledge in the matter to admit of measurement. 

 I, for one, am ready to admit that I know but very little definitel}' 

 about the methods and practices which should be adopted in the pro- 

 duction of the potato. In fact, this knowledge has not been very 

 definitely fixed anywhere. It is true we sometimes find a man who 

 knows all about it ; he has fathomed its mysteries and knows that 

 this method of manuring will avoid the scab, and that this method 

 of culture is certain to produce the best results. But unfortunately 

 for that well-defined position, his next neighbor knows just as cer- 

 tainly that that man is all wrong. That is where our knowledge of 

 potato culture is to-daj^ without compass or chart, and 3'et we have 

 this great interest on our hands and it is destined to increase rather 

 than diminish. President Chadbourne, formerly of the Massachu- 

 setts Agricultural College, and a gentleman whom many of you have 

 met and others have known by reputation for many years, once stated 



