POTATO-GROWING IN CATLINS. (From Our Own Correspondents.)

Otago Witness, Issue 2720, 2 May 1906, Page 20

POTATO-GROWING IN CATLINS. (From Our Own Correspondents.)

A3 much has been written about the wonderful productiveness of the Northern Star potato, a few remarks as to how it has acquitted itself in the Catlins Bush may be of interest to many of your readers. About a year ago Mr William Gwyn, of Houipapa, Catlin's River, decided to try. for himself the Northern Star and; accordingly purchased 131b of &«ed from Mr A. Brown, Table Hill, Catlins, who, the year previous, purchased his seed lrom Messrs Nimmo and Blair, Dunedin. He laid them out singly in a dry open shed, and let them shoot well, and on October 30, 1905, he out them into as small sets as hs reasonably could, leaving only one or two eyes in each set each pound weight averaging about 20 sets. He then planted them in drills 3ft apart and about 12in between the sets, and manured fairly well with farmyard manure. The land was good average bush land, was stumped, and had been broksn up the previous year and a good crop of turnips taken off. It was then well ploughed, and afterwards at intervals thoroughly well disced several times, and was kept reasonably clean while the potatoes were growing with one of Messrs Nimmo and Blair's hand hoes. When up some time, they were given a fair dressing of Nimmo and Blair's potato manure. A fair percentage of the sets rotted through the effects of the wet weather and manure combined. At first the whole plot eeemed very indifferent, but as time wore on they improved amazingly, until at flowering- time [ it was a most magnificent-looking plot. About ! a fortnight or three weeks later the dreaded blight made its appearance, and Mr Gwyn, I with much reluctance and misgivings, decided to out all the haulms off. At this stage the blight had a good hold on the Up-to-Dates alongside. As econ as possible the Up-to-Dates were dug, but the Northern Stars were left to ripen fairly well, till April 17, five months and a-half after the seed was planted, when they were all dug and weighed, and the wonderful return of 13521b was secured, or an average of 1041b for every pound of seed planted, which, considering the wet and unfavour- 1 able season, a good many sets rotting, and the haulms tiaving to be cut off Jong before they were ripe, must, I think, be looked upon as a most extraordinary yield. Tho amount affected with blight is very small, while the Up-to-Dates that grew alongside were pretty badly affexied, Mr 1

Gwyn has had considerable experience ia potato-growing on the Otago Peninsula; which was a splendid plape for potato-grow-ing some years ago, but no such return, like the above was secured, nor even thought of, in those days. It also 'speaks; well for the capabilities of the bush land at Catlins.