908 



International Potato Conference. 



[Jan., 



benefit by securing a regular market and southern growers by 

 an increase in crops. As county agricultural education pro- 

 gresses, growers in every county will become more alive to the 

 necessity of obtaining suitable seed each year, without which 

 the potato crop is always uncertain and frequently 

 unremunerative . 



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INTERNATIONAL POTATO 

 CONFERENCE. 



Though the potato has only been in cultivation in this 

 country a little over 300 years it has long been a valuable 

 article of food and now contributes a considerable amount 

 to the national larder. It was estimated that between the 

 years 1909 and 1913 the potato formed about one-fifth part 

 by weight of the food eaten by the people of the United 

 Kingdom; but until the period of food difficulties during the 

 great War, the extent of our dependence upon the potato crop 

 was realised by but a few. During this period strenuous efforts 

 were successfully made by farmers, market gardeners, allot- 

 ment holders, and private gardeners to raise such a quantity 

 of potatoes as would provide a home-grown store of food in the 

 event of imports of food supplies being very considerably 

 reduced, or cut oft' completely. 



The potato is not confined to the United Kingdom or to 

 Europe, but is grown as a food crop, to a greater or smaller 

 extent, in most places with a temperature varying between 

 certain limits. Germany, with an area of over six miUion acres, 

 grows more potatoes than any other country, France coming 

 second with just over half that acreage, and the United 

 Kingdom third with an area approximating to one and 

 a quarter million acres; other countries grow smaller areas. It 

 is estimated that the world's acreage devoted to this crop is 

 about 38,000,000, with a total production of some 

 123,000,000 tons; the average yield, therefore, being about 

 3f tons per acre. 



The yield is largely influenced by certain natural factors, 

 such as soil, temperature and rainfall; as well as by methods of 

 culture. It therefore varies widely in different countries, being 

 highest in Belgium with 6.1 tons per acre. In the United 

 Kingdom the yield is approximately 6 tons, Germany 5.9 tons, 

 Denmark 5.7 tons, France 2.8 tons, and the United States 



