1904:3 



Potatoes in Germany. 



411 



allowance made for adhering soil the information would be of use' 

 to many farmers in the district referred to. 



Potatoes form a crop of considerable importance in Germany, 



as in addition to their employment for human food, they are 



used for stock-feeding and for the manu- 



Potatoes in f ac ture of alcohol and starch.* The area 

 Germany. , , ^ 



devoted to their cultivation in Germany is 



about 8 million acres, and the production (excluding diseased 

 tubers) on the average of the five years 1899- 1903 * s officially 

 estimated at 40,202,000 tons, the yield obtained being approxi- 

 mately 5 t tons per acre. The whole of the produce may be 

 regarded as consumed in the country, the imports and exports 

 over a. series of years practically balancing one another. The 

 imports come chiefly from the adjoining countries of Belgium, 

 Holland, Austria-Hungary, and Russia, and have averaged 

 about 160,000 tons annually in 1 901-3. The exports in the 

 same period have been rather greater, amounting to about 

 230,000 tons per annum. In 1903 the United Kingdom was 

 Germany's largest customer, while Belgium, Holland, Sweden, 

 and Switzerland also drew small supplies from this source. 



The official statement as to the condition of the German 

 crops, which was issued on September 26th last by the German 

 Imperial Statistical Bureau, gives an unfavourable view of the 

 position of the potato harvest, and it is not improbable, there- 

 fore, that during the ensuing season Germany may become a more 

 decidedly importing country than is the case in normal years. 

 The condition of the crop for the whole Empire is numerically 

 indicated in the Report by the figure 3*4, a position nearly 

 midway between a medium and a small crop. (The condition 

 of the crops is shown by figures, thus 1 = very good, 2 = good, 

 3 == medium, 4 = small, and 5 == very small.) In consequence 

 of the drought which has prevailed throughout the summer, the 



* An account of the employment of potatoes for Icohol was given in this foiuna?, 

 April, 1904, Vol. XL, No. 1. 



