The potato : a compilation of information from every available source

Front matter

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Dedication

Recognizing their valuable, lasting and unselfish work for American Agriculture in different fields, for the common good, this book is respectfully dedicated to

James Wilson Secretary of Agriculture.

Luther Burbank The World’s Greatest Plant Breeder.

Contents

Importance of the Potato . A ° The Potato as Food

Climatic Requirements

Potato Soils

Appendix

The Worlds Food Problem Potato Statistics Acreage, Production, visite Pace hee

Ary

PAGE

311 319

322 328 347 354 363

382 396 409 434 437

486 489 512

535 540 542

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Field of potatoes on Mt. Sopris Farm at Carbondale,

Colo . : 2 Erentvs piece) James Wilson, Secretary of enenleare ; : Preceding Luther Burbank . : , Dedication

W. C. Brown, President N. i: Central Lines Page FACING PAGE

Map showing production of potatoes in the world ned An Mec Graphic map showing production of potatoes in the

United States . 5 Dr. J. H. Kellogg : 8 Battle Creek Sanitarium, Battle Creeks Mich. 8 v Some potatoes before paring : 9 After paring : RU Mas 9

' Chart showing origin of poate varieties. z i athe OCS A Burbank potato ee Oa Nia ts 39 Standard early varieties ae so AO Standard late varieties. AGU AWACAt tj emne Aede > Two views of Iron Age cultivator at won Bem sin OTe Potato field at Mt. SoprisFarm .. .° . . .. 97% Iron Age potato hoe orridger. . . . .° . 120!

“riding cultivator SMV ae rim A Pinas felting! Ue. 0 YI 8

“© traction sprayer ty ee Leon

TAR (Improved Robbins) potato planter ai eg LOE Seed pieces in place of furrows : piiey aah Dowdentpotato digger! (ie yeu uke ba eee ONS Weereyarskharrows/cy ane epics ici Se munen sell Ra el wen)

** — two-way plow . Been Weageh | CeitaT aM to A Pa Remuera bos

shaker potato digger™ (s) (ioe) s)he 2 1SO8

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

FACING PAGE

“Picker” in Aspinwall planter 123 Aspinwall two-row planter 1238 “

s planter with fertilizer attachment 123

3 potato sorter 123 ~

4 potato planter . 124.7

s sprayer . 124 Thompson’s Greeley potato sorter 4 125 V Dowden potato digger at work on Mt. Sanne Farm 126” Iron Age digger at work . 126 Hauling potatoes to storehouse i in “half-sacks” — Mt.

Sopris Farm 126”

Iron Age planter at nore ASIA New potato cellar of Commissioner of Agriculture, A.

W. Gilman 130 “ Potato storage cellar plan, 131 Wart disease of potatoes . V2 Early blight 173.7 Potato Sat) ; : 173 “ Late blight — diseased feat and tuber of potato ; 178“ Late blight — last stages of disease 179 v Hill of potatoes sane diseased by dry-rot (acaniuen) 194. Various stages in destruction of potatoes by Fusarium 195.“ LR biiecarrte. — showing development of “little potatoes” 1981“

* — showing stem of young ee plant

affected from the seed ; 199 v The potato eelworm, showing eggs, worm and fected

potato : 206”

Iron Age sprayer in operation : 207 Vv K. L. Cleveland, Houlton, Maine 226 v K. L. Cleveland Co. potato storehouse . 2277 Carbondale Peachblow potatoes on exhibition 312 An attractive English exhibit of potatoes 313” Map showing some potato districts in the United Sites $22“ a K. Burley and C. H. Schlaacks . 323.

James J. Hill 324 | meen H. Grubb 325 4 Mt. Sopris and a part of the Carbondale district, Colo. . . B74. Lord Ogilvy, agricultural editor of Denver Post,

Denver, Colo. . 375

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

FACING PAGE

Potato digging near Twin Falls

Planet Jr. furrower or ridger for hilling caieines, ,

Potatoes near Jerome :

Irrigating potatoes near Wendell

I. B. Perrine and H. L. Hollister

Map showing districts in Great Britain where there are prominent potato farms

Sir Matthew Wallace

Potato digging in Scotland

‘Potato field on the farm of Matthew G. Wallace

Mr. Hannah and Mr. Grubb in potato field .

Potato field on Girvan Mains farms :

Digging potatoes at Girvan Mains .

Garden on Girvan Mains farms

Buildings on Little Pinmore farm, hota

House on Little Pinmore farm :

Farm buildings, Girvan Mains farms

Laborer’s house, Girvan Mains

A party of leading British farmers .

Sutton’s Windsor Castle

Intensive British agriculture ieerateal

W. Dennis & Sons :

Potato storage house on farm of W. Dennis & Sane

Titus Kime .

Northern Star potatoes erown by Titus ikamae

Half acre challenge plot of Northern Star potatoes

Harvesting early potatoes on the Island of Jersey

Oats on the Island of Jersey

Plow for very deep plowing used in the Island of J ersey

Sutton’s Ninety-fold potatoes . ;

Composition of the potato

Transverse and longitudinal sections of the potato

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FIGURES IN STATES REPRESERT PRODUCTION.¥ f

1N IULLIONS OF BUSHEL |__| ST STs = a a!

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POTATOES

AVERAGE 'ANNUAL PRODUCTION DECADE (1899-1908, Pe SLL INS OF BUSHEL S_} |.

NITED STATES. 64 MILLION BUSHELS \]

Graphic map showing production of potatoes in the United States

‘It may seem presumptuous on my part to suggest any remedy for the betterment of the present unsatisfactory conditions obtaining in American potato growing, but the more I investigate the subject of potato culture in this country the more I am convinced of the necessity of more thorough and special knowledge of potato growing by American farmers, if they are ever to compete with the vast influx of foreign potatoes to our shores. It seems to me urgent that our Government exert itself to ameliorate, in some measure at least, the present deplorable state of this great and vital industry. We should investigate the causes whereby the foreign potato culturists are able to so considerably exceed our own best efforts of production, and the diffusion of such mformation among our American farmers would be invaluable and certainly productive of the use of more intelligent methods by them, resulting in a perceptible increase in this great food staple, together with a much needed improvement in quality.

“1 am fully persuaded that we imperatively need a more practical knowledge of seed growing and seed selection, of growing special seed stocks, the proper storage of seed stocks during the winter, preparation of seed bed and cultivation, balanced plant foods and fertilization of soil. I know of no acquisition to agricultural knowledge so devoutly to be wished, or that would be so valuable to our farmers.

“If Germany, with an area not more than twice that of Colorado, can and does produce fully two billion bushels of potatoes annually, and the United States, in its entirety, a meagre two hundred and seventy-five million bushels annually

(which latter is vastly overestimated), we ought to know what it is that produces such marvellous results on foreign soils, which have been cropped for a thousand years.’

Since this letter was written the senior author has carefully studied the European potato situation, and the results of his investigations are incorporated in the chapters which follow, being given in detail in chapters XXXVII, XXXVIII, XXXITX and XL.

The attention that is given to this matter abroad, and the esteem in which it is held, are shown by the following extract from a very able address by David Young, editor of the North British Agriculturist, Edinburgh, Scotland, entitled “The Potato Crop.” He says:

‘The potato crop is one of the most important of all in the rural economy of the United Kingdom. The potato is an esculent which is largely used and highly relished as an article of diet by rich and poor alike. The very poorest of the population find it one of the cheapest forms of sustenance they can obtain, and no well-ordered banquet, however sumptuous, would be considered complete without the roti-boeuf and the poulet being flanked by the pommes de terre.

“The potato crop is practically the one farm crop grown primarily for human food of which the United Kingdom can in ordinarily favorable seasons supply the wants of its teeming population.”

Chapter II The Potato As Food

EFINITE knowledge in regard to the

world’s greatest food crop is very meagre.

This is true not only of the mass of consumers, but even doctors and cooks, who should Be Bile informed on every subject pertaining to ood.

One of the greatest authorities on food in the world is Dr. J. H. Kellogg, superintendent of the Battle Creek Sanitarium, Battle Creek, Mich. He has spent a lifetime in the study of the various articles of food, his investigations covering all possible sources of information, not only in America, but in Europe. The following article on “The Special Dietetic Virtues of the Potato,” by this foremost authority, isone of the best ever written about the potato:

“Soon after the potato was introduced into Europe ‘in the sixteenth century the ridiculous notion somehow got afloat that the use of the potato was the cause of leprosy, which at that time was quite prevalent in most European countries. The prejudice which was thus created against this most valuable of all garden vegetables has never been quite overcome.) Various malicious libels against the good name of this most innocent and wholesome of foodstuffs are still afloat)) Multitudes believe the potato to be difficult of digestion.) Even physicians often prohibit its use on the supposition that it is likely to ferment in the stomach —a mistaken notion, as the writer will show. The belief is quite general that the potato especially promotes fat-making, and hence that its use must be avoided by persons who have a tendency to obesity. This is also an error. All ‘foods tend to produce obesity when taken in excessive quantity; that is, more than the individual needs to maintain his nutrition on equilibrium. No foods produce excess of fat when limited in quantity to actual daily bodily needs.

“The potato is truly a most remarkable product. It contains within its aseptic covering a rich store of one of the most easily digestible of all forms of starch. The observations of Mossé, Von Noorden and others have shown most conclusively that the starch of the potato is more easily digested and appropriated by the body than the starches of wheat, corn, and most other cereals. In laboratory tests made by the writer it was found that potato starch digested in less than one sixth of the time of cereal starches. The experience of hundreds of physiclans in the treatment of diabetics has shown that in many cases the starch of the potato is more easily assimilated or better utilized than other forms of starch.

“Potato gruel made from specially prepared potato meal or the pulp of baked potatoes has been found in Germany of very great service in the feeding of infants and invalids. Potato starch is far better for this purpose than cornstarch, arrow-root and similar substances which are pure starch and cannot be properly considered as foods. The ‘long continued use of these starches in the feeding of young infants often results most disastrously.

Battle Creek Sanitarium. Battle Creek Mich.

Fee

Illustration shows desirable and undesirable types of potatoes before paring

Same potatoes after paring. At the left is shown Dalmeny Challenge potato. The unpared tuber weighed 13.4 oz. and the parings 1.7 oz. or 12.6 per cent. In the centre is shown the Mc- Cormick potato. The unpared tuber weighed 13.9 oz., and the parings 3.2 oz., or 23.2 per cent. At the right is shown Red Peachblow potato. The unpared tuber weighed 9.5 oz., and the ‘parings 1.2 oz., or 12.4 per cent.

“The potato is not only an easily digestible foodstuff but possesses much higher nutritive value than is generally supposed. According to Gautier, about one fourth of the weight of the potato is food substance, consisting chiefly (nine elevenths) of starch. Of the remainder, three fifths are protein, the tissue-building element, and two fifths alkaline salts in combination with citric and malic acids, the acids of the lemon and the apple.

“From a dietetic standpoint, the potato is perhaps slightly deficient in protein, though this statement would be disputed by some physiologists whose experiments appear to demonstrate that the amount of protein contained in the potato is quite sufficient for ordinary bodily needs.

“The potato is certainly deficient in fats, of which it contains almost none, because of the fact that it is not, like so many of our vegetable foods, a seed, but a curiously modified and enormously fleshy tuber. This deficiency in fat must always be remembered in the use of the potato, and the lack must be made up by the addition of cream, butter, or some other foodstuff rich in fat.

‘“What the potato lacks in fat and protein, however, 1t makes up in salts, which constitute nearly 5 per cent. of its dry substance and are perhaps its most characteristic quality from a dietetic standpoint and one of its chief excellences. These salts consist chiefly of potash, and in the ordinary form in which they are supplied do a most important service in maintaining the alkaline condition of the blood, which is essential to good health and resistance to disease. Meats contain a very great excess of acid-forming elements and tend to acidify the blood. Cereals have some tendency in the same direction. The lowering of the alkalinity of the blood by acid-forming foods, especially by the free use of meat, is unquestionably one of the chief causes of the rapid increase in chronic diseases, the mortality from which has doubled within thirty years, causing a loss annually of 350,000 more lives than would occur if the average citizen was as healthy as he was thirty years ago. This is probably also one of the chief causes of arteriosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries, gout, rheumatism, Bright’s disease, apoplexy, and other degenerative maladies. ‘The alkaline salis of vegetables are needed to balance the dietary. If the consumption of potatoes in this country could be quadrupled, the result would undoubtedly be the saving of many thousands of lives annually and an incalculable amount of suffering from disease.

“The great nutritive value of the potato, notwithstanding the fact that it is three fourths water, may be best shown by comparing it with other known foods. A study of the nutritive value of various common foodstuffs shows that one pound of baked potato is equivalent in total nutritive value to the quantities of various foods shown in the following table:

Food Equivalent in Total Food Value to One Pound of Baked Potato pounds of boiled potato ounces boiled beef

pound of chicken

pounds of codfish

pints of oysters (solids) pints of clams (in shell) pints of beef juice

pints bouillon or beef tea pints whole milk

Oo HH — NS Oolaog=

PT Cle

— = OS NR ie pints skimmed milk

eggs

ounces baked beans ounces bread

pints oatmeal or corn meal mush pints hominy (cooked) pint boiled rice

pound of bananas

pounds parsnips (cooked) pound green peas (cooked) pounds beets (cooked) pounds boiled cabbage pounds radishes

pounds tomatoes

pounds turnips (cooked) pounds cucumbers colt |oo

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“From the above table it will readily appear that the potato is one of the most nourishing of our common foods. Its value is still further emphasized by the fact that steamed or mashed potato digests in two or three hours, whereas roast beef requires four to five hours, or double the time (Gautier).

“As already noted, the potato is not rich in protein, although the amount of this element in the baked potato reaches the Chittenden standard of 10 per cent. of the total nutritive value, a proportion which in feeding many thousands of persons, those in health as well as invalids, at the Battle Creek Sanitarium, we have found amply sufficient. The writer adopted personally a very low protein standard in early life and has adhered to it for more than forty-six years, and with great benefit. Nevertheless, if a larger amount of protein is required, it may easily be obtained by the addition of milk or eggs, substances which while increasing the proportion of protein also add the fat necessary to render the potato a complete food. Half a pint of rich milk will thus balance a pound of baked potato; or an equally good balance may be made by adding to a pound of potato two ounces of white bread (two ordi, slices) and an ounce of butter.

“Bungé, the world’s greatest authority on the chemistry of foods, has called special attention to the importance of the alkaline salts that are found in vegetables, and in a much larger proportion in the potato than in any other vegetable used as food, the potato containing nearly forty times as much of this useful element as some cereal foods. No farmer would think of feeding his horses or cattle on grain alone. Cereals of all sorts contain a considerable excess of acid-forming elements. Grass and herbage of all sorts, as well as fresh vegetables, contain an abundance of alkaline salts, and hence are a necessary part of the diet of animals. Human beings, as Bungé has clearly shown, require such vegetables for the same reason, and the potato is the most valuable of all known foods as a source of these essential elements. This is perhaps the reason why the potato is an almost invariable accompaniment of meat dishes. Meat coniains an enormous excess of acid-forming substances, which are to some extent neutralized and antidoted by the basic salts of the potato.

“Graham bread with butter, or beans with butter, however, are much better combinations with potato than meat, for the reason that both meat and potato are lacking in lime. The body requires about thirteen grains of lime a day. Meat contains but half a grain of lime to the pound. The potato contains only about a grain and a half to the pound. Wheat flakes and other whole wheat preparations contain four grains of lime to the pound, and peas and beans contain eight grains of lime to the pound. Cow’s milk contains fourteen grains of lime to the pint. The American people are losing their teeth, and bone diseases are increasing, as a result of this deficiency of lime. Professor Sherman of Columbia University declares that half the people of the United States are suffering from lime starvation. This is in part because of the meat diet and free use of cane sugar. Less meat, a larger proportion of potatoes, combined with wheat preparations and other cereals, beans, peas, and cow’s milk would help to check this degenerative tendency.

THE POTATO AS A FOOD REMEDY

“The potato is of immense service as a food remedy in the treatment of a large number of diseases. It is especially valuable in cases of chronic intestinal auto-intoxication or ‘biliousness.’ It affords bulk for the intestine to act upon, and so antagonizes constipation. The large proportion of starch and other carbohydrates encourages the growth of friendly bacteria in the intestine, thus preventing putrefaction. For the same reason the free use of potatoes combats rheumatism and gout, which are results of chronic intestinal poisoning.

“The potato is valuable in the treatment of anemia, because it combats the growth in the intestine of the germs which produce _ blooddestroying poisons. The death rate from diabetes, according to the mortality statistics of the United States Census Bureau, has increased nearly 50 per cent. in ten years. The freer use of potatoes as an article of diet and the lessened consumption of meat would perhaps do more than any other one thing to suppress the alarming increase of this fatal malady.

“‘Arteriosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries, a disease which causes apoplexy and is associated with Bright’s disease and various forms of heart disease besides being the cause of premature old age, is most often directly the result of chronic poisoning, the source of which is the putrefaction of undigested remnants of animal substances which have been eaten, which undergo decay with the absorption of poisonous products. The free use of the potato as an article of diet in place of the excessive consumption of meat and fish, a practice widely prevalent, would unquestionably check the alarmingly rapid development of this disease, which, according to the United States mortality reports, has increased 400 per cent. in the last ten years.

“The potato, buttermilk, and oatmeal diet of the Irish has developed one of the most sturdy and enduring races of men to be found anywhere. The proportion of centenarians in Ireland is more than ten times as great as in England. There can be no doubt that the free use of potatoes by the Irish is in large measure responsible for the remarkable longevity of this nation.

“The idea that the potato is difficult of digestion and thus gives rise to fermentation in the stomach is entirely erroneous. The fault is not with the potato but with the manner of eating. When acted upon by the saliva, the starch of the potato is converted into maltose and dextrin, _which Pawlow of St. Petersburg has shown to be powerful stimulants of the glands of the stomach. Properly cooked and well chewed, the potato is thus not only a good food but an aid to the digestion of other foods. In persons whose stomachs have a tendency to produce excessive acid the stimulating effect of the potato may be so great as to produce the symptoms characteristic of hyperacidity, heartburn, tenderness .of the stomach, regurgitation of gas with acid liquid, and other well-known symptoms. This difficulty is not at all due to fermentation but to an exces- — sive amount of acid and the resulting spasmodic contraction of the pylorus, so the stomach is stimulated to violent contraction. The gas contained in the stomach cannot be forced downward in the proper direction, and so escapes upward. This difficulty is not likely to occur, however, except when chewing is neglected. The gastric juice has little action upon the potato. Coarse particles of potato may remain in the stomach many hours, causing excessive acid fermentation, irritation and eructations. In eating potato every morsel must be chewed until reduced to a smooth paste in which no coarse particles can be detected by the tongue.

“The remedy is simple. Pawlow has shown that fats lessen the activity of the stomach in the secretion of gastric Juice. Hence, it is only necessary to increase the amount of fat eaten with the potato. In extreme cases the potato should be eaten in the form of a purée with the addition of butter or rich cream. This difficulty is especially noticeable in persons who have habitually eaten large quantities of meat when they undertake to change their eating habits, taking less meat and more cereals and potatoes. With a change in eating habits, the unpleasant symptoms usually disappear in a short time.

“‘Some persons find it necessary to avoid the use of tomatoes and acid fruits with potatoes. The apparent disagreement of the potato with acid fruits is chiefly due to neglect to thoroughly masticate the food. If the potato is eaten in the form of a purée or well mashed, and if the fruit is also in the form of a purée, or if pains is taken to masticate it very thoroughly, inconvenience from the combination will be rarely, if ever, experienced.”

In Chapter XXTII the potato as food is discussed further by Mrs. E. H. Grubb and many valuable recipes for preparing the potato for the table are given.

CHAPTER II

CLIMATIC REQUIREMENTS fection in southwestern Colorado, in the Rocky Mountains, and under similar conditions in the Andes Mountains in South America.

In these districts the winters are cold, and the ground is generally covered with snow from early fall—before the ground freezes — until late in the spring. There is often a heavy blanket of snow until May. In the growing season there are 100 to 110 days between killing frosts. During this period the nights are cool, but there are twelve to fifteen hours of bright, intense sunshine during the day. Occasional light showers of a few minutes’ or hours’ duration occur, but the total summer rainfall is very small in comparison to the total for the year.

Nothing but the strongest plants and animals live under these conditions, but such grow to the highest perfection and strength. ‘The air is vitalizing and invigorating. Vigorous, healthy people choose it, while debilitated people of low vitality prefer more mild conditions.

Long hours of bright sunshine make the potato in its native home free from disease; and where the tuber is grown under less favorable conditions the ingenuity of man has supplied as nearly as possible the things that nature has furnished in the Rocky Mountain region referred to.

y YHE potato grew wild and now grows to per-

At Prospect Farm, at Redstone, on Crystal River, in the coal fields of western Colorado, potatoes were grown for the camp during the early ’°80’s. This farm was maintained for eight or ten years, then abandoned. Potatoes have grown in this neglected field from year to year without replanting, ever since that time. Under the conditions in this natural home of the potato the growth of the plant is checked by the frosting of the haulm, or top, in the early fall. This stops the rank, watery growth and the tuber ripens in the dry soil. This growth checking seems an essential in the growing of the highest class product, and where frost does not come in time the same effect has been secured by mowing off the tops.

Since potatoes have been grown commercially under similar conditions to those in the home of the wild potato, it has been found that varieties last longer there without “running out”’ or “changing seed.” Old varieties that have become less valuable each year in other districts are revitalized and restored to their original perfection when planted there. The places referred to are the Carbondale district in Colorado; the Twin Falls country and other sections along Snake River in Idaho; and an instance of this reinvigoration is the success of the “Perfect Peachblow” at Mt. Sopris Farm, Carbondale, Col. At Dalmeny Farms, Edinburgh, Scotland, conditions are similar in some particulars, and potatoes live over winter in the ground and produce crops the next year.

While the potato grows best and with the least care from man in its native habitat, 1t has been adapted to a wide range of climatic conditions. It is successfully grown in practically every country in the temperate zone and in some places under very unfavorable conditions. The potato culturists of Europe have originated and adopted cultural methods and moulded varieties to conditions in a most scientific, skilful, and practical way. Potatoes are grown successfully on shifting sands so light that they are thatched with straw to keep the soil from blowing away, and on clay lands so heavy that they require close tiling (underdraining with tiles forty to sixty feet apart) and the most careful, watchful cultural methods.

It is true that there is no place in the temperate zone where potatoes cannot be grown by adding artificially to the natural conditions those things necessary to make the soil and climate approach the natural environment. It necessarily follows, however, that in selecting a place to grow potatoes under ideal conditions some of the mountain valleys of the Rocky or Andes Mountains would be chosen, other things being equal. Latitude and altitude are synonomous as far as they relate to potato conditions when other requirements are the same. There are good districts north at low altitudes and good potatoes grown at high altitudes south or at low altitudes south at sea level where nights are cool and the air is moist.

Maine, New York, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota are examples of low altitudes north, the Snake River country, the Greeley and Carbondale districts of high altitudes south, and Santa Rosa, Lompoc, and Salinas on the Pacific coast in California, and southern Great Britain a the Channel Islands of low altitudes at sea evel.

These statements as regards north and south refer to the north temperate zone and would be reversed for the south temperate zone.

The sweet potato is another consideration and is described in another chapter.

It is possible that the change in temperature each day, which approximates 30 to 50 degrees, has something to do with the vitalizing of plants, the same as man is apparently invigorated and restored daily in these mountain districts where such changes occur.

Chapter IV

POTATO SOILS in a potato soil. It must either be present naturally or supplied artificially.

So important is this subject considered that a chapter on tile drainage is being included (Chapter V).

As in the subject of climatic requirements, much regarding the soil requirements of the potato may be learned from a study of the soil conditions in the home of the wild potato. In its native habitat the potato grows in loose, friable, well-drained, easily worked, perfectly aerated soil.

The physical or mechanical condition of a potato soil is a more important factor than the fertility, although any plant requires a rich soil for its greatest development.

For the uniform, perfect development of all parts of the potato plant there must be a constant supply of air and oxygen, moisture and fertility. It is impossible to grow good potatoes in a waterlogged soil.