BOG SEED POTATOES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2985, 31 May 1911, Page 20

BOG SEED POTATOES.

! Possibly some of the low-lying swamp farmers will get a hint from the letter quoted below from tho Farmers' Gazette. In Henley, for instance, the low-lying land is analogous to the peaty soil here described. If the water could be kept down low enough healthy tubers might be pro- . duced even in a year, when blight was prevalent. We have in Ireland thousands upon thousands of acres of fresh red bog lying waste year after year, and this land, if properly reclaimed, would make an admirable seed-bod for potatoes. As regards reclamation, it is a very simple process. First" a head drain has to be made with a proper fall, next surface drains to lead in to thv? head drain; thus the water will be carried off and the bog rendered fit for cultivation. An/essential of the drainage is that the water should be kept at least four feet under the surface. Here it may be remarked that there are 'many different classes of bog. For instance, there is the light red bog known as " after -hank " or "cut-away bog," and which is a bog already denuded of the yellow and the black ~tu.rf or heavier c'a~s of poet-moss. There I is also the black moor, which is of a dry mixture, and which in its virgin state ■ usually has a subsoil of ooa-se peat. To ! grow potatoes or other crop successfully in such 'bog it is first essential to burn away | the peat. Both thote classes < f bog are suitable to the cultivation of seed potatoes, . but the red is to ba preferred. If the | reason was sought to be aeo?;-tair.ed why the Flounder and the Kemp have remained with us all through the years, it nv'ight be found in the fact that thev have been grown in the red bogs year after year specially for seed purpc&rs. And in the sanra way it might be very fairly alleged that the Scotch-Down and tho Champion have deteriorated because they have been mainly cultivated in the upland. It is a most extraordinary feature of moss-earth — i.e., bog, that the plants which grow upon it and contribute to its formation alone of all other vegetable productions offer something of a successful resistance to the powera of putrefaction ; hence the insoluble, anfciseptio qualities of peat-moss (bog) are . so powerful that they will prevent putrefaction from making the least progress on wood; metals, clothes, leather, or even on animal matter, when buried in the mess. This will explain the almost complete im- ! munity from blight or other disease, as well ! as from deterioration, generally speaking, 1 which attends a crop of potatoes in bog soil or as it is imore scientifically designated i " peat-mdss." ' As regards initial cultivation of the bog J it must be carried out by spade labour. [ Of course, expenses in such undertaking would vary considerably according to the j county in which the bog wa6 placed. In I some localities labourers might be so hard to procure. But in the West of Ireland . plenty of labour should be forthcoming at moderate wages, and the West is studded over with hogs. Again, if our large tracts of bog-land were properly reclaimed and given in allotments to peasant proprietors, the latter of their own labour could cultivate the As regardsi cultivation, generally speakj ing, very little manure is necessary—a ' proportion of farmyard with artificials in addition is to be recommended. Bog soil is said to highly appreciate artificials. The planting should not commence until the middle of April, and it may be continued until the 12th of May. Late planting is essential because there is always the danger of injury by frost if the young shoots appear over ground too early in the season. Frost catching hold of potatoes in a bog ' in the early 6tages of their growth simply ' annihilates them. The proper seed to use

is that grown on upland, as it would not be exactly the right thing to do to crop bog-land with its own produce. The tubers used as seed need not be as large as those used for planting upland. lhe same rule as regards distance in placing the sets which applies to upland holds good in the case of bog. There is nothing further required to be done except to protect the crop from crows, as sometimes the latter make havoc with bog potatoes.—J. M., Co. Meath, March. 1911.