COST OF FRODUVI^a POTATOES 413 



potatoes in the community, though they may be good in 

 quality, must be sold as mixed stock, bringing a compara- 

 tively low price. Small growers are overcoming this diffi- 

 culty by agreeing to grow but one or two standard varieties. 

 The time of marketing is always a matter of judgment. 

 Sometimes one can get better prices by holding potatoes for 

 several months before selling, and again the price may be 

 lower after that time. Those who grow seed potatoes for 

 the southern market must provide some way of storing them, 

 because the southern buyers do not want them until near 

 planting time. Mcmy communities in the North have or- 

 ganized companies and have erected co-operative potato 

 warehouses, that they may store their crop, if necessary, and 

 ship when prices are best. 



562. Cost of Production. The cost of growing potatoes 

 normally varies all the way from $20 to $50 per acre, de- 

 pending upon the system of cultivation, price of labor, rent 

 of land, number of sprayings given, and cost of fertilizer ap- 

 plied. The Minnesota station found that in the potato- 

 growing sections of that state, the average cost of growing 

 potatoes on 331 acres of unfertilized land was $26.37 to the 

 acre. On 237 acres of fertilized land in the same community, 

 the average cost was $37.72 per acre. The items that must 

 be considered in determining the cost of producing potatoes 

 are plowing, harrowing, seed, cutting and treating seed, 

 planting, fertilizers, cultivation, weeding, spraying, digging, 

 picking, hauling, storing, sorting, machinery cost, and land 

 rental. At present (1918), cost of production is much 

 higher than is here indicated. 



563. Prices. There is a greater variation in the prices 

 obtained for potatoes than for most of the other general farm 

 crops, due to the fact that the surplus of one season cannot 

 be carried over to the next. There is also a great variation 

 in price during the same year in different sections of the 

 United States, owing to the bulkiness of the crop and the 



