May, 1929] Potato Production Costs in New Hampshire 



Topography and Soil 



Since much of the labor saving in potato growing depends on 

 the use of machinery, the topography of the area has an important 

 relation to labor requirements. Some fields were too steep or too 

 rocky to use machinery to the best advantage, and the saving in 

 labor when used was small as compared to level fields without rocks. 

 Where the topography is thought to be unsuited for machinery, 

 much of the planting and most of the digging were done by hand. 



There is also a prejudice against the use of machines in certain 

 areas. Machines poorly adapted for a wide variety of conditions, 

 frequent unsatisfactory use in weedy and grassy fields, and local 

 custom in regions where it is easier to get good men to dig by hand, 

 are partly responsible. 



TABLE IV. 



Relation of Soil to Yield, Labor per Acre and Labor and 

 Cost per Bushel. 1926-1927. 



This attitude is probably more noticeable in Coos Counly than 

 elsewhere in the state. There were very few fields which were 

 so steep or rocky as to prevent the use of both planters and 

 diggers. Yet of 64 farmers in Coos County only three used diggers 

 in 1926. All but eleven used planters, however. The inadequacy 

 of the methods of the Coos area to meet competition will be shown 

 in later tables. 



It is shown in Table IV that a poorer soil whether rocky, too 

 heavy, too wet, or too hilly, produced a smaller yield, with a higher 

 per acre and per bushel labor requirement, and a higher cost per 

 bushel. Witch grass has the same efi'ect. 



The surplus area of the north with its more favorable environ- 

 ment produces higher acre yields than the deficit area of the south, 

 this helping to offset the higher transportation cost to market. The 

 higher prices obtained in deficit areas permit continued production 

 at lower yields, but to warrant continued production these lower 

 yields must be accompanied in many instances by more efficient 



