THE POTATO 359 



yields of potatoes have deteriorated in the past 

 ten years both in quality and quantity. There 

 are sections in this state which originally yielded 

 from 200 to 300 bushels per acre which now yield 

 below 100 bushels per acre. 



"The largest acreage of potatoes reported in 

 this state on a single farm is 400 acres. In the 

 important potato sections of the state the average 

 acreage would probably run to about ten acres. 



"This station (Wisconsin Agricultural Experi- 

 ment Station) is pushing as hard as possible the 

 extension work along the line of potato improve- 

 ment. There is a great need in this state for better 

 seed, both in regard to uniformity and conformity 

 to type." 



KANSAS 



Secretary, F. D. Coburn, of the Kansas State 

 Board of Agriculture, most admirably sums up the 

 potato situation in that state in "Report 91," as 

 follows: 



"The potato is probably more generally grown 

 and utilized than any other vegetable, and every 

 county in the state, with the possible exception of 

 six or eight in the southern and western portions, 

 devotes greater or less acreage to its production. 

 As many conditions within the state's 82,144 

 square miles of area are widely variant, yields like- 

 wise differ; thus the potato grows prosperously 

 luxuriant in the rich, sandy loams of the formerly 

 timbered river ' bottoms' and the upland prairie 

 limestone soils, while flourishing in a more modest 

 degree where altitude, longitude, soil and climate 

 present conditions quite dissimilar yet no less 

 suited to various other crops. However, regard- 



