POTATO CULTURE.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XCVI, Issue 14538, 25 November 1907, Page 11

POTATO CULTURE.

The following address should be read by potato-growers, where improvements in the cultivation of the tuber are imperatively called for. Mr Seymour, the potato expert of the Victorian Department, delivered an address, at Camperdown. Mr Seymour stated that he had been announced to deliver a lecture. Tnat implied something scientific as a rule, or the speech of an orator. Ho was neither. Ho was ju6t what most of his hearers were themselves. Ho was a potato-grower, and what he knew concerning potatogrowing he had simply learnt in iollowing the occupation of a potatogrower. He did not come there thinking that nobody present knew anything about the subject, and he did not think he knew all about it. He was perfectly satisfied they were all learning, and that in another ten years the farmers in Victoria would know a great deal more than to-day. It would come about from the very fact that men were coming together and beginning to think and talk about it, and whenever they °ot people to do that good results were bound to follow. The question of potato-growing was not receiving the attention in that State—and he did not think in any other—that other branches of rural industry had had. Wheat-growing and dairying were mentioned in support of the contention. Strange to say, the potato crop had been left as a sort of outside question; people in a measure gambled in potato-growing. ihere had been a good season, and they came through it well. Another year it would not be as satisfactory, and they would lose a little. Some growers would certainly lose money this year, and others, having a very heavy crop, would perhaps clear themselves. In the : early days, when farmers commenced to operate, they were working virgin soil. It did not want any special means or modes of tillage to produce a good crop. There were probably some present who remembered the days of the old bullock plough. When digging time came round, tenor twelve tons to the acre was the yield. It did not matter a great, deal about the kind of seed. But those days had passed; we had to put up now with reduced yields. For the last ten years the crop had averaged something under three tons to the acre for the whole State. If they were going to get back again to th e . position they held, the quality of the produce was a matter to be considered. A more serious aspect of the question than the reduced yield was the deterioration of the quality. If they were going to grow as many potatoes as thev could consume in Victoria, they could shut down nearly half of their potato land. The question they had to face was the improvement in the quality of their potatoes. The deterioration of quality had been brought about in a variety of ways. In some oases it was in the growing of potatoes on unsuitable land; in others it was the selection of the' wrong varieties, and that was a question which received very little attention. Everybody was looking for a potato that would give a heavy yield. But in gross yielding potatoes they would lose quality. He made that statement, and he was prepared to stand by it. Any fine quality, good cooking potato they would find was nearly always a light-yielding potato. The same thing applied in the animal kingdom—sheep being instanced. The history of potato-growing in this State had been the history of it in every part of the world. There was a very large tract of potato country in the United States known as the great potato belt, in the State of Maine, where in the early days potatoes were grown largely for the purpose of making starch. The day arrived in this portion when potatogrowing became unprofitable, and they had to cast about for a solution of the problem of how to raise the yield, and they found it by intercropping with clover. He was perfectly certain that if they were going to renovate their land here it was in the same way. Then as regards the preparation of the land. He always recommended autumn ploughing, provided the land had been under crop the year before. If not. he advised taking a straw crop, say a crop of oats, off it for the first year. They were then not troubled so much with scab, if any. The effect of autumn ploughing was that the land was exposed during the whole of the winter to the frosty rain and sunshine, and the air got into the soil and fertilised it. The soil particles • were broken down, and the chemicals coaverted into soluble plant food. If they had any weeds, autumn ploughing kept them down. Plough shallow, and they would start; then plough down the rubbish when preparing the land. Regarding manures, everybody was asking what manure to use. The manure that would give the best results in all soils and under all conditions was wellmade farmyard manure. But where was a man to get enough, more especially in districts where potato-growing was gone into extensively? A substitute was green manure, which couid be obtained by growing dun field peas, lupin, Tape, mustard, or some crop of that kind. Round seed were then required. Both of these kinds of manure were not always available, and the substitute was found in the application of artificial manure. One manure manufactured that gave the best results was bonedust. Superphosphate and potash were also mentioned. There [ were soils on which artificial manures i would not give beneficial results. In I chocolate, volcanic soils—such as in ' the Kewlyn, Ballanat, and in the Warrnambool districts —there never had been satisfactory results from the use of artificial manures. It was argued that these soils contained a great deal of iron- and phosphoric acid, and the manure Teverted to the iron, ard, or course, nad no effect. That was the explanation given by manufacturers. H would be very valuable information if proved. He was inclined to think, from the experimental work carried on this year, that artificial manure in conjunction with farmyard manure, even in such soils, was likely to give satisfactory results. Whether it would pay for its use was another but put it in in a way so that they would re able to ascertain whether it would pay or not. Regarding the oare of the growing crop, by constant stirring of the soil they kept the moisture in it. He did not care what variety they got, it was likely to run. out. They could cure that by selection. Get hold of a good variety, and then and there was only one way to do it. When they were about to select seed, take the besi>looking part of the field and select the plants as they were dug. Do not mix them up together. The potato-growers were sending the best to market, and where were they getting the seed from? From what was left! It was just like a dairyman selling the best of his animals every year and keeping the worst. Only grow from the best if they were going to grow successfully.