384 ANNUAL REPORT OP THE OfiP. Doc. 



last year in New York Stale we are being ottered anywhere from 25 to 

 35 cents per bushel for our potatoes. You cannot grow them for 

 that money; our yield is not high enough. If you secure 100 bushels 

 I)er acre of which 80 are niarkotablo and you get 50 cents per bushel 

 you havx' |40.00 j)er acre. Persouaily, I cannot grow potatoes for 

 less than foO.OO per acre, and the Maine Station find that it costs 

 them IG9.00 i)er acre, but under their conditions even this expendi- 

 ture was ])rofitable at 50 cents per bushel, but not at 80 cents. 



TEN-ACRE FIELD 



Plowing at ?2.00 per acre, $20.00 



Harrowing, 5 times, $3.00 per acre, 17.50 



Fertilizer (home mixture), $30.00 per ton, 22.5.00 



Seed (130 bus.) at 75c per bu. , 97.50 



Disinfecting seed (labor and material) , 3.00 



Cutting seed (by hand) at 6c per bu. , 7.80 



Planting, team and 2 men, 3 days, ,$5.00, 15.00 



Harrowing or weeding before crop is up, 4 times, 10.50 



Cultivating crop, 8 times, at $3..50, 28.00 



Spraying, 6 times, ($1.00 per acre each application), GO.OO 



Hand hoeing and pulling weeds once (if necessary), 1.5.00 



Digging and hauling to storehouse or station at .$15.00 per acre, 150 00 



Rent of land (5 per cent, on $50.00 per acre value), 10 acres, 25.00 



Depreciation of implements (plows, harrows, planter, sprayer, digger, 



etc.), value $250.00 at 10 per cent, 25.00 



$699.30 



Value of crop, 225 bus. per acre, (2,250 bus. at 50c), $1,125.00 



Value, per acre, $112.,50 



Cost of growing, per acre, 69.93 



Net profit per acre $ 42.59 



It will be seen that it cost 81 cents per bushel to produce the 

 above crop. Just determine the actual cost and see if the business 

 pays, whether it is worth bothering with. If it will not pay to 

 grow potatoes alone it will not pay to bring them into the orchard. 



There is one other question and that is in regard to the supply 

 of seed. Whenever you put more labor on a crop or you put more 

 time in spraying or apply more fertilizer it must be paid for, but 

 it costs no more to plant a potato which is capable of giving 200 

 bushels per acre than it does to plant one whose maximum is 100 

 bushels. We know there are individual potatoes whose maximum 

 yield is, say one pound, and there are others which can give us five 

 pounds, and yet occupy no more land. It would seem to me that 

 if one is going into potato-growing it is necessary to grow some of 

 the best individuals. I do not say best varieties, because in my 

 experience, there is just as much difference between the yields of 

 individuals in a variety as there is between the varieties themselves. 

 Therefore, I would urge you to consider this question. The ability of 

 the individual to produce a crop can be determined by trial. If you 

 select 1,000 good potatoes or 500 the method of operation would be 

 about as folloAvs: Take a piece of land no better or worse than 

 the average and prepare it the same as for the rest of the crop. 

 Prepare to plant by hand. Take the tubers to the field, having 

 them, say 8 ounces each, so that they will make 4 nice sized sets. 

 Plant them, probably 15 inches apart in the rows and leave a space 

 of 18 or 20 inches between each four, that is, each individual potato 



