Farm and Garden

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 357, 12 March 1903, Page 7

Farm and Garden

OBiGINAL ARTICLES ' SUCCESSFUL POTATO GROWING. WpJPROBABLY there is no other crop JCK grown by so many different m!M people and "so many different methods. Some methods of culture succeed in one year and fail the next. There are, however, some few principles which should be observed. It does not appear important just what method is adopted in growing potatoes. Good crops have been grown in hills and is drills, and occasionally failure has resulted by both methods. One should selest a variety in its prime conditionthat is, up to its Full strength and vigour. Growers should not adhere too long to the old worn.out varieties, however highly they may" have been regarded in the past, for it is a fact that varetaes will run out and it is beyond human power to rule differently. The seed Btock should be kept from sprouting until planting time. To do that the potatoes Bhould be sweat out-dry in the autumn, and kept in a dry place through the winter until time for planting. If there is plenty of space they may be Bpread out in a thin layer, and the little warty, short green sprouts will do no harm, The seed potatoes should not be phoed in barrels or heaps in outbuildings, or they will sprout and lose vitality very rapidly. Potatoes cannot be grown profitably in wet heavy soil, but a good rich soil is necessary for successful culture. The potato is a gross feeder, and will readily respond to liberal feeding. Oftentimes a dressing of coarse manure or green crop ploughed under, or stubble and root system of a previous crop, may not of itself contain so much plant food, but the mechanical effect upon the soil—the breaking down of inert elements of nutrition in process of decomposition that have hitherto been looked up in an irresponsive and unsatisfactory soil—is, oftentimes, the making of a good crop of potatoes; and while the potato does does not want a wet soil, it requires a great deal of moisture during the latter period of growth. The moisture should be conserved by cultivation, but it should be fine, shallow, frequent and continuous, as long as possible, without damage to the tops. Dastroy the bugs as soon as the first young are hatched j do not let them stay on -the vines one night. Potatoes when planted should be well covered with earth; a potato greened from exposure to the sun may be just as good for seed, but it is not fit for the table. For an early crop it is necessary to plant shallow and to secure sufficient covering; one must hill them to an extent. Bat late potatoes on well-drained soil may be placed five inches below the surface, and at that depth a comparatively level culture may ba practised, resulting in a better resistance to drought, a more even and continuous, growth, a better yield of tubers of a smoother and better quality. Briefly outlined the method adopted by successful growers is to plough in a green crop in the autumn, disk in the spring of tbe year, and open furrows with a fourteen-inch lister with subsoil attachment at planting time, throwing up ridges between at an angle of fortyfive degrees, Tae seed is then dropped in this fresh furrow with mellow bottom, having been first cut into fair sized chunks having two or more good strong eyes. If the day is dry cover at once. To cover use the same lister without subsoiler and split the ridges. This reverses iihe order, and the ridges are over the potatoes to be left undisturbed for a week or ten days. About that time the weeds will have started growing; but before the potato sprouts are near enough to the surface to be broken off by the process, take two pieces of two by four scantling and wire them under the harrow edgewise between the teeth and diagonally under the frame. Drive first lengthwise aud then across the rows, and your field will be smooth, mellow, and free from weeds After the potatoes are well up they may be gone over with a harrow or weeder, and if a good stand the tops will soon shade the ground and keep down the weeds in the row, and it is easy to keep the weeds down between the rows v, ith any ordinary cultivator, A solution of paria green is used for killing the bugs', applied with a spray pump, and having the solution strong enough to kill the bugs upon first application. However, the young bugs can be destroyed with much less paris green than when they are two-thirds grown.