THE POTATO 165 



valued especially by them because of the nutri- 

 ment they supply, and their cheapness as com- 

 pared with other food. 



*' Fifty cents a bushel is a fair price for the large 

 commission men who handle large quantities of 

 potatoes to pay, but by the time they pass through 

 the hands of the jobber and the retailer a bushel of 

 potatoes for which the commission man paid only 

 50 cents arrives on the table of the ultimate con- 

 sumer at a cost of 80 or 85 cents or more a bushel." 



Potato dealers are not unlike all others on a city 

 market. There are many tricks in the seed trade. 

 It is so hard for the amateur or the old practical 

 dealer or grower to tell the difference in varieties, 

 and there are so many so similar that a buyer can 

 almost always be accommodated, no matter what 

 stock is on hand. Instances are common where 

 a haK dozen different varieties have been supplied 

 to as many different customers from a single ship- 

 ment of a single variety. In the early spring it is 

 common to see small old potatoes washed and 

 sold for new potatoes at fancy prices. 



It is probably true that the American or Euro- 

 pean potato grower will find his greatest future mar- 

 ket in the increase in population at home, yet 

 there are sections both in the Arctic and Tropical 

 zones, where the Irish potato does not grow, that 

 can be exploited for special long keeping and 

 generally heavy skinned varieties at high prices. 

 Some of these are Alaska, Gulf States, Old Mexico, 

 Panama, Orient, and Philippines. There seems to 

 be a good future in the preparation of dried or 

 desiccated potatoes for this trade. 



The potato market is very uncertain, the grower 

 reaping a handsome profit one year, a loss the next. 



