20 THE POTATO, 



CHAPTER III. 



POTATOES AS A PROFITABLE CROP. 



THE statistics of the potato acreage in Great Britain, given 

 in Chapter IX., convey the impression that the growing 

 of the crop is profitable, for otherwise the area would not 

 have remained as great as it was twenty years ago, while 

 the arable acreage, as a whole, has greatly decreased. 

 One partial explanation of this satisfactory state of affairs 

 is that in respect of soil, skill, enterprise, and varieties of 

 potatoes in cultivation, taken together, this country is pre- 

 eminent in potato production; while another is that the 

 crop is such a bulky one that only very early produce will 

 pay for transporting over great distances, except when the 

 main crop is particularly dear, and then home growers get 

 large returns. 



Yield. The average yield of potatoes in Great Britain 

 for the ten years ending with 1904 was 5.83 tons per acre, 

 and if the exceptionally bad crop of 1900 were omitted, it 

 would come out within a very small fraction of 6 

 tons. Few foreign countries can show such an aver- 

 age. That of France is only about 3J tons per acre, 

 that of Denmark about 4 tons, and that of the 

 United States only a little over 2 tons. Germany and Bel- 

 gium, so far as can be judged from the returns of a few 

 recent years, are close or equal to Great Britain; but then 

 they grow a large quantity of coarse tubers for distillation. 

 Averages, of course, are brought down by the inferior crops 

 grown on unsuitable soil and by men who spend very little. 



