SEED POTATOES.

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 153, 30 June 1934, Page 6 (Supplement)

SEED POTATOES.

BETTER CROPS FROM SPROUTED TUBERS. It pays to give seed potatoes the best treatment. After digging, the tubers should bo left on the ground for a few hours to dry and harden the skin. Then spread them out thinly in a light airy place, where frost is excluded. They will need turning occasionally to pick out any showing sign's of decay and to prevent tho production of long white shoots. Tho object must be the production 'of short, dark green sprouts which will not be damaged when tubers

are planted. Tliere Is a gain if the shoots are reduced to three, but this object can also be attained, if the tuber is of a fair size, by cutting it in half just before planting. With small tubers, however, it is best to reduce shoots rather than to cut the tuber. A change of seed will always pay, especially in small gardens where it is not possible to give fresh ground each year. Seed potatoes should always be selected from the best roots at the time of digging, and in this the small grower who only grows a small plot and digs and selects his own tubers has a great advantage.