THE NECESSARY POTATO

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVIII, Issue 70, 19 September 1914, Page 10

THE NECESSARY POTATO

» HINTS ON THE PLANTING AND. CULTIVATION (For The Post.) .(By John M'Pherson.) In'thji early part of the last century, owing to war and other economic conditions, the price of breadstuffs rose to a very high figure; and to extend 1 the cultivation of potatoes, which Were only then coming into common* use, it was proposed to legislate that one acre out of every hundred of cultivated land should be planted with potatoes as a supplementary form of iood, less easily destroyed by an invading army than grain crops. The soil most suited for the cultivation W potatoes is a sandy loamf soil. Almost pure sand will, grow potatoes if a liberal supply of farmyard manure is applied. A well-drained 'peaij soil will produce good potatoes, but on heavy clay the crop is always more or less uncertain. Potatoes are greatly benefited by the application of dissolved bones and sulphate of potash (four parts of bones to one of potash, at the rate of about 3cwt per acre, or three parts of superphosphate and one part of potash, at about 4cwt per acre). But the natural fertility of the soil should be taken into consideration in the application of artificial manures, light sandy soil requiring more potash than a heavier soil. In selecting potatoes for seed, it must be borne in mind that the potato is not a seed, but merely an enlargement ' of the "root system, in which nourishment is stored up for the succeeding year's growth ; and that potatoes which are not fully ripened make the best seed. Where large areas of potatoes are grown, whole potatoes are planted from seed selected from those 'which are too small for culinary use. . But as > the continual planting of small seed will have a tendency to cause degeneration, a given quantity large, well-formed potatoes should 1 be planted (whole or' ,cut) each' year. When cut, the pyes from the rose end only should-,be used. As, however, some varieties "have a teudency to decay if planted immediately alter being cut, it is therefore, advisable that -the, sets should be cut at" least three days .before being, plarttefl, and also dusted 6ver with lime, which will cause a skin\ to form on", the cut surface, and likewise preveht.Mecay. In returning to the subject '"of soil cultivation, it. may be mentioned that there are various methods which have been adopted irf the '.cultivation ( of .the soil for potatoes. But! the .method generally practised is to grow potatoes on land on which a grain or. catch .crop has been Town the previous season. The ground is ploughed at right angles > to .the previous ploughing*, and is allo\ved to ( lie until the surface has rotted. It is then well harrowed, and again cross-ploughed, and cultivated ready for ridging or drilling. - ' Where farmyard manure , js applied, it is either spread on the surface and ploughed down with the first ploughing, oi; it is put in the bottom of the drills, the sets being placed 12in to 15in apart 'on the manure, and covered, by splitting the ridge with the plough. The best width for the ridges is from 26in to 28in, and if no farmyard manure is" to applied the drills should not be more than 3in deep, more especially if the, ground has a tendency to be damp, as by setting the plough deeper and covering the ridges a gi'eater depth than when first formed the potatoes are, raised above the damp bottom. When it is necessary to grow potatoes on grass land which has not been previously "ploughed, they ai'e generally what is termed "ploughed in." '■ Two ploughs and teams are required for this work._ The first plough • turns over a furrow from 2in to 3in" deep j the second plough, following in the same furrow, turns the under soil,, over, thus burying the inverted turf. The potatoes are planted in every third furrow, being placed, on the tbp of the inverted turf and covered with, the un--der furrow. After the* potatoes areploughed in the ground should be well* harrowed, in order to have sufficient loose soil for earthing oiv hilling up. I have seen a splendid crqp of potatoes raised by merely ploughing^ I turf over on the' sets. '.But* this is 'not a method to be recommended, for it is difficult to get sufficient loose soil to earth up with, and the labour involved in digging' the matured tubers out of the sods is excessive. -' , . . i In the spade cultivation of grass land for potatoes, I will refer to two methods only.* One of these is a form of double digging, the other 'is that of the Irish lazy-bed system. | 'The digging should be commenced by {aking out a trench at least 9in wide and deep, wheeling the soil to where it is intended to finish. The turf, to the depth" of about i 2in and equal to the -.width of the .- trench, ia taken off and laid in the bottom and covered with the undersoil.' The trench should •be kept at a uniform width and depth, and the back made vertical by inserting the spade straight down to its full depth. The potatoes can be' planted as the digging proceeds, though not in the trench, but rather on the face of the dug ground. When a sufficient ' width has b^en dug the line is set, and a notch 3in deep formed with the spade or hoe, In this the potato sets are \aid, arid ' covered over with the next spit of soil. Ground which is covered with rough vegetation and scrub, and especially where the soil is wet, can be brought into cultivation most economically by the lafty-bed system, the second of the two methods above referred to. The rough 'surface vegetation is skimmed off and burned on the ground. .Parallel beds are constructed of sufficient • width to hold three or more rows of potatoes, ■with -an alley from 18in to 24in~ wide "between each bed. The ■ surface of the beds is made uniform with soil taken from ,the 'alleys, and the potatoes are planted along the beds in rows,, and are covered with* more .soil to the depth of about three inches. As they grow they are earthed' up -at intervals with more i soil taken from the. alleys.' By moving' the beds either to the right or left each season, the ayhole area will have been dug to a ipiform depth in from three to- four years.' ; It is not to be supposed feat when the potatoes are planted the' whole of the necessary work is completed. They have still to.be attended to, , and the" soil also needs to-be kept loose and -mellow. On the ridged ground the ridges will require harrowing down and earthing up at least twice before the 'plants coma through. (A hot, dry day should be selected for this work, in order to destroy any weed seeds which may have started to grow.) "The final harrowing should be made just as the plants appear on the surface." The cultivator and the hoe should now be kept going between the drills at intervals during dry weather ; and as the tops or haulms begin to close across the ridges a final earthing up should then 'be given, as it is at this period that many little rootlets reach out from the plants, from which the tubers form. So that if "the cultivation is continued after this stage irreparable damage is likely to be done. It only needs to be added that much the same method as the foregoing is adopted in the cultivation of potatoes that have been ploughed in. So soon as

the rows can be discerned from end to end .the cultivator should be set going, ■ the hoe and fork taking its place where the potatoes have been dug in. .