POTATO GROWING.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1495, 18 July 1912, Page 8

POTATO GROWING.

SUCCESS OF A NEW VARIETY. Commenting on potato-growing in the Willowbridgc (South Canterbury) district, .Mr. H. E. M'liowan, the we'll-kuown grower, remarks thai some yrar.s ago a i'anncr who planted five acres in potatoes was considered a grower; and 1(1(1 acres for the district in question was considered quite a large area. This season there are. growers of iil'ty acres each, and some as much 'as 2Cil' acres each, while the probable area planted for the district will be. somewhere about 10110 acres. Of course, this would not be possible were it not for the' machines used for planting, digging, and grading. Even with machinery the work is both laborious and tedious, also the scarcity of men for picking up behind the machines Iras been a serious matter this season, so much so that some machines were unable to make a start. Each machine 'takes about 18 men. and, there being about 20 machines in the district, it wauld require some 360 men to fully man these machines. The wages usually paid are Is. per hour with a bonus of Is. per day to every man stopping to the end of the job,- !p when the labourers of the Dominion know that there is an abundance < f wrk at Willowbridge, potato-digging time, there should be quite an influx. Uu to last season, Princess Victoria has. says Mr. M'Gowan. been our cliief variety. This potato 'always did better than any other, but this season there is a new potato in tire improved Gamekeeper. This variety only came into the district last season, and is digging phenomenal yields. Several growers are trying Gamekeeper -n small areas, and in every ease the yield will be from fifteen tons up to twentyfive tons per acre. Again. Gamekeeper is a blight-resister of the highest merit. In field's where other varieties went down with blight,. Gamekeeper was not affected ; i; also has a distinct flavour of its own. Undoubtedly we have at last, struck thi right variety when we tried Gamekeeper, concludes Mr. M'Gonan.