Footnotes to Long Island History
Potato Growing Progress
Spuds Once Unknown Here:
by
Thomas R. Bayles
The white or “Irish” potato which now occupies such an
important place in the diet of the American people, was almost unknown
during the early years of the settlement of our country.
The records of the New York State Agricultural society for
1850 give some interesting information regarding the history of the
potato.
“Potatoes have received but limited attention,” the records
stated. “the ravages of disease and the absence of any remedy restrict
the production of this crop to a quantity barely sufficient for domestic
use. The yield seldom exceeds 100 bushels per acre. The crop for New
York state in 1849 did not exceed 80,000 bushels.”
“The fearful results in Ireland, arising from the general
destruction of the crop in 1847, when famine and disease caused the
death of many thousands of the people, induced the offer of valuable
rewards for the discovery of the cause, and numerous reports were
presented to the agricultural societies of Ireland, Scotland and
England, but none of them were satisfactory.”
According to this report, the potato was not cultivated in
Scotland before 1750, and then with doubt and hesitation, but by 1800
the potato formed a large part of the food of the scotch people,
especially in the Highland districts. The Scotch made great efforts to
contend with the potato disease, which in 1847 was depriving them of
food, and causing suffering almost as bad as affected Ireland.
In 1806 the white potato and the “leather coat” were the
only varieties cultivated, although occasionally the large pink eye or
“Virginian” variety, was planted. It was discovered that a variety call
the Perthshire red yielded nearly double the quantity of the other
varieties, and this came into general use.
When the early crop first comes it is common to see huge
trailer trucks rolling this way for supplies from most of the states
east of the Mississippi, and just recently the writer saw one from
Montgomery, Ala.
In 1850 it was customary to plant them in rows 4 feet apart,
quite a contrast with the present custom of planting rows about 30
inches apart.
Fifty years ago most of the potatoes were planted by hand in
a furrow made with a one-horse plow, cultivated with a one horse
cultivator and dug by hand with a “potato fork.”
Then came the potato planter drawn by horses and more modern
methods of cultivation and horse-drawn potato digger.
These early methods seem a far cry from the present
streamlined operation of the potato farms, with tractor-drawn planters
planting two or more rows at a time, and power cultivation, spraying and
digging. And now even the picking is mostly done by machine and most of
the farms have irrigation.
What was 100 years ago a very small and unimportant crop is
now one of the major importance, and Suffolk country ranks third in the
nation in the production of potatoes, with an average of about 50,000
acres yielding an average of 350 bushels per acre or over 17,000,000
bushels, quite a contrast to the 80,000 bushels produced in all New York
state in 1849.
Potatoes have been sipped by raiload until recent years, but
now most of the crop moves by truck, large quantities going all through
the south as far as Florida and all other sections of the country within
trucking distance.