for the abundant growth of potatoes of the highest quality, rich in starch and of standard flavor.

Nitrogen is applied in the form of stable manure worked into the soil during the one or two years previous to potato planting and of Chile saltpeter, which, as already described, is used as a top dressing applied directly while the plants are growing. Chile saltpeter covered in the earth either leaches away into the subsoil or forms insoluble combinations with other elements and is thereby lost to the farmer. Used as a top dressing it has an immediate and often important effect in reviving and stimulating a crop, but it should never be applied to the soil in autumn nor in the spring before the potato sprouts have appeared above ground.

Reduced to its simplest terms, the secret of German preeminence in potato cultivation consists in the careful, patient scientific preparation of the soil, not only by the restoration of its exhausted elements, but by mellowing, enriching, and revivifying it by deep. cultivation and the plowing in of green manure crops, which have taken up and digested the crude mineral fertilizers. Land thus prepared will yield three or even four crops of potatoes before their quantity or quality will begin to deteriorate. In extreme cases, where a small farmer can not advantageously raise any other crop, he may continue to plant potatoes on the same ground ten or twelve years, but good husbandry dictates that as a principle a change to cereals, beets, or clover is advisable after the fourth successive season of potatoes.

THE QUESTION OF VARIETIES.

The question of varieties is also of importance, but the subject is so diffuse that any adequate consideration of it would far transcend the limits of a consular report. The prospectus* of a standard dealer in seed potatoes, which is transmitted as an exhibit with this report, includes 100 different varieties of potatoes, all meritorious and more or less specially adapted to each peculiar condition of soil, exposure, or purpose for which the product is to be used. Certain varieties excel for food purposes, others as material for starch and dextrin, still others for desiccation and distillation in the production of alcohol, and yet others for stock-feeding purposes. Many of the most valuable sorts for general purposes are of recent origin. There are dozens of skillful and experienced growers in Germany who give their whole time and energy to the propagation of improved varieties of potatoes, and samples of their products weighed, analyzed, and labeled with the place and all conditions of growth formed a large and interesting feature of the exhibition last February. As

* On file in the Bureau of Statistics, Department of Commerce and Labor.

long ago as 1863 not less than 500 varieties of potatoes were catalogued and known in this country. Many of them have disappeared from the catalogues of to-day, and the real crop of practical growers is limited to not more than 20 standard sorts which have best stood the tests of varying seasons, diverse soils, and the multiform uses to which the potato is now applied in Germany.

FRANK H. MASON,

BERLIN, GERMANY, August 25, 1903.

Consul-General.

POTATOES IN GERMANY.

(From United States Consul Warner, Leipzig, Germany.)

In order to better comprehend that which is to follow, it would perhaps be wise to recall a few facts regarding the relative sizes of Germany and the United States before taking up the subject of this paper.

On the 1st of December, 1900, Germany, exclusive of her colonial possessions, had a population of 56,367, 178 and an area of 208,780.72 square miles.* In June, 1895, there were 9,468,821 persons, including 346,899 women laborers, engaged in agriculture and cattle rearing over an area of 125,549.74 square miles.†

On June 1, 1900, the United States, exclusive of her insular possessions and Alaska, had a population of 76,215,312 and an area of 3,025,600 square miles. There were 10,381,765 persons, including 66.3,209 women laborers, engaged in agricultural pursuits over an area of 646,091.39 square miles.§

PRODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION IN GERMANY AND UNITED STATES.

The following table shows the area devoted to the cultivation of potatoes in Germany, the total production thereof, and the average annual yield per acre for the years 1899, 1900, 1901, and 1902, respectively:

NOTE.-See Statistisches Jahrbuch für das Deutsche Reich, 1903, pp. 34 and 35, respectively.

*See Statistisches Jahrbuch für das Deutsche Reich, 1903, p. 1.

+ See ibid, pp. 18 and 29, respectively.

See Twelfth Census of the United States of America, 1900, Vol. I, pages xviii and xxxii, respectively.

§ See ibid, Vol. V, pages xviii and lxxii, respectively.

The potato cultivation in the United States during the years 1899, 1900, 1901, and 1902, respectively, was:

NOTE.-See Yearbook of the Department of Agriculture, 1900, p. 797.

From the above, it is determined that the annual per capita production of potatoes in Germany and the United States was as follows:

NOTE. These figures can not be said to be accurate, because they have been obtained by assuming that the population of Germany was 56,367,178 and the same in the years 1899, 1900, 1901, and 1902, and that of the United States 76,215,312 and the same in the years 1899 and 1900, which were not the facts.

In order to ascertain the quantities of potatoes consumed in these two above-mentioned countries, the foreign trade thereof must also be taken into account. The following table shows the quantity, value, and price per bushel of the exports and imports of potatoes of Germany and the United States for the years 1899, 1900, 1901, and 1902, respectively:

* See Statistisches Jahrbuch für das Deutsche Reich, p. 134.

+ See Monthly Summary of Commerce and Finance of the United States, June, 1901, p. 3165. See ibid, June, 1901, p. 3136. § See ibid, June, 1902, p. 4569. See ibid, June, 1902, p. 4538.

*See Statistisches Jahrbuch für das Deutsche Reich, p. 134.

By substracting the excess of exports in the one case, or adding the excess of imports in the other, from or to the total production, the internal consumption of a product will be obtained. Bearing this in mind the following table shows the respective annual internal consumption of potatoes in Germany and the United States for the years 1899-1902:

Total consumption in Germany and the United States.

NOTE. These figures can not be said to be accurate, because they have been obtained by assuming that the population of Germany was 56,367,178 and the same in the years 1899, 1900, 1901, and 1902, and that of the United States 76,215,312 and the same in the years 1899 and 1900, which were not the facts.

There would appear to be two principal ways in which potatoes are consumed, namely, as food for persons and animals and for distilling and manufacturing purposes. (The writer has heard it said that potatoes, after they have become more or less dried up and hard, have not infrequently been used as fuel.)

The figures are lacking which relate to the ways in which potatoes were consumed in the United States during the years 1899–1902, both inclusive. Based upon the information contained on page 35 of Volume VII of the Twelfth Census of the United States, 1900, and page 797 of the Yearbook of the Department of Agriculture,

1900, however, one might perhaps be justified in estimating that in the United States in the year 1900 not more than 7,946, 366.59 bushels of potatoes were used for manufacturing purposes; so that the quantity consumed as food in that year was about 202,326,919.41 bushels, or 2.65 bushels per capita.

Let us now attempt to gain an insight into the ways potatoes have been consumed in Germany during the past four years. Here, also, we shall have difficulty because of the somewhat meager statistics at hand. In Germany, strange as it may seem to foreigners, it may be said that almost seven-eighths of the alcohol produced is obtained from potatoes.* On many of the large farms one finds potato distilleries. These are under the careful control of the Government. They afford the farmers a very profitable side occupation. The manufacture of starch, glucose, etc., should also be mentioned as a factor in the potato consumption of Germany.

The following table shows the number of potato distilleries, the quantity of potatoes consumed, and the quantity of alcohol produced therefrom in Germany:

Below an attempt is made to estimate the number of establishments making starch, glucose, etc., the quantity of potatoes used therein, and the amount of starchy materials produced in the years. 1899-1902:

By deducting the quantities of potatoes consumed each year in the distilleries and factories from the total consumption, the amount used as food for persons and animals will be obtained.

*See Statistisches Jahrbuch für das Deutsche Reich, p. 55.

+ See ibid, pp. 54 and 55.

See pamphlet for 1902 of the Verein der Spiritus Fabrikanten in Deutschland.