DIVISION OF HORTICULTURE 



903 



SESSIONAL PAPER No. 16 



COST OF PRODUCING AN ACRE OF POTATOES. 



The following table shows the time spent in the various operations in producing 

 an acre of potatoes during the season of 1915 at this Station : — 



May 12 — Double harrowing, 1 man and 4 horses hrs. 1 



13 — Furrowing-, 1 man and team " 2i 



" 13 — Covering, 1 man and team " 21 



13 — Planting, 2 men ■• 10 



" 13 — Cutting potatoes, 1 man " 8 



" 20 — Packing, 1 man and 2 horses " 1 



June 4 — Harrowing, 1 man and team " i 



" 22- — Harrowing, 1 man and team " ij 



Oct. 5 — Digging, 1 man and 4 horses " 24 



5 — Digging, 8 men " 7^ 



" 5 — Hauling, 2 men and team " 4 



Cost Items. 



1 man and 4 horses, 3i hours .. $ 1 .56 



1 man and 2 horses, 12^ hours. 4 17 



1 man and 1 horse, 2^ hours 74 



Manual labour, 98 hours 19 60 



Formalin used on seed 1 25 



Seed used, 22 bushels at 50 cents 11 00 



Rent of land 2 00 



Total cost $ 40 32 



Cost to produce and put in cellar per bushel 14'66 



Returns, 1,650 pounds at 40 cents per bushel 110 07 



Profit on 1 acre 69 75 



An experiment was conducted with cutting the sets to one, two, and three eyes 

 and planting whole small potatoes. The yields below were secured from rows each 66 

 feet long and the rate per acre in bushels and pounds is also shown : — 



One row each of Table Talk and Early Ohio potatoes was planted on five differ- 

 ent dates two weeks apart. The sets were carefully weighed and counted each time 

 and planted under the same conditions as far as possible in order that the variation 

 in yields other than that occasioned by the dates of planting would be at a minimum. 



16—61 



Lacombe. 



