POTATO GROWING.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 18926, 15 February 1927, Page 11

POTATO GROWING.

TO THE CDITOR Or TIIE TEE'S. Sir, r -Last year I carrie-1 out an rxpcrimont of soaking U IC rce-1 potatoes in a solution of nitrate of soda ;six ounecs to. the gallon of water), the result of which you «o kindly j.ublisbo 1 i:i TliE Vktjh. This vca'r I am carrvlnv, out further experiment.-!.-I was ' :u----forme.l that the solution wouM kill the germination. To test this out J so::!;e I one potato of the iJalhmsny Ai-me variety, 1 Jin diameter, for one ami -i half hours in the solution (six ounces of nitrate of so.ia to the gallon). Now I wish I had soaked hundreds. I plantcd this potato in my old orchard right :i\vay from any others. The ground was tronelied two years ago 2- inehes deep, file top Mil and rubbish being put in the liottom, and the bottom or yul.-soil on top. There is a young apple tree growing about four feet awav. and other plants of the cabbage ' variotv around about at two or three feet awav. There was no other fertiliser used to grow this potato plant, and :; large label was attached so that i-cop'e could see at any lime the facts. The set germinated and sent up line, largo haulms and throve from the start. I drew some of the coil lip about the haulms. ,1)1 the ii.iu:il way, for some time part "he hill seemed" to be rising. So last Friday afternoon, having Mr Moodie, Agriculture Instructor Tor the Canterbury Education Hoard, to certify to the result, 1 dug the Toot up and wc weighed tile potatoes The result- was 71b JOoz of the most lovely clean potatoes one could ever wish" for, and !>S per cent, of the weight was table potatoes. Willi the exception of tho soil being worked deeper, the root was grown on ordinary Held conditions, and Mr Moodie worked out the tons per acre on the usual distance* apart, namely, thirty inches between tho rows and fifteen inches between the sets. The result was just over 40 tons per acre, or just over . 274 roots per sack. Now tho Dominion average is usually ">} to 0 tons per acre. Two years sigo tho writer grew IJJ cwt from J ewt plnntod. Last year I grew a plot of J7>} tons per acre. Tho tests show clearly that ajjvefy large number of tho acres annually" planted with thousands of tons of seed is misdirected energy and waste. The ground wants working much deeper and moro potash and nitrogen used. Potatoes require very little superphosphate. Later I will have other experiments to write about.—Yours, etc., GEORGE LEE. Tcmpleton, February 14th.