THE POTATO 507 



contractors at from $0.09 to $0.10 per row of 140 

 meters (459 feet). That includes stacking them 

 in piles and covering them with straw. The labor- 

 ers are also given free potatoes during the picking 

 season. Sometimes these contractors are the 

 heads of large families, but there are also contrac- 

 tors who sublet to individual workmen. They 

 usually pay the pickers $0.06 per row. One per- 

 son is able to pick seven of these rows per day of 

 seven hours. The whole family usually joins in 

 the work, camping out on the potato field during 

 the season. Independent farmers often pick their 

 own crops. 



"A great impetus to the potato-flour industry 

 was given by the cooperative method introduced 

 during the last two decades. In fact the intro- 

 duction of that system has really joined the opera- 

 tion of producing raw materials and manufactur- 

 ing them into potato flour. It led to the estab- 

 lishment of cooperative experiment stations whose 

 object it is to study the scientific culture and 

 treatment of potatoes for industrial purposes in 

 all practical phases of the industry. Previously 

 there was no organization between planter and 

 manufacturer, which frequently proved disastrous 

 to both. 



"The first step toward organization was taken 

 in 1890 by several of the large manufacturers, 

 but arrangements were not completed until 1900, 

 owing to the lateness of some in joining. The 

 factories then announced uniform prices for raw 

 potatoes and the farmers had to sell on their terms. 

 The latter retaliated by organizing cooperative 

 producing societies, which soon developed into 

 manufacturing institutions as well. There are 

 therefore two systems of operating, one in which 



