M'i '' ' ' ' f I THE POTATO.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLI, Issue 9332, 5 October 1910, Page 7

M'i '' ' ' ' f I THE POTATO.

ALL ABOUT IT. ARTICLE NO. 5. Continuing on the subject, the chief advantages of sprouting are : —That several weeks' growth is secured in the boxes before the seed is planted; consequently, if two lots of seed are planted about the same time, * one boxed and tho other unboxed, the crop from the sprouted seed is ready for lifting several weeks, before that of seed taken out of bags, or from a- heap; on fleshly tilled land the sprouted.,potatoes make sych. an extremely rapid start that weeds are left on the post, so to speak. The seed potatoes are filled into the boxes until level with the sides; no earth is mixed with them and mo water is required, although the writer is in favour of the seed being washed with rain water; the potatoes afterwards are simply poured indiscriminately into the boxes and left until it is judicious to overhaul them for unsound tubers. If very large sets are used, they may be one and two deep in the smaller boxes; if email sets they may be four and five deep. When tho boxes are filled they are piled up one on the other to any height that may be found convenient, and there is no way in which seed can be kept mor© safely or stored in smaller compass. Again the length of sprout can always be regulated, and the way to check an undue growth isi full exposure to light. If growth is desired exclude all light. Exposure to light and air is, however, necessary for some little time before planting, in order to toughen the sprout and enable it to be handled. While the boxes are kept in a suffused light the sprouts are coming on gradually and two inches ought to be the extreme permitted in length. In the early stages another most valuable use of tho box becomes apparent, viz., the facility it gives for checking the purity of the stock. Among the multiplicity of varieties there are scarcely two which have , the same colour or habit of sprouting. Thus the "Puritan" has a white and spindly stem, which becomes greenish only on exposure; the "Factor" has a greenish tinge even before exposure (i.e., if it bo true to mamc); the "Epicure" has a strong rose-coloured 6prout, which circles in its first effort, some split into small branches early, others late; the "Early Regent" has a short sturdy stem, which becomes bright red; and the "Maincrop" a wiry sprout, which turns purple. In this way it will only require a little time to eliminate the "rogues" both in the potatoes themselves and in the gang of traders known as substitutionists. And this is not all: The writer has been told many times by Ayrshire growers that they never have any disease to speak of amongst their early potatoes—only among the late varieties. Now, practically all the earlies in Ayrshire are boxed; the practice has, is yet, never been considered of much advantage to the late crop —and herein lies hn source of disease nmnnret, the Infos: I

uie source oi aiseaso amongst xne lutes; and all the more remarkable since the late potato has admittedly a stronger claim to a sound constitution than an early, such as the "Puritan," the "Ninetyfold," the "Epicure," and all soft-fle6hed kinds, but, at the same time, tho very varieties which have brought £60 per ton to the Ayrshire farmer. We should always bear in mind that the first shoots emitted by a seed potato are the best—they are its original intention and com© from the central buds of the crown, subsequent shoots are smaller and weaker, coming from the lateral eyes, and some enthusiasts go the length of rubbing out all the side eyes, leaving only four of the crowm buds to mature. The early removal of some of the side sprouts cannot fail to benefit those retained, and it must be remembered that the greater number of shoots or stems the greater the number of small potatoes when it comes to raising the crop. Writing to James Cuthill, in 1856, an enthusiast living at Water Newton says: —" 'Regents' and 'British Queens,' two varieties so similar in shape that there is little other difference in them than that 1 the latter sort is earlier by about ten days—if you examine' a- sound potato you will find one or two eyes at one end and four or five at the opposite; I rub off all the shoots from the end last-mentioned, leaving only the two; and hereby they are stronger. My farm consists of mixed soils—indeed, I can dig brick clay and gravel or stone in every other field. When I took it I found a strata of clay drained twelve inches deep for which I was none the better; to the horror of my neighbours, I cut through that five feet deep into the gravel, where I found the water pent up, and the clay is now disappearing entirely for want of one of it 6 component parts, water, and for three years have not seen a diseased tuber." Yes; of course, the drainage scheme helped, but our old friend gave no credit to his careful handling of his seed tubers, which,/ as a natural consequence, he was exposing each time he overhauled them for superfluous - shoots. The same writer used a 26-inch furrow, and placed his sets 14 inches "apart, as by that plan he got , a 6 much Weight of crop, with fewer small, and made a groat saving of secKl. Pure and sound seed is ©very grower's first consideration, and there is a point here on which the writer has very strong views:— ~ Never allow potatoes intended for seed . purposes to be put in bags—bags, for all we know, may be the original source of all our diseases, and we must confess there is a very formidable array of them, j Consider the matter. Imagine Johnson : and Arnst. and all our cracks, aroime: to :

ana ivrnsr, ana an our cracKS, goitng to preparation in oilskins and gum-boots, insisting on sleeping in that attire until . the day of the event. Laugh, but the parallel is a paradox. Better have the seed left in the ground all winter, and take all the risks of frost: second growth, etc., than have it sweated and heated, bruised and trampled upon, to be suddenly rushed out into the sunlight "when the cart calls for it." W.A.S.