GOOD YIELD OF POTATOES

Southland Times, Issue 24108, 23 April 1940, Page 4

GOOD YIELD OF POTATOES

SUCCESS OF CROP ON RESERVES

MECHANICAL DIGGER IN USE

ENGLISH PRAISE FOB VEGETABLE SCHEME

When a start was made yesterday at Turnbull Thomson Park in the lifting of the crop of 34 acres of potatoes planted as part of the war-time vegetable scheme undertaken by the Reserves Department of the Invercargill City Council, it was found that the crop was a remarkably good one for an unusually poor growing season. The potatoes were planted about the end of October and had only 13 weeks of growing period before the tops were swept off in the severe January storm. As potatoes normally require a growing period of about 20 weeks, the results were considered highly satisfactory. In weight, quality and freedom from disease the tubers were excellent and indicated that the area selected by the superintendent of reserves (Mr B. P. Mansfield) was ideal for the purpose. An interesting test of a mechanical potato digger was made, and the machine showed that it was capable of doing in a few hours work which would take days by manual labour. DIGGING SPEEDED UP The harvesting of 34 acres of potatoes by manual labour would have kept a large gang of men Occupied for a considerable time, but on the results of yesterday’s test it was apparent that the mechanical digger would do the work within a few weeks. The machine, which has been purchased by the department, is the first of its kind to be used in Invercargill. The work yesterday was watched by the chairman of the Reserves Committee (Cr E. J. McLauchlan), Cr W. J. Thomas and the town clerk (Mi - W. F. Sturman). The digger was drawn by a tractor and was operated from the tractor by a power take-off. An adjustable long-pointed shovel or blade was placed at a depth of about eight inches below the level of the rows and as the machine advanced, potatoes and soil were drawn up on to conveying belts through which the soil dropped and the clean potatoes were left lying in the rows. The only work left to be done was grading and bagging. The cleanness of the potatoes was commented on by the visitors yesterday. Work was undertaken on the portion of the area which suffered most from the floods in January and the rest of the area can be expected to yield an even better crop.

The project was begun late in the season, but has proved highly successful. The scheme was put into operation on September 11 and after that the land had to be cleared, drained, ploughed, disked and harrowed. The late planting combined with a most unfavourable season promised to give a poor result, but the crop lifted yesterday was beyond expectations. SCHEME PRAISED The scheme for utilizing parks and reserves for growing vegetables in war time has received much favourable comment abroad, particularly in journals devoted to horticulture. Highly complimentary comment on the work done was published in the February issue of the London journal, Parks, Golf Courses and Sports Grounds, as follows:— “As an excellent example of wartime effort towards the production of food crops, we commend our readers to the work of the Invercargill Parks Department, New Zealand. The reports speak for themselves, and are an object lesson in business-like methods which could be studied with advantage by many of our own authorities who have forgotten Marshal Foch’s remark that ‘for anything to happen, it is first necessary for someone to do something.’ Invercargill has done something!

“As a masterly achievement in municipal enterprise we feel this is outstanding. We would, however, emphasize the fact that this is the result of communal effort on a considerable scale, under skilled direction, which, as pointed out in this journal, is far more likely to produce results quickly than individual allotment cultivation.”