16 BULLETIN 1055. U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
highest average score. 26.6, based on three years’ tests. In the single 
season’s scores there were three varieties that were tied for highest 
place, Flourball, American Wonder, and British Queen, all scoring 
29.51n 1917. The lowest average score, 12.4, was given to Switez, one 
of the German starch varieties. This variety was not adapted for 
chip making and was merely tried to see how it would behave. The 
same may be said of the potato receiving the second lowest score, 17.1, 
Wohltmann, another German variety. The lowest 1-year score was 
given to Switez in 1916 also. : 
LOSS IN PEELING AND QUANTITY OF CHIPS OBTAINED. 
Table 2 gives a 3-year average of the loss in peeling and the quan- 
tity of chips made from all lots, with detailed figures for a few of 
the better known commercial varieties. The average waste in peeling 
all the potatoes handled during 1915, 1916, and 1917, a total weight 
of 233,492 grams, averaged 12.47 per cent, and the quantity of chips 
obtained averaged 29.85 per cent of the weight before peeling. In 
1915 the average loss for all lots was 13.16 per cent and the average 
weight of the chips produced was 27.43 per cent of the original 
weight of potatoes. In 1916 the loss through peeling alone averaged 
14.33 per cent; through both peeling and slicing, 17.48 per cent; and 
the quantity of chips produced averaged 30.22 per cent of the original 
weight. In 1917 the loss through peeling alone averaged 11.67 per 
cent; through peeling and slicing, 16.36 per cent; and the chips 
weighed 30.18 per cent of the original weight of potatoes. The 3- 
year average was therefore reduced by the 1915 figures, both the 1916 - 
and the 1917 averages being slightly over 30 per cent. Commercial 
men figure on getting between 15 and 27 per cent of chips from each 
barrel or sack of potatoes. Their percentages of waste in peeling 
are higher than the 12.47 per cent given here, for more careful meth- 
ods were employed in the laboratory than would be possible in a 
large factory. Langworthy ® estimates the average waste in peeling 
potatoes to be 20 per cent, and with careless methods it may go even 
higher. 
The lowest possible percentage of waste in peeling may depend upon 
a number of factors, such as variety, place where grown, and condi- 
tion of the tubers (1. e., firmness, freedom from injury, decay, sprouts, 
etc.). Fhe shape of the variety is one of the chief determining 
factors, for when the tuber is irregular, knobby, with deep or numer- 
ous eyes, it is practically impossible to prevent paring deeply. The 
skin itself varies slightly, being thicker on certain varieties, especially 
those with rough or netted exteriors. The influence of different soil 
types and environmental conditions sometimes causes a greater vari- 
5 Langworthy, C. F. Potatoes, sweet potatoes, and other starchy roots as food. U.S. 
Dept. Agr. Bul. 468, 29 p., 7 fig. 1917. 
