THE TILLAGE BLACKSMITH POTATO.

Otago Witness, Issue 1957, 23 May 1889, Page 7

THE TILLAGE BLACKSMITH POTATO.

; Bditoe Witness, — Sir? In the Witness of May 2 you gave an account of a new potato named the " Village Blacksmith " ; ,The following paragraph from the " American Agricultu-, rist " of February last I think rpfers %o the samepotato '.■— " A new potato of unique arid remarkable appearance, quite distinct from any other variety known to us. The' stock is owned b^B. K. Bliss, the veteran seedsman, who has named it Bliss' Rough Diamond. The tubers are of ' good medium size, roundish, somewhat flattened; skin of dark,' russety colour, thick, rough, and deeply and distinctly tessellated • with irregular, mostly. four-sided, checkers of about 100 to the square inch; eyes very few and but slightly indented. It cooks through quickly without having a particle of a hard core, and its fleßh is dry and mealy. A noteworthy characteristic of this variety appears to be its immunity from rot, as we are assured that' lfc has yielded good crops in ground so wet thatf other varieties failed almost completely." The 1 " illustration accompanying the description ius almost exactly the same marking as the " Blacksmith," of which several were' exhibited at the Dunedin Horticultural Society's March show of 1889 —Yours, &c., John H. Eveey-. Anderson's Bay, March 16.