62 
Modern Business Geography 
How the winter market of the United States is supplied with fresh 
vegetables. Now that freight cars can be heated in cold weather 
and refrigerated in warm weather, all kinds of fresh vegetables can 
be carried long distances without spoiling. Accordingly, the south- 
eastern quarter of the United States now ranks second only to the 
northeastern quarter in vegetable farming. The mild climate makes 
it profitable to raise vegetables in great quantities, even though 
the soil must be constantly fertilized and the northern markets are 
a thousand miles away. This is profitable because of the fancy prices 
obtained for southern vegetables from late fall to early spring, a 
period when their only rivals are greenhouse products. Thus even 
in midwinter almost any vegetable can be obtained in the great cities 
of the northeastern quarter of the United States. 
California competes with the South in supplying vegetables to 
northern markets in the late fall, winter, and early spring. Let- 
tuce, celery, asparagus, and many other vegetables from California 
regularly appear in eastern markets as soon as fancy prices prevail. A 
careful study of methods of packing for long transportation has been 
made, and as a result the vegetable farms in the vicinity of San 
Francisco and Los Angeles have become remarkably profitable. 
Potatoes. At the head of the list of our American vegetables 
stand potatoes. They are nearly twice as important as all the others 
combined. You can readily see why this is so when you recall that 
potatoes probably find a place on our dining tables more often than 
any other staple food except bread. 
The states of Minnesota, New York, Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsyl- 
vania, and Maine are the greatest potato producers. Certain parts 
of those states, where the climate is cool and moist and the soil sandy, 
are especially adapted to potatoes. Under such conditions they yield 
a profit even when transported long distances, whereas in most re- 
gions it does not pay to raise them for any except the local market. 
In the South potatoes require more fertilizer than in the North, and 
the crop is far less abundant; yet because of the high prices com- 
manded by the first new potatoes in the spring, a good many are 
raised. 
Aroostook County in the northern part of Maine is by far the best 
potato region in the whole United States. More than two hundred 
bushels per acre are produced, which is twice as much as in most of 
the other parts of the country. | 
In European regions having cool, moist climates, potatoes are 
often grown in sandy soil that is infertile for most crops. The potato