THE POTATO 



CHAPTER I 



ACREAGE, DISTRIBUTION, PRODUCTION AND 

 VALUATION 



The potato is one of the most widely cultivated of the 

 agricultural plants. The esculent tubers, which are devel- 

 oped underground on slender leafless shoots or stems, are 

 used for food and also industrially. The plant is allied 

 botanically to several powerful narcotics, such as tobacco, 

 henbane and belladonna, and also to the tomato, egg- 

 plant and capsicum. 



The potato comprises about 25 per cent of the food 

 of European and English-speaking peoples. Only the 

 Oriental peoples exist without it. A greater weight of 

 potatoes can be produced to a unit area than any other 

 food crop. 



The yield in millions of tons of the world's most im- 

 portant plants is shown in the following table : 



Table I. — World's Crops of the Most Important Food 

 Plants, in Million Tons. Average for 5 Years, 1908- 

 1912 



Potatoes 161.0 



Corn 128.38 



Wheat 106.0 



Oats 65.6 



Ricei 55.6+ 



Rye 57.0 



Barley 33.41 



* This figure does not represent the rice crop of the world, as statistics 

 from certain sections of China are lacking. 

 B 1 



