POTATO CULTIVATION

Evening Star, Issue 22276, 29 February 1936, Page 14

POTATO CULTIVATION

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE’S EFFORTS FIELD DAY AT EAST TAIEW "Wit!? the object of showing local produce, merchants the efforts being made - by the Department of Agriculture ten ward, the cultivation of potatoes and peas, the department’s'fields division conducted a field day on.the property of Mr R, Miller, at East Taijri, yesterday. In all, 760 lines of potatoes/were dis-j played; entries having been received from Southland; Otago, ■ and Canterbury. There was a large attendance of merchants "present,' and Mr J. Mi Smith, field superintendent, opened the proceedings by outlining the principles of potato certification: _Mr J. Wallace, certification officer, - then took the visitors through the plots, and explained the different virus diseases, and pointed out the different varieties of (potatoes grown there. k ■ A good deal of interest was taken in lines that are extensively grown in Canterbury, hut are not to be found in big numbers in Otago and Southland. Mr Wallace also-showed an experiment that is being conducted to control late blight by means of sulphuric acid spray’. ‘ The result of tha experiment, which is successful in Scotland, will, no doubt, be of interest td potato growers in New Zealand, The merchants were also conducted to a plot of new variety peas, which are being grown with the object of showing the times of maturity, and also,of procuring a small supply of seed, Mr J, B, Waters, chairman of the Otago Seedsmen’s Association; thanked the officers for their interesting -demonstration. . I.’-' V ‘