REQUIREMENTS OF FIELD CROPS. 17 



Table 9. — Potatoes: Labor and material requirements per acre. (461 records, 1919). 





Num- 

 ber 

 of rec- 

 ords. 



Yield 

 per 

 acre 



Man labor. 



Horse labor. 



Seed. 



Ma- 

 nure. 



Fer- 

 tili- 

 zer. 



Percent 

 of oper- 



Region. 



Prior 

 to har- 

 vest. 



Har- 

 vest. 



Total. 



Prior 

 to har- 

 vest. 



Har- 

 vest. 



Total. 



ating 

 ex- 

 pense a 

 covered 

 by fore- 

 going. 



Minnesota: 



Clay County . . . 



Anoka County. 

 Wisconsin: 



Barron County. 



Waunaca Coun- 

 ty.'. 



51 



54 



47 

 50 



49 



52 



50 

 50 



58 



Bush. 

 103 

 104 



152 



123 



109 

 124 



141 



110 



254 



Hrs. 

 18.3 

 34.9 



47.6 



41.7 



40.1 

 49.9 



40.8 

 47.9 



50.4 



Hrs. 



6 10.9 



28.8 



45.1 



35.7 



33.8 

 40.3 



46.3 

 37.7 



6 27.2 



Hrs. 



6 29.2 



63.7 



92.7 



77.4 



73.9 

 90.2 



87.1 

 85.6 



6 77.6 



Hrs. 

 46.1 

 60.3 



61.5 



46.3 



54.8 

 54.4 



58.4 

 76.5 



71.1 



Hrs. 

 19.6 

 26.6 



38.8 



30.9 



30.7 

 23.6 



40.0 

 39.5 



38.9 



Hrs. 



65.7 

 86.9 



100.3 



77.2 



85. 5 

 78.0 



98.4 

 116.0 



110.0 



Hush. 

 12.3 

 9.5 



11.6 



10.6 



7.7 

 11.3 



11.2 

 13.2 



14.0 



Tons. 

 2.3 

 6.0 



7.1 



5.5 



6.0 

 5.0 



4.5 

 7.1 



2.0 



Lbi. 

 (O 



(O 

 ( c ) 



1,965 



74.5 

 77.2 



80.6 



82.3 



Michigan: 



M on t c a 1 m 



County 



Grand Traverse 



County 



New York: 



Steuben Coun- 

 ty 



Monroe County 

 Maine: 



Aroostook 

 County 



80.7 

 80.4 



81.2 



81.2 



. 83.5 



a Excluding interest on land. 



6 Picking not included in time for harvesting and total hours. 



' Commercial fertilizers not generally used. 



Since picking was not included in the time for harvesting in all 

 areas, the harvest labor as well as the total man labor appears com- 

 paratively low for Clay County, Minn., and Aroostook County, Me. 

 In both of these districts the potatoes were picked largely by contract. 



Considerable variation was found in the labor requirements for the 

 same operation in different areas. For example, in Clay County, 

 Minn., two-row cultivators are not uncommon and man-labor-saving 

 machinery can be used to good advantage, while in some of the 

 districts potatoes are planted and dug by hand. 



Commercial fertilizer was not used extensively outside of the 

 Maine area. The lowest application noted in this area was 1,333 

 pounds per acre and the highest was 2,800. The use of manure was 

 common to all areas. With the exception of two districts, namely, 

 Clay County, Minn., and Aroostook County, Me., over 75 per cent 

 of the potato acreage was manured. 



There was quite a wide range in the quantity of seed potatoes 

 used in these districts. The five farms using the least seed in Mont- 

 calm County, Mich., used an average of 5.7 bushels of seed per acre, 

 while in Barron County, Wis., the five farms using the most seed 

 averaged 16.2 bushels per acre. When seed is high in price, this 

 item is exceedingly important from a cost standpoint. 



The per cent of total operating expense represented by the factors 

 which are included in Table 9 varied on the average from 74.5 in 

 Anoka County, Minn., to 83.5 in Aroostook County, Me. 

 60765°— 21— Bull. 1000 3 



