BAD AUSTRALIAN POTATOES.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 560, 15 July 1909, Page 8

BAD AUSTRALIAN POTATOES.

NEW ZEALAND;GO6DS PREFEERED,

■/'lt will he welcome hews' to New Zealanders that their■ potatoes are' better than those of Australia.' The accuracy of the news is Vouched for by no loss ah authority-than the Melbourne "Ago," which, in a brief paragraph on the subject, with, a wholesome' warning attached,, says:— "Complaints have been made by representatives of companies owning' ocean-going steamships that.it is no longer possible'to uso Australian or Tasmanian-grown potatoes as ships', stores. It has been found that tho tubers grown this season, will ■not keep, and on that'account it has become necessary in somo instances to: draw supplies from New Zealand, not only at great'inconvenience, but also at enhanced.cost. This latent: complaint sebras to,add strength to the statement of vegetable pathologists,-.wlio declare that long years of neglect and indifference on the" part of growers appear ..to have overcome the natural advantages of soil and climate,, and ,to ,-havo led to the development of diseases' whichrnighVeasily havp been prevented; but the eradication of which may' entail considerable trouble and : expense. In. Viotoria

tho diseases most prevalent aro scab and eelworm; in Tasmania rot is said to havo made its appearance, and a ,kind of blight has done damage this year in partH of New Zealand, It is clear that the timo has arrived when i thoso engaged ,in this branch of tho producing industry must-forsako tho haphazard methods which heretofore have characterised ' their operations, and follow a moro intelligent and scientific system."