THE POTATO 359 



of 89.8 bushels, Germany 197.3 bushels, and Great Britain 

 186.4 bushels. In the United States potatoes rank fourth 

 in the number of bushels produced among the staple 

 crops, corn being first, oats second, and wheat third. The 

 states ranking the highest in gross yield of potatoes given 

 in order of production are New York, Michigan, Maine, 

 Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania. The states having the 

 highest average yield per acre given in order of priority 

 are : Maine, 225 bushels per acre ; Idaho, 200 bushels ; 

 Montana, 180 bushels ; Nevada, 180 bushels ; Utah, 180 

 bushels ; Washington, 170 bushels ; Colorado, 160 bushels. 

 379. Description. — Naturally the potato is an annual 

 plant ; it springs up from a seed, grows, blooms and 

 produces seed and dies in one season. Under cultivation, 

 however, it has become a perennial plant by means of the 

 tubers. The flowers vary in color, some being white and 

 others purple. Some varieties seldom bloom, and those 

 which do bloom rather freely rarely set fruit in the eastern 

 and central part of the United States. In some sections, 

 however, these same varieties set fruit quite commonly. 

 The true fruit, or seed ball as it is often called, is round 

 and about the size of a ground cherry. When cut open 

 it is found to be full of seeds and has a structure similar 

 to a tomato. The part which we eat is simply an enlarged 

 underground stem. It does not grow on the true roots 

 but on the end of a stolon ; rootlets are never found com- 

 ing from a tuber or from the stolon which bears it. Every 

 tuber has a number of " eyes " on the surface, some 

 varieties having a much larger number than others. In 

 some varieties they are shallow, in others deep, and in all 

 cases they are much more numerous at the " bud end " 

 than where the stolon is attached to the tuber. If we 

 examine them closely, we will see that they are arranged 



