12 
BULLETIN 1188, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
cent of the crop area. Exceptionally high yields were obtained in 
1919 and the price received was also high. The other crops, mainly 
hay and oats, were raised for feeding the stock and the small surplus 
of these crops sold gave relatively low returns per acre. 
The livestock receipts were mainly from dairy cows, This is 
natural, since dairying and potato raising are carried on under similar 
climatic conditions and within reasonable distance of the large 
markets. Potatoes and dairy cows make a good combination from 
the farm organization point of view, as the cows consume roughage, 
furnish manure for the potato crop, and give opportunity for pro- 
ductive winter labor. 
Livestock plays an important part in maintaining soil fertility in 
these regions. It utilizes the clover or other legumes that are grown 
in the rotation, thus permitting valuable plant food to be returned to 
the soil. 
LABOR AND MATERIAL USED PER ACRE. 
The average number of hours of labor spent per acre in potato 
production vary considerably in the different areas, as shown in Table 
7. In Clay County, Minn., and Aroostook County, Me., the picking 
was usually done by contract labor, this work being paid for by the 
bushel or barrel. Information regarding the hours of labor required 
for this work was not obtained from sufficient growers to make the 
data usable for these areas. The normal yield, as given in Table 7, 
is the average of the farmers' estimates of what they considered nor- 
mal yields for their farms. The county yields as obtained from cen- 
sus data are consistently lower than the yields of the farms studied 
for these States. This is to be expected, because the growers visited 
were located in areas where commercial growing had proved success- 
ful, while the county acreage includes potatoes grown in all types of 
soil by all kinds of growers. 
Table 7. 
— Labor and / 
naterial used 
per acre (461 farms) 1919 — Potatoes. 
Minnesota. 
"Wisconsin. 
Michigan. 
New York. 
Maine. 
Clay 
Co. 
Ano- 
ka Co. 
Bar- 
ron 
Co. 
Wau- 
paca 
Co. 
Mont- 
calm 
Co. 
Grand 
Trav- 
erse 
Co. 
Steu- 
ben 
Co. 
Mon- 
roe 
Co. 
Aroos- 
took 
Co. 
51 
129.2 
65.7 
14.1 
54 
63.7 
86.9 
13.9 
47 
92.7 
100.3 
17.9 
500 
11.6 
152 
146 
8 
8179 
126 
136 
50 
77.4 
77.2 
12.7 
" *io.'6' 
123 
134 
12 
$161 
116 
121 
49 
73.9 
85.5 
12.9 
421 
7.7 
109 
117 
10 
$124 
93 
106 
52 
90.2 
78.0 
12.3 
"ii."s" 
124 
132 
10 
$117 
102 
111 
50 
87.1 
98.4 
12.1 
606 
11.2 
141 
134 
11 
$80 
114 
107 
50 
85.6 
116.0 
15.7 
387 
13.2 
110 
153 
11 
$192 
90 
138 
.58 
Man labor , 
Horse labor 
Manure 3 
Fertilizer 3 
hours.. 
hours.. 
tons.. 
177.6 
110.0 
10.4 
1,980 
Seed bushels . . 
Acre yield, 1919 bushels.. 
Acre yield , n ormal bushels . . 
Average potato acres per farm 
Potato-land acre value. . 
County yields: 2 
1919*. 
12.3 
103 
100 
50 
8140 
88 
91 
9.5 
104 
111 
16 
$199 
93 
117 
15.4 
278 
256 
28 
$182 
252 
1909 
231 
1 Picking time was not included, largely contract. 
2 Bureau of the Census, Department of Commerce. 
3 Quantity of manure and fertilizer is the average only for the acres to which it is applied. 
