194 RURAL MICHIGAN 



111 bushels an acre, but in the newer sections of the 

 State much hirger yields have been recorded. Yields 

 of 400 bushels to the acre in the Upper Peninsula 

 have been maintained for several years in succession, 

 and 500 to 600 bushels have been reported. In 1920, 

 a farmer near Marquette gathered sixty-five potatoes 

 from one hill, more than fifty of marketable size. 

 The cool moist climate of this area and of the neigh- 

 boring region of the southern peninsula is favorable 

 to this crop. J. ^^'ado Weston enumerates the 

 varieties of potato best adapted to this territory as 

 the Irish Cobbler, Early Ohio, and Triumph, for 

 early kinds, and Green Mountain, I'ural, and Russet 

 Burbank for late types. 



Michigan pioneers soon discovered the potentiali- 

 ties of the potato crop. Thus a pioneer farmer of 

 the Grand Traverse region planted potatoes among 

 the logs on the virgin soil by merely gashing the 

 earth with his ax, placing the seed in the opening 

 and re-covering the hole with turf. These primitive 

 methods of culture produced results far above ex- 

 pectations and demonstrated the capacity of the 

 north country for potato production.^ The total 

 output of the State in 1882 is reported to have been 

 11,078,796 bushels on 113,745 acres. The price for 

 potatoes in that year ranged from 63 cents in April 

 to 47 cents in October.^ The production varied little 

 from this quantity during that decade. The price 

 ranged well below $1 a bushel, dropping to 15 cents 



^"Mich. Pioneer & Hist. Roc. Collections," 38, 304. 

 ^"Rept. Mich. Ed. Agr.," 1892, 401. 



