Chapter XII. Selling And Storage

Description

This section is from the book "The Potato: A Compilation of Information from Every Available Source", by Eugene H. Grubb, W. S. Guilford. Also available from Amazon: The Potato: A Compilation Of Information From Every Available Source.

Chapter XII. Selling And Storage

Does it pay to store potatoes or sell direct from the field to the dealer, and if storage pays what sort of structure is best?

The answer to the first must be made by the individual grower. The element of chance enters very largely into this problem, to a greater degree, perhaps, than with any other farm crop.

Statistics show that this statement is true - viz., that the farmer who has favorable conditions for potato growing and can practise a good rotation, who will grow the same acreage of potatoes each year for ten years, selling half at digging time and storing the balance, will show a nice annual profit on his ten years' operations.

To say that prices will be good this year or next, or that it will pay to sell or store this fall or any later single fall, is simply making a guess.

The Government reports showing acreage and condition of crop during the season and a comparison with other seasons give some idea of what to expect. In addition to this the grower should know what other districts besides his own are in position to compete with him in his natural markets, and the condition of their crop is another fact on which to base his guess. Figuring the average production in the United States at about ninety bushels per acre, the per capita consumption four bushels, and the population of the country at 90,000,000 - 360 million bushels, or over three million acres, are required to meet the demands. When the acreage is short or the per acre yield low, the price will be high. In the appendix is given a table showing averages. These facts are interesting in this connection.

Table of Chicago prices, per bushel, follows:

Year	December	May of following year
«	Low	High	Low	High
1886...................	.... 44	47	65	90
1887...................	.... 70	83	65	85
1888...................	.... 30	37	24	45
1889...................	.... 33	45	30	60
1890...................	.... 82	93	95	110
1891...................	.... 30	40	30	50
1892...................	.... 60	72	70	98
1893...................	.... 51	60	64	88
1894...................	.... 43	58	40	70
1895...................	.... 18	24	10	23
1896...................	.... 18	26	19	26
1897...................	.... 50	62	60	87
1898...................	___ 30	36	33	52
1899...................	.... 35	46	27	39
1900...................	___ 40	48	35	60
1901...................	.... 75	82	58	100
1902...................	.... 42	48	42	60
1903...................	.... 60	66	95	116
1904...................	.... 32	38	20	25
1905...................	.... 55	66	48	73
1906...................	___ 40	43	55	75
1907...................	___ 46	58	50	80
1908...................	.... 60	77	70	150
1909...................	20	58	• •	• • •

Various other price statistics are shown in the tables.

A large part of the potatoes of the world grow in countries of freezing temperatures, and whether stored by the farmer or by the dealer, that part of the crop which is not consumed before the main crop is dug, or a few days thereafter, must be stored in frost-proof buildings or pits.

Average farm price of potatoes per bushel in the United States.

	Price December 1, by decades.					Price December 1, by years.								Price bimonthly, 1909.
State, Territory, or Division.	1866-1875.	1876-1885.	1886-1895.	1896-1905..	1900	1901	1902	1903	1904	1905	1906	1907	1908	Feb.1	Apr.1	June,1	Aug..1	Oct.1	Dec.1
	Cts.	Cts.	Cts.	Cts.	Cts.	Cts.	Cts.	Cts.	Cts.	Cts.	Cts	Cts.	Cts.	Cts.	Cts.	Cts.	Cts.	Cts.	Cts.
Maine.............	50	55	65	66	49	67	65	56	48	61	50	66	61	64	7!	85	Hi	50	47
N. Hampshire..	51	56	58	63	53	79	6S	65	56	72	60	67	73	77	8C	90	92	! 71	64
Vermont...........	39	60	49	52	40	64	58	60	47	71	66	63	67	72	77	97	{X	54	44
Massachusetts..	65	70	69	73	66	90	81	71	71	84	65	84	85	92	99	110	107	84	79
Rhode Island...	70	74	7C	75	70	93	75	82	76	89	8C	93	86	96	99	103	104	78	81
Connecticut....	67	72	67	72	70	94	73	78	72	91	72	77	90	90	97	105	104	! 85	83
New York......	50	54	49	54	45	71	59	56	54	70	49	57	75	77	83	89	85	65	60
New Jersey...........	68	70	61	64	60	86	61	69	61	75	66	74	89	86	95	101	9(	85	82
Pennsylvania...	59	56	54	56	63	76	57	62	54	66	57	67	80	80	88	i 96	95	> 76	65
N. Atlantic...	53.6	56.6	53.3	56.7	49.9	73.6	61.4	59.6	64.5	68.6	53.8t	62.3	73.7	75.4	82.8	91.4	89.]	L 65.3	56.2
Delaware.......	67	64	64	58	60	78	51	66	63	59	59	66	83	80	83	. 90	7i	70	72
Maryland.........	66	63	53	55	54	77	52	60	51	58	56	60	74	76	87	94	69	» 70	66
Virginia........	56	57	53	58	59	74	58	64	65	56	67	68	72	75	89	93	72	! 73	70
West Virginia..	56	62	65	57	61	86	61	66	64	58	61	80	85	89	97	103	8(	68	68
North Carolina.	60	65	60	65	65	72	67	74	70	68	74	78	77	70	103	97	79	) 80	81
South Carolina.	94	80	81	99	100	110	96	104	101	103	104	110	110	V3	129	125	l16	118	115
Georgia..........	99	90	84	91	77	106	90	94	107	112	110	100	110	70	121	118	110	) 107	100
Florida.........	113	90	92	118	106	129	122	126	129	120	110	95	135	100	12t	147	12i	> 127	120
South Atlantic..........	62.6	60.5	57.3	63.7	59.2	81.2	60.7	69.9	62.0	64.5	69.0	73.7	81.6	77.6	96.6	99.9	79.6	78.0	75.1
Ohio..-..;......	60	53	64	51	40	85	44	61	47	63	48	68	77	80	92	103	81	62	66
Indiana.....,..	58	60	56	51	38	90	41	66	45	58	5'	65	84	86	10C	112	74	60	52
Illinois.,.....:.	60	52	58	64	41	93	42	72	47	67	62	72	83	85	106	120	76	68	61
Michigan..........	50	45	42	39	26	68	41	49	29	56	34	45	58	61	71	80	76	• 48	35
Wisconsin........	49	42	44	38	28	67	33	58	28	62	3C	45	60	64	76	> 86	8(	47	38
N. C. E. of Miss. River.	55.8	48.7	50.5	44.1	33.9	73.5	39.1	58.7	35.5	61.1	41.9	54.5	67.6	70.6	83.2	94.1	77.9	154.0	44.4
Minnesota.........	49	36	39	37	30	67	31	61	29	50	37	41	66	60	71	85	68	36	35
Iowa..............	45	44	48	44	37	94	34	75	28	49	4i	55	60	6i	82	100	8i	69	55
Missouri........	57	48	49	63	35	106	36	76	48	66	57	72	74	80	96	105	67	70	67
North Dakota.......			40	36	49	49	33	48	32	38	46	62	56	60	74	90	81	45	45
South Dakota.......			49	39	3d	86	44	54	30	38	36	60	51	57	6'	90	tit	i 63	63
Nebraska.........	63	41	64	47	49	105	27	65	26	37	52	70	55	61	71	92	74	68	60
Kansas............	65	64	63	58	48	104	45	85	56	69	70	88	83	86	110	134	85	82	79
N. C. W. of Miss. River.	52.8	45.1	49.3	45.3	39.3	81.8	34.5	68.6	33.0	49.1	47.8	58.9	62.6	66.9	81.9	99.6	76.8	61.9	53.8
Kentucky.........	58	50	56	57	50	87	53	68	55	53	61	75	81	87	109	116	7C	64	64
Tennessee........	58	51	52	63	68	86	64	64	62	5*	62	76	71	75	101	97	62	67	71
Alabama.........	101	89	83	91	82	109	93	96	99	88	93	100	95	79	130	111	95	97	98
Mississippi........	92	87	80	87	83	115	92	88	85	85	87	93	93	77	126	114	91	99	95
Louisiana..........	94	85	82	85	79	101	82	91	91	91	75	90	92	93	110	104	79	90	91
Texas..........	118	97	87	92	88	125	85	88	93	93	87	105	98	95	127	117	95	118	106
Oklahoma.........				90	65	125	71	93	76	85	77	100	98	95	117	133	71	104	95
Arkansas............	85	73	62	74	57	126	68	79	75	73	67	91	86	90	122	109	68	89	92
South Central.	66.9	00.2	61.3	73.9	61.9	108.1	69.1	79.2	74.0	73.6	73.0	90.2	88.9	87.9	117.6	113.4	77.9	91.8	86.3
Montana...........		69	62	52	53	73	60	44	61	59	61	50	70	75	104	126	120	70	51
Wyoming....		74	61	63	68	100	61	57	62	56	65	74	66	70	74	88	100	62	63
Colorado..........		83	51	59	82	90	51	60	37	57	45	66	60	65	89	110	12S	V3	67
New Mexico....		84	71	86	114	118	81	84	78	89	90	96	90	105	117	140	125	115	101
Utah...........		48	44	44	48	60	45	47	48	43	50	65	55	55	62	92	83	56	43
Nevada..........	179	95	57	72	56	91	63	70	65	82	70	90	75	110	90	111	155	100	85
Idaho..........		70	53	60	47	84	37	46	63	48	41	52	60	60	74	102	110	51	48
Washington...		50	44	44	47	61	38	36	6b	4b	56	50	67	80	92	115	100	58	47
Oregon...........	68	53	48	51	45	70	55	60	59	60	56	56	68	65	95	120	120	66	60
California.......	96	72	56	61	63	77	58	66	87	67	74	90	77	96	103	130	98	83	77
Far Western..	95.0	66.1	52.0	54.0	55.8	76.7	50.0	53.4	53.4	57.6	57.2	65.1	66.4	73.6	91.1	115.0	110.9	69.1	57.6
United States.	54.9	52.9	50.8	49.9	43.1	76.7	47.1	61.4	45.3	61.7	51.1	61.8	70.6	73.3	86.3	97.7	85.1	64.3	64.9

Wholesale prices of potatoes per bushel, 1896-1909.

	Chi:ago.		Milwaukee.		St. Louis.		Cincinnati
Data.	Burbank per bushel.		Per bushel.		Burbank per bushel.		Per bushel
	Low.	High.	Low.	High.	Low.	High.	Low.	High.
	Cents.	Cents.	Centt.	Cents.	Cents.	Cents.
1896	10	31	10	35	20	45	$0.60	$l.35
1897	18	62	15	100	21	65	.90	4.75
1898	29	87	25	90	30	85	1.25	3.75
1899	26	75	15	90	25	75	1.10	6.00
1900	25	50	20	80	27	54	.32	.57
1901	30	125	25	185	18	140	.30	1.20
1902	30	100			41	105	.90	3.00
1903	38	85	35	90	40	125	1.20	3.00
1904	31	122	20	120	36	125	1.20	4.80
1905	18	72	10	70	27	175	.25	.80
1906.
January.........................	65	66	45	58	58	82	.55	.65
February...........................	47	57	35	60	53	61	.45	.62
March.....................................	43	68	35	62	51	70	.45	.75
April................................	57	63	50	62	65	68	.60	.85
May................................	48	73	45	75	60	88	.55	.75
June.................................	60	87	60	80	65	125	.90	1.05
July....,.............			40	87	35	75	.75	.90
August.....................................			35	60	37	60	.58	.80
September...............................	45	58	35	65	43	62	.55	.60
October............................	40	47	25	40	48	56	.50	.60
November...............................	41	48	25	40	45	55	.45	.58
December..............................	640	43	25	40	40	46	.45	.47
Year..........................	40	87	25	87	35	125	.45	1.05
1907.
January...............................	34	45	25	45	43	53	.45	.50
February............................	37	43	25	45	61	66	.48	.53
March...............................	33	47	25	45	43	55	-50	.53
April..................................	33	61	25	60	63	68	.4*	.80
May................................	55	75	40	70	74	75	.70	.80
June..................................	33	70	30	70	60	78	.60	.70
July................................	30	50	35	90	50	125	.25	.85
August................................			30	90	60	95	.70	.80
September.................................	50	60	45	75	45	72	.60	.85
October...................................	45	65	40	75	55	70	.50	.62
November........................................	45	63	40	65	53	65	.50	.65
December.....................................	45	58	40	65	55	64	.50	.65
Year.....................................	33	75	25	90	43	125	.25	.85
1908.
January.....................................	52	65	53,	75	62	69	.60	.68
February.....................................	58	73	65	70	67	77	.65	.82
March ............ ....	62	75	63	70	71	78	.70	.80
April...................................	60	77	65	80	73	78	.70	.85
May.......................................	50	80	68	80	65	74	.60	.85
June.................................	58	150	68	150	100	105	.60	1.35
July...................................	70	110	65	110			1.10	1.35
August..........................................	58	90	60	85			.85	1.15
September.................................	58	78	60	80	72	72	.75	.85
October....................................	50	81	64	80	67	70	.65	.80
November...................................	57	71	68	70	69	72	.65	.75
December........................................	60	77	64	70	69	75	.65	.80
Year.......................................	50	150	53	150	62	105	.60	1.35
1909.
January.....................................	60	79	60	72	73	83	.72	.80
February.....................................	65	95	60	88	80	93	.75	.90
March....................	80	93	70	95	89	98	.85	.95
April................................	85	110	70	115	92	108	.95	1.15
May............................................	20	150	80	135	85	102	. .95	1.00
June.......................................	20	145	30	105	40	140	.90	1.20
July.................................	15	125	20	100	40	110	.50	.95
August.................................	38	66	40	90	35	62	.70	.75
September..........................	42	65	45	65	45	72	.55	.70
October.....................................	35	55	40	60	42	56	.55	.60
November...............................	15	60	30	50	40	62	.30	.60
December..........	20	68	30	60	40	60	.30	.48
Year...............................................	15	150	20	135	35	140	.30	1.20

A Pex barrel for 1866-4899 and 1902-1904. * Common to fancy.

2 New potato cellar of Commissioner of Agriculture A. W. Gilman,

New potato cellar of Commissioner of Agriculture A. W. Gilman, Foxcroft, Maine.

Potato storage cellar plans.

Average farm price of potatoes per bushel, monthly, 1908-9.

Month.	United States.	North Atlantic States.	South Atlantic States.	N.Cen. States East of Miss. R.	N. Cen. States West of Miss. R.	South Central States.	Far Western States.
	1909. 1908.	1909. 1908.	1909. 1908.	1909. 1908.	1909. 1908.	1909. 1908.	1909. 1908.
	Cts. Cts.	cts. Cts.	Cts. Cts.	Cts. Cts.	Cts. Cts.	Cts. Cts.	Cts. Cts.
January	72.0 63.4	74.5 64.9	83.2 76.0	69.4 55.5	64.1 62.5	92.1 92.7	66.9 62.7
February......	73.3 ......	75.4 ......	77.6 ......	70.6 ......	66.9 ......	87.9 ......
March	80.0 69.0	77.2 73.0	90.3 84.2	77.1 59.7	72.3 66.0	118.2 100.5	83.5 64.1
April.........	86.3 70.4	82.8 73.0	96.5 85.8	83.2 64.8	81.9 67.2	117.6 104.9	91.1 59.8
May	97.3 73.3	93.6 79.2	101.3 86.4	97.6 66.8	94.2 67.3	119.5 104.8	100.5 61.6
June	97.7 71.3	91.4 72.3	99.9 86.1	94.1 67.7	99.6 68.3	113.4 94.4	115.0 61.6
July	91.0 77.8	91.2 76.4	94.5 80.6	79.5 80.6	91.8 75.9	93.0 86.0	115.1 68.7
August	85.1 83.6	89.1 93.2	79.6 74.9	77.9 85.9	76.8 73.4	77.9 80.8	110.9 69.6
September..-.	71.5 78.0	77.6 87.8	76.7 75.3	59.9 77.0	65.3 64.3	84.2 82.6	81.1 75.2
October......	64.3 74.8	65.3 80.3	78.0 74.7	54.0 74.9	61.9 64.0	91.8 87.1	69.1 70.9
November...	57.8 69.2	58.5 71.9	76.7 76.5	47.2 67.3	56.2 61.1	89.0 88.2	58.0 67.8
Deember	54.9 70.6	56.2 73.7	75.1 81.6	44.4 67.6	53.8 62.6	86. 3 88.9	57,6 66.4

Potatoes grown in southern climates may be stored in dark warehouses or in straw-covered piles in the field.

The normal losses in storage from October to May amount to 5 to 12 per cent, of the total bulk. This does not include losses due to disease or sorting.

It has been estimated that of the total storage loss 75 per cent. is due to loss of moisture and 25 per cent. to respiration. The potato tuber does not die when taken from the ground and placed in a cellar, but it lives by using some of the food material stored up in its cells. The material used is in the form of sugar, which a ferment forms from starch. Respiration is practically stopped when the tuber is frozen and the sweet taste of frozen potatoes is due to accumulation of sugar.

The important points to be considered in potato storage are:

Conditions to keep a temperature as low as possible without freezing;

Conditions to keep the air as dry as possible, and a place where potatoes may be kept dark.

While mining at an altitude of 1,000 feet in Colorado, a good many years ago, the senior author of this work met a prospector who was going to leave the country. He said that in an old tunnel would be found some supplies, including twelve sacks of potatoes which had been put there two years before. These the prospector gave to him. The condition of these potatoes was apparently the same as when they were dug; they were not shriveled, no shrinkage was apparent, they had not started to sprout, and when cooked they were just as edible as when dug out of the ground. There had been an airshaft constructed at the end of the tunnel and through the tunnel was a good current of dry air. The temperature was uniformly about 40 degrees F., being in a rock tunnel 200 feet below the surface of the ground. In building a potato cellar he tried to get as near those conditions as possible.

The cellar illustrated is about 50 by 200 feet. At each end there is a dead-air space ten feet square in the form of a vestibule between the outer and inner doors. This affords protection from freezing. There is a driveway clear through, with bins on either side, skylights and ventilators being placed every ten feet. The temperature of the cellar may be lowered by opening the doors and letting a current of air pass through. When it is too cold for this, the ventilators at the top may be opened. The best ventilation is always secured by building the cellar in line with the direction of the prevailing air currents. During the winter the temperature should be kept as near 32 degrees F. as possible; it is best when it does not go below 30 degrees nor above 36 degrees. A temperature of 28 degrees F. for one or two hours will not freeze potatoes when in large quantities. In a cold country some means for providing artificial heat should be provided. In the spring of the year, when the weather becomes warm, the cellar doors are kept open at night and closed in the daytime.

Continue to:

Headaches Begone! A Systemic Approach To Healing Your Headaches

Don't Let Your Bike Seat Ruin Your Sex Life Book

Chapter XII. Selling And Storage

Description

Chapter XII. Selling And Storage

Search

My Books

Discover