21-0 ItEPOET OF Farmers' Institutes 



STANDARDIZATION OF POTATOES 

 C. B. TiLLso:^f 



The standardization of potatoes with which the speaker is 

 familiar has reference to seed potatoes rather than to table stock. 

 In fact, so far as I have been able to learnj outside of a small 

 section of Long Island very little work has been done in this state 

 in the way of standardization of table potatoes. I suppose this is 

 due quite largely to the fact that the public is not as yet fully 

 aware of the advantages that would be derived from a standardized 

 table potato. 



One must admit that it costs a little more to»make a standard- 

 ized product of any commodity than it does to produce the 

 ordinary stock run. This means that the producer will be ob- 

 liged to demand a little higher price for standardized potatoes than 

 the ordinary field run. Until the consumers begin to see the 

 advantages of paying this extra price I suspect that the practice 

 will not become general. Of course, this same thing holds good 

 with the seed potatoes, except that the buyers of seed potatoes 

 already realize the importance of the standardized seed potato and 

 are willing to pay the extra expense in producing it. In fact, a 

 great many of the large buyers of seed potatoes make price only 

 secondary, provided they can get a standardized potato of the right 

 quality. They are willing to pay well for it. This makes the 

 standardization of seed potatoes a very easy matter. 



In the northern part of the state we have not advanced the 

 ■work of standardization of potatoes to cover all the different 

 phases of it that we expect to as the work grows. The principal 

 thing that has been emphasized thus far is to produce from high 

 producing stock potatoes which are practically free from disease. 

 After we have succeeded in obtaining stock that will meet with the 

 approval of the most exacting along this line, then we shall 

 attempt to grade the potatoes according to size, and standardize 

 each grade. I do not wish to be misunderstood by saying that as 

 yet we have paid no attention to size. This is not true. We 

 have from the start produced medium-sized uniform potatoes, but 

 have not separated them into different grades according to size. 



