THE POTATO 297 



sists of seven men, and includes one engineer, a 

 stoker, one helper, one workman in the potato 

 cellar, two to attend to the machines, and one to 

 handle the residual liquors. If the final product 

 is to be pressed into cakes, the additional cost of 

 the plant is about $4,000, and two more operatives 

 are required. Such an installation can naturally 

 be operated with great economy in connection 

 with a distillery or starch factory. 



"In practice it is found that the total cost of 

 preparing unpressed potato meal by the above 

 method (including interest, depreciation, etc.) is 

 $0.56 per long ton of tubers. The additional cost 

 for pressing into cakes is $0.12 per ton of potatoes. 

 In estimating the cost of the fodder thus produced 

 it is, of course, necessary to deduct a certain sum 

 for the albumen extracted from the residual liquor, 

 as mentioned above. When potatoes are to be 

 raised for supplying regions more or less remote 

 with cattle fodder the advantage of having the 

 nutritive constituents of the tuber in a concen- 

 trated form is obvious. Thus, in practice, 3.8 

 tons of raw potatoes yield one ton of the desic- 

 cated product. The freight charges in Germany 

 for transporting (in carloads) the 3.8 tons a dis- 

 tance of 100 kilometers (62 miles) are $3.07. The 

 freight charge, under similar conditions, for the 

 one ton of meal would be $0.81. Adding to this 

 the cost, 56 cents per ton, of treating the 3.8 tons 

 of raw potatoes, or $2.13, the total expense of 

 delivering the fodder would be $2.94. At the 

 comparatively short distance of twenty-six miles 

 there is then a distinct economy in shipping the 

 meal instead of tubers. With every increase in 

 distance there would be a proportionate increase 

 in the saving. 



