SELECTING POTATOES

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 80, Issue 66, 19 March 1938, Page 13

SELECTING POTATOES

It is not good policy to save seed or tubers for planting from crops which have been grown on the same ground for more than two years. That may be taken as a sound general rule, and it will apply more forcibly in seasons when disease is rampant. An exception may be made only in cases where a new variety is scarce and the growth has shown average or above the average strength. As an experiment, some potatoes were grown on the same plot for a period of ten years, and seed tubers were saved from that plot each year. Gradually the crops became lighter in bulk and smaller in individual tuber each year. At the end of the ninth year scarcely any tubers were available for lifting. Unless one has particularly sound reasons to preserve a stock which has proved unusually prolific, it is a sound policy to get a change of seed each year. CHIPPING SWEET PEA SEEDS There are certain varieties of sweet peas which have very hard skins. The growing point, or germ, is sometimes unable to penetrate through this outer coat without some assistance from the grower, and most of these will germinate irregularly if left to grow naturally. It seems a simple matter to chip the seeds with a sharp penknife or file on the side opposite to the eye, but when one attempts the operation, it will he found that the seeds are exceptionally hard. If held in the hand the knife is likely to slip off the seed, while a file will cause an unpleasant roughening of the skin if many seeds have to be treated. The work can be carried out much more easily if each seed is held in a pair of flatnosed pliers, with the eye downwards in the jaws. A quick rub with a triangular file across the top of the seed, using the inner face of the jaws as a guide, will make a neat cut through the hard skin. This will admit the moisture necessary for germination. There is no likelihood of the seeds

splitting under the pressure necessary to hold them in position in the pliers. The tough skins will afford ample protection. NATURALISING BULBS One of the surest ways of imitating Nature in gardens is by the massed planting, or naturx sing, of bulbs. All the spring flowering bulbs may be used for this purpose, and each in their own way present an ideal garden picture. To attain a natural effect, precision must be avoided. Let the drifts be wide, sweeping and irregular, and let Ihe planting be controlled to some extent by the contours of the site, and any trees and bushes that are present. Broda stretches of open grass with an occasional tree are ideal places. For planting small stretches of mown grassland, 10 special tool is really necessary. Simply cut out rectangles in the grass, then lift and roll back the turf. Fork over lhe subsoil and incorporate a sprinkling of bonemeal to give th j bulbs a fillip when they start, into growth. Scatter the bulbs irregularly over the surface of the rectangle and plant where they fall with a trowel or blunt-nosed dibber. The turf is then replaced and beaten firm. When planting In large drifts it is more convenient to use a bulb planter. This tool cuts out a cylinder of soil and removes it as the tool is withdrawn from the roil. This plug is pushed out when the next hole is made and can be used for refilling the last after a bulk has been placed therein. To obtain the desired effect, broadcast the bulbs by handfuls and plant where they chance to fall.