2 BULLETIN 1188, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION OF POTATO PRODUCTION. 
ACREAGE. 
The potato crop is widely distributed throughout the United 
States. The larger part of the commercial crop, however, is con- 
fined to relatively limited areas particularly suited to its production. 
The leading potato States in order of acreage are New York, Mich- 
igan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, and Maine. (See Table 1 .) . 
The major portion of the crop is grown north of a line running through 
Washington, D. C, and Chicago. (See fig. 1.) 
Fig. 1.— Potatoes are grown throughout the United States, but mainly in the northern tier of States. 
Elsewhere the areas of heavy production are small and widely scattered. 
A relatively small proportion of the improved land in farms, for 
the four leading potato States, was in potatoes — only about 1.5 per 
cent. It is thus fairly easy to increase or decrease the potato acreage 
appreciably in these States. Table 1 shows that in individual States 
this variation does take place. In New York, for instance, the 
acreage in 1917 was one-fourth greater than in 1916. A large increase 
will also be noticed in Maine for 1917. The variation in total acreage 
for the United States is not so marked for successive years, indicating 
that the forces causing changes in acreages do not have the same 
effect in all States in any one year. (See fig. 2.) 
