POTATOES FROM SANDY SOIL

Press, Volume L, Issue 14889, 31 January 1914, Page 14

POTATOES FROM SANDY SOIL

Those interested in tho question of tho utilisation of sand areas will probably recall that last year some account was given of tho phenomenal growth of potatoes obtained by Mr M. Straubel, of Nayland street, Sumner, from pure sand, into which lupin had been dug, but to which no fertiliser was added. Last year ho had three potatoes from ono shaw which weighed 8| lb, and tho average weight of the potatoes from each shaw was Gi lb. This season Mr Straubel planted three varieties in the samo class of sand, and again used no fertiliser. One shaw of Pink Beauty of Hebron yielded 24 potatoes, weighing 5J lb; one shaw of Star of New Zealand yielded 18 potatoes weighing 44 lb; and one shaw of Walnut Leaf Kidney yielded over thirty potatoes (somo undersized), weighing 4J lb. The results obtained by Mr Straubel go to show that sand areas which at present aro practically waste can bo put to profitable use, and other experiments show that, in addition to potatoes, sand will grow lucerne and other suitable crops. JOTTINGS FOR FARMERS. Mr A. Itacpherson, Government Fields Instructor, who has rocontly returned from a trip to Auckland, told a reporter yesterday that excellent results were being obtained by tho Department in their experimental worlc in tho pumice and gum lands of North Auckland. Two or three years ago, h? said, it was thought that this land, covered as it was with stunted scrub, wa« of littlo us© for agricultural purposes, but the Department had pushed ahead of settlement, and had shown by experimental plots that it was good grazing country, and also in some f>lacos suitable for fruit-growing. (So ar as grasses were concerned, it had teen demonstrated that lucerne flourished well on both pumice and gnra lands, but in this connexion h© pointed out that it needed some years to ascertain to a certainty what particular grasses were most suitable for the various soils. New plants had to bo continually sown for a number of years, and at different periods of the year, before it was # really known which grasses would remain permanent.