FEGETABLE GROWING 19 



sun shine in cloudy weather, and no amount of 

 heat will take its place. 



These brief outlines of the general vegetable 

 cropping systems now in common use give a 

 hint of the highly intensive character of the in- 

 dustry. 



Potatoes. The potato is an extremely cos- 

 mopolitan crop. It has followed the civilized 

 man into almost every quarter of the earth. 

 In the United States there are as many acres 

 devoted to its cultivation as to all other vege- 

 table crops combined and the revenue from the 

 crop is about forty per cent, of the total value 

 of the vegetable products of the country. As a 

 wealth producer it ranks fifth among all the 

 crops of the nation. Furthermore the value of 

 our potato crop alone is considerably greater 

 than that of the combined crop of the tree 

 fruits of the United States. 



Notwithstanding the great aggregate value 

 of this crop, the yield per acre for the whole 

 country is far less than that of European coun- 

 tries. There are individual growers in some 

 especially favored localities who produce high 

 yields. In the potato business, however, gross 

 yield is not always a true measure of net re- 

 turns. Under some conditions it is possible for 

 the gross yield to be in inverse ratio to net re- 



