226 



THE PEOPLE'S FARM AND STOCK CYCLOPEDIA. 



X. 



ROOT CROPS. 



IN this chapter I shall include potatoes, sweet potatoes, and 

 onions, as well as roots for stock feeding. 

 Potatoes. The product of potatoes in the United States 

 for eleven years, from 1871 to 1881 inclusive, was as follows : 



I think we can study the figures given in the above tables 

 with profit, and there are several points to which I wish to call 

 attention. First, you will notice that the smallest acreage gave 

 the largest profit per acre. The four years in which there were 

 less than one and a half million acres planted, are the only 

 ones in which the average value per acre exceeds fifty dollars. 

 Again, you will notice, that the years of greatest yield per 

 acre were not always the most profitable, as you will observe by 

 comparing 1875 with a yield of 111 bushels, and 1879 with a 

 yield of 99 bushels, with the years 1876 and 1881, when the 



