WEST COAST POTATO CROPS.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 900, 20 August 1910, Page 8

WEST COAST POTATO CROPS.

■-.." ' a' CHEERLESS ASPECT. . . Our travelling correspondent; 1 writing after travelling on horseback through the country .from the jManawatu up to Wanganui, and visiting almost the whole of. the. farms by the way, sends the following respecting tho potato crops:— .< '■ ■ . Many complaints were mado to .me .of the disappointment : in last season's potato crops. 'Blight had been universal. Tho country seems ; to. have become' quite saturated with -the disease. ■Only a few, days ago a farmer toid mo that tho Wiglit had inside .its appearance iirsomo self-sown : potatoes. Tho ;leaves had assumed . the too-familiar black blotches, and eventually went off altogether. If this is any indication of what may bo - : expected later on, and . when "milder weather comes, the. outlook for'the potato grower is anything but a. cheerful one. .-. - . ..Last year 1 knew of a good many farmers \vJio, had been tempted .to ..put in extra acreage, on account of the remunerative prices obtained tho previous season, but they tell me. they have done with potato-growing, saying that taking everything iuto consideration,, it is cheaper to buy what they want. "'.;■. .1 was. a good deal surprised: a few days ago to see" a .plot of 'about a quar- : ter of an acre, which /.had not. yet been dug..- In my wanderings .lately. I have found that .'the. bulk . of: the potatoes now : - being used in. this ; part oi the West Coast are from the.South Island. "There is no doubt that many farmers are not sufficiently careful, iji. the- seed they plant, and I have come across very few who really go in for systematic selection of their, seed potatoes.' Any ■sort will do them, seed..is picked anyhow, with the .result that .constitution is novor ' considered, y'lf they showed the. same carelessness in th& selection of .their breeding stock, a. good many Lwould !,soon be in-the.:hands,-of .'the too many men ■on the land ; 'get, into-.a rut, and.you can't move them. ■'■'■',■■ ': ■ '.-,/• , ■ ■ •.•■ ■ ■'.■ ■