THE POTATO. 



SECTION I. 



THE CROP. 



Introduction. 



THE importance of the potato crop is shown in the fact 

 that more than half a million acres in Great Britain are 

 devoted to it in field culture annually. This is in 

 accordance with the returns of the Board of Agriculture, 

 and relates only to that portion of the crop grown in 

 open field cultivation, which does not include the enor- 

 mous quantity grown in private gardens. It is im- 

 possible to give even an approximate estimate of the 

 quantity raised in gardens and small patches not in- 

 cluded in the returns ; but that it is very large can be 

 understood when it is remembered that it forms the 

 principal crop in all vegetable gardens and allot- 

 ments. The extension of the allotment system has 

 had a greater effect on the acreage of potatoes grown 

 than is shown in statistics or is generally realised. 

 In 1894 the field crop of Great Britain was 504,454 

 acres, 20,907 less than in the previous year, when, 

 owing to superabundant production, prices were so low 

 that many who grew them found the crop no more 

 remunerative than was wheat, for which it had been 



B 



