10 BULLETIN 47, U. S, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, 
have already noted that the principal uses made of the potato, aside 
from home consumption, are as stock food, for starch making, for 
the manufacture of alcohol, and for drying. That potatoes may be 
profitably used for feeding to swine is indicated by the fact that 
nearly 40 per cent of the entire German production is now so used. 
Observation of the German feeding practices shows that the potato 
is, however, merely one component of a carefully planned ration, 
The potatoes are cooked and mixed with various farm by-products, 
such as skim milk, barley waste, linseed meal, peanut meal, etc. The 
quantity of potatoes recommended to be fed daily to each hog does 
not exceed 10 pounds. It is estimated that potatoes have a value of 
25 cents per bushel for direct feeding. The difficulty in American 
potato districts is that the agriculture is not yet sufficiently diversi- 
fied; the swine are not there to be fed. This will, however, be over- 
come as time passes and farm practices become better organized; 
then very large quantities of potatoes could be so utilized. 
STARCH. 
A certain quantity of potato starch is used in this country for 
sizing in cotton mills, for which purpose it is preferred to corn- 
starch. We have produced an average of 20,000,000 pounds of potato 
starch annually and have made large annual importations from 
Germany in addition. In 1910 there were imported 10,606,200 pounds 
of starch and 1,424,200 pounds of potato dextrin. 
The manufacture of starch from potatoes in this country is at 
present confined to the utilization of culls and of potatoes unfit for 
storage or shipment because of partial infection with tuber rot. The 
margin of profit is not large, in spite of a protective tariff of one 
cent per pound. The factories are able to run only six weeks in the 
year, and the interest and other overhead charges are therefore high. 
It seems possible to make some economic improvements in this 
system by introducing new factory methods, and the quantity of po- 
tatoes used could be increased, especially in districts remote from the 
markets, where a more rigid sorting should be practiced before ship- 
ment and all inferior potatoes kept at home. This would not only 
tend to reduce freight charges, but would give the consumer in a 
distant market a grade of potatoes which would waste much less in 
preparation for the table and for which a relatively higher price 
could be paid than for the present unsorted shipments. There is a 
possibility also that a method may be worked out for drying culled 
and surplus potatoes on the farm and the dried product later used 
for starch making. The total quantity required would, nevertheless, 
not make a large impression on a surplus potato crop. 
