70 
American Agriculturist, August 4,1923 
FROM A KODAK NEGATIVE MADE ON THE FARM 
Let your KODAK 
keep the story 
Only the farm affords incidents of the 
sort pictured above. Such pictures you’re 
proud of now — you’ll treasure them 
always. 
The Kodak way makes picture-making easy, 
while the autographic attachment, exclusively 
Eastman, enables you to complete the story by 
writing date and title on the film at the time. 
Autographic Kodaks $6.$0 up 
At your dealer s 
Eastman Kodak Company, Rochester, N.Y. 
A Better Self-feed Than 
Ever—Saves a Mein 
Throw the bundles from the wagon—one, two, even three 
at a time. The 1923 Papec will take care of them. It saves 
a man at the feed table, yet handles more corn than ever. 
The Angle-steel Link Belt gives a positive feed that can 
be depended on, even with heavy com. 
The 1923 
Ensilage Cutter* 
Nowhere else can you find such a wonderful Ensilage Cutter 
value as in the 1923 Papec. Nowhere else can you get tne simple. 
No more heaving and 
pushing — no more ‘rid¬ 
ing the bundles’ with the 
Papec—use your extra 
man to throw bundles 
from the wagon—you 
won’t need him at the 
feed table.” 
P 
la 
uaranteed construction that means freedom from repairs, de- 
ays and pipe clogging on any silo. 
If you need a Cutter, there’s nothing to be gained by delay 
It will pay you to see your dealer at once and reserve a Papec 
at present low prices, to fit your tractor or farm engine.: 
Better do it today. 
Out; 1923 catalog fully explains and illustrates the latest labor- 1 
saving Papec. Write for your copy. 
PAPEC MACHINE COMPANY 
Ill Main St., Shortsville, New York 
36 Distributing Stations Enable Papec 
Dealers To GivegPronipt Service 
; V Of. 
'"V 1 
lA 
PATENTS 
Booklet free. Highest 
references. Best results. 
Promptness assured. 
WATSON E. COLEMAN. Patent Lawyer, 624 F Street, 
WASHINGTON, D. C. 
Natural Leaf Tobacco 
Mild or Strong. Extra fine 
smoking 5 lbs. $1.25; 10, 
$2.00; 20, $3.60. PIPE 
FREE; Hand-Picked Chewing, 5 lbs. $1.50; 10, $2.50. 
TOBACCO GROWERS' UNION, Murray, Ky. 
COM 
HARVESTER cuts and pilesonhar- 
, * - vester or windrows. 
Man and horse cuts and shocks equalCorn 
Binder. Sold in every state. Only $25 with 
fodder tying attachment. Testimonials and catalog FREE showing 
picture of Harvester. PROCESS MFG. CO., Selina, Kan. 
DITCH - DRAIN — TERRACE 
sfTI /*§ h Cut3 V-shnped ditch to 4 feet. 
deans old ditches, builds field 
r terraces. All-steel adjustable* 
reversible. Horse or tractor drawn. 10 DAYS TRIAL- 
OWENSBORO DITCHER & GRADER CO., Inc. 
Box 252 Owensboro, Ky. Send for Free Boole 
With This 
Low- 
Priced 
Tool 
Watch the Potato Crop 
Estimated Yields in July Are Below Demands 
T HE potatoes are 
planted. The acre¬ 
age has been decided by more than 
a .million growers. We will soon begin 
to have monthly estimates made by 
the United States Department of 
Agriculture as to just what that acre¬ 
age is. At the same time we will have 
preliminary estimates as to the prob¬ 
able crop next fall. Just how much 
do these estimates mean to you as a 
potato grower and how can you get 
the most out of these monthly esti¬ 
mates? 
Suppose that the 1923 crop of 
potatoes should be estimated on July 
1 at 400,000,000 bushels. Will this mean 
over-production or under-production, 
and what are the chances that you 
will receive cost of production next 
fall? Before we can even make a guess 
on this question we need to know some¬ 
thing about the average crop of poto- 
toes, how many potatoes we normally 
eat, and what the production has been 
in some years that we remember. 
Where Do Supply and Demand Meet? 
Our average annual crop of potatoes 
in the United States for the past ten 
years has been about 362,000,000 bush¬ 
els.. The smallest crop during this 
time was 265,000,000 bushels in 1916, 
and the largest crop was 451,000,000 
on any one other fea¬ 
ture. For this reason, 
the yield per acre is quite variable from 
year to year. 
New York State ^ordinarily produces 
about 100 bushels of potatoes per acre. 
In 1914, however, the average yield 
was 145 bushels per acre and the very 
next year, 1915, gave an average yield 
of only 62 bushels per acre. We never 
know when such a variation may again 
occur. 
Our potato crop is produced in so 
many states with such a widely dif¬ 
ferent range of conditions that we may 
have a very short crop in one state 
at the time of an over-production in 
the United States as a whole. Maine 
produced only about 60 per cent as 
many potatoes in 1922 as in 1921. Yet 
the United States crop in 1922 exceeds 
1921 by over 20 per cent. 
The Effect of General Price and 
Business Conditions 
The general price level will have a 
considerable effect on potato prices 
next fall. Just now the average whole¬ 
sale price of all commodities in the 
United States is about 60 per cent 
above the average before the war. If 
this general price level should rise 
rapidly as it did during 1919 it will 
have a tendency to carry the price 
By C. E. LADD 
A BASIS FOR JUDGMENT IN REGARD TO THE 1923 POTATO CROP 
Save this and fill in the blank spaces as the monthly estimates are issued by the 
United States Department of Agriculture or by the State Crop Reporting Service. 
1922 
All Figures 
in 
Millions 
1923 Estimates in Millions 
July 
Aug. 
Sept. 
Oct. 
Nov. 
Dec. 
Total acres in United States. . . 
4.3 
Total crop in U. S. (bushels) . . 
451. 
381.7 
Estimated number of million 
bushels needed in 1923 to 
meet demands. 
407. 
— 
New York crop in bushels. 
37.4 
32.3 
Maine crop in bushels. 
21.6 
26.9 
1 
Pennsylvania crop in bushels. . 
28.5 
22.1 
Michigan crop in bushels. 
37.8 
27.6 
Wisconsin crop in bushels. 
40.7 
26.8 
Minnesota crop in bushels. 
43.7 
39.7 
North Dakota crop in bushels. . 
17.8 
11.9 
Colorado crop in bushels. 
18.5 
17.1 
Idaho crop in bushels. 
15.9 
11.5 
In Millions 
of Bughels 
United States crop for 1918. 412 
United States crop for 1919. 323 
United States crop for 1920. 403 
United States crop for 1921. 362 
United States crop for 1922. 451 
bushels in 1922. An over-production 
depresses the price to such an extent 
that production is decreased during the 
succeeding years, though not always on 
the first year following the over-pro¬ 
duction. 
A very small crop results in a high 
price, which increases production in 
succeeding years, though not always 
in the first year following the under¬ 
production. In other words, there is 
a tendency for the supply to just about 
equal the demand over a period of ten 
years or more. The average produc¬ 
tion over these ten years was about 
the number of bushels that society was 
willing and able to buy. It was also 
the amount that producers were willing 
and able to produce at the price. 
But, we have more people in the 
United States to-day than we had dur¬ 
ing the past ten years and this in¬ 
creased population eats more potatoes. 
Statisticians have computed very care¬ 
fully just how many potatoes we will 
need in 1923 to meet the demands of 
consumers. It is estimated that our 
country demands about 407,000,000 
bushels of potatoes in 1923. More 
than this amount means over-produc¬ 
tion and has a tendency to cause lower 
prices. Less than this means under¬ 
production and has a tendency to cause 
higher prices. 
The crop estimates may change 
greatly during the season, as the total 
crop depends more upon weather than 
of potatoes higher than they would nor¬ 
mally go with the same sized crop. 
If this general price level should fall 
as rapidly as it did during 1920, it will 
have a tendency to carry the price of 
potatoes lower than they would nor¬ 
mally go with the same sized crops. 
The United States Bureau of Labor 
and the United States Department of 
Agriculture and many of the State 
Colleges of Agriculture put out publi¬ 
cations giving this average wholesale 
price of all commodities each month. 
At the beginning of this article there 
is an insert giving certain facts about 
past potato crops. I suggest that each 
reader who is interested in potato 
prices, save this insert and fill in in the 
blank spaces the estimated crop as it 
is issued monthly by the Federal Crop 
Estimating Service this summer. This 
will give the most valuable basis for 
judgment in regard to potato crop con¬ 
ditions that you can obtain. 
A very good way to keep in close 
touch with these conditions is to sub¬ 
scribe to “Weather Crops and Markets” 
issued by the Bureau of Agricultural 
Economics, United States Department 
of Agriculture, Washington, D. C. This 
will cost you a small subscription price 
and it is worth the money. 
I always liked the American Agri¬ 
culturist, and it seems to be better than 
ever.—A. J. Norman, Sinclairville, N. Y. 
