1156 EAKLE V. HARDENBURG 



In spite of the range in elevation, very little of the crop is produced on 

 anything but level land. The farms along the St. Lawrence River valley 

 are generally level or gently sloping toward the river, and most of the crop 

 in Clinton County is also grown on fairly level fields, either in the Saranac 

 River valley or on top of the foothills of the Adirondack^. 



Due to the northerly latitude of this region the growing season is rela- 

 tively short, the average period between killing frosts being 150 days. 

 Elevation and latitude are jointly contributing factors for an ideal potato 

 climate conducive to late maturity of the crop. As a rule the growth is 

 stopped by frost, resulting in a crop more or less immature at harvest 

 time. This gives a product of excellent seed value and keeping qualities. 

 The growing-season rainfall averages from 14 to 18 inches, the mountain 

 areas receiving the greater precipitation. The rainfall is uniform thruout 

 the growing season, each month averaging 3 or more inches. 



Most of the soils of this region are a fine sandy loam and are included 

 in the Ontario, Calqma, and Terrace soil series. The Ontario series com- 

 prises the area along the St. Lawrence River, and the Caloma and Terrace 

 soils comprise most of the area in central Clinton County (fig. 129). The 

 Ontario series is largely of sedimentary origin and its fertility is rather 

 higher than the average; while the Caloma and Terrace soils are mainly 

 of glacial drift formation and are of only mediocre fertility. 



The commonest system of cropping is a five-years rotation of potatoes 

 and corn, oats, hay three years. The corn is used mainly for silage. 

 Hops have been regarded as a relatively important cultivated crop in the 

 Franklin County area until recently, when low prices, disease, and com- 

 petition with the western crop caused a decided decrease in acreage. At 

 present, potatoes are the chief source of cash income in this district. Land 

 values here are similar to those in Steuben County, the range being from 

 $10 to $100 an acre, with the average at about $50. 



The average size of the farms surveyed was 169.5 acres. Only 4 per 

 cent of the total acreage, and 10 per cent of the crop acreage, was in 

 potatoes. The average yield per acre on the 300 farms surveyed, repre- 

 senting 2160 acres, was 179.3 bushels. 



METHOD OF STUDYING SURVEY DATA 



As previously pointed out, one of the handicaps in any effort to de- 

 termine, by an analysis of survey data, the absolute influence of a single 

 factor on yield, lies in the difficulty of separating the influence of other 

 factors from that of the one in question. This is a necessary step, how- 

 ever, in insuring accuracy and a correct interpretation of results. A 

 preliminary study of factors influencing potato yield in Steuben County 

 in 1912 (Hardenburg, 1915 b) indicated that the most important factors 

 were the amount of seed used per acre, the value of manure and fertilizer 

 employed per acre, and the frequency of bordeaux spraying. The results 



