THE WAUPACA POST

May 9, 1895

 

STORY OF THE POTATO

 

            It will probably surprise many people to know that although the potato is one of the two great staple vegetables which America has given to the world, and is of native origin, the people of the United States today import more potatoes than they export.  It is supposed that the potato was first carried to Europe by the Spaniards in the sixteenth century, probably from South America.  Its cultivation has spread all over Europe until our statistics now show that we are importing millions of bushels annually from these countries, notwithstanding the fact that every farmer in the United States raises potatoes for sale and in some localities whole plantations are devoted to their cultivation.  A government statistical report on the cultivation, export and import of potatoes has just been issued, an abstract of which will be interesting to the people of this potato growing region.  The following table shows the number of bushels raised in the United States, the number imported and the number exported for the years named:

 

Year                 Raised              Imported                       Exported

1885                 175,029,000          658,633                      381,136

1886                 168,051,000       1,937,416                      498,379

1887                 134,103,000       1,432,490                      437,029

1888                 202,365,000       8,259,538                      404,290

1889                 217,546,362          883,380                      471,955

1890                                         3,415,578                      406,618

1891                                         5,501,982                      341,189

1892                                            186,871                      557,022

1893                 183,034,203       4,317,021                      845,822

1894                 170,787,338       3,002,578                      803,942

 

            The statistics for some reason give no report of the home product from 1888 to 1892 inclusive.  The total import for the ten years amounted to 29,495,417 bushels, with an aggregate value of $13,155,431, or an average of 44.6 cents per bushel.  The total exports for the same period amounted to only 5,148,012 bushels and was valued at $3,859,576.  The duty for the first five years given in the table was fifteen cents a bushel, which was less than half the differences between the export and import