162 PRODUCTIVE FARMING 



CHAPTER XV. 

 POTATOES. 



IRISH POTATOES. 



THE origin of the Irish potato has been traced to South 

 America. From thence it was brought to North America, 

 and from here was taken to Europe by the early explorers. 

 It was called Irish potato because it was so extensively grown 

 in Ireland after its introduction into Europe. 



Importance. It is now one of the most important crops of 

 the world and is so universally grown that no one section can 

 claim to raise the majority of the world's crop. The United 

 States in reality produces a small portion of the world's crop. 



Not only is the Irish potato used very extensively as 

 human food; it is also fed to animals, used for the manufac- 

 ture of starch, and also largely for the making of alcohol. 



Every State in the Union raises potatoes to some extent. 

 Those States which produce the bulk of the crop grown in 

 this country are, in the order of the amount grown, New 

 York, Michigan, Wisconsin, Maine, Pennsylvania, Minne- 

 sota, Ohio, Iowa, Illinois, California, Colorado, New Jersey, 

 Washington, Indiana, Nebraska. 



In 1913 the United States produced 331,526,000 bushels 

 of potatoes, valued at $227,903,000. 



Greatest Production. It will be noticed that the States 

 named in the paragraph above are all northern States. The 

 reason that the leading potato-producing States are all in the 

 northern part of this country is that the Irish potato thrives 

 better in the cooler soils and climates. 



Southern Potatoes. While the South produces many 

 thousands of bushels of potatoes annually, they are mostly 

 the early crop, planted even as early as December in Florida, 

 and of course harvested correspondingly early. These south- 

 ern potatoes supply the early markets, both North and 

 South. They will not keep long. Thus the South must 



