POTATO GROWING.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1713, 2 April 1913, Page 10

POTATO GROWING.

A MVM7BIAL EXPERIMENT. ■, A co " of a northern exchange gives the following account of a manurial experiment carried out with potatoes grow a in a clay loam:— "There;.were four varieties of potatoes, Eany Puritan, Northern Star, Gold Coin and Sutton's "Seedling 2Gth." The early X untans were planted on August 7, and were manure,d,with blood and bone, super, bonedusti ' an^ r sulphate. of /potash. These wero not a success owing to blight, notwithstanding the fact that they were sprayed with' Bordeaux, 5—5—10, four or hyc,'tith#.'. , .; , Tho Northern . Stars were P. ■ *A.ugust 17. Part were manured 1 the r samO" as, :the Early' Puritans, and WAnlVith , slag aud. sulphate of potash onl y*--Ihosetliat were manured with slag pyo, the, greatest number of large pota,':being' very few .'small: ones timongjtheni,, jiot nearly so many as among the otfters. The crop was heavier, aud the tops kept green for a longer period than those with the other manures.- The Gold Sutton's 26th wero planted on October"'. 1 )'.'"; They wero,manured with , a »' "Jw. sw'p'iato of potash in tho botloin.of .tho trenches with, the seed, a light covering of. earth was put on, after which Ijiood. ami • bon& was sown so as not to como.,,in' t ,direct contact with the slag. 4 he.sq,'two v varieties wero only t»pra,ycd m'er, and came through u'iilio.ut' any blight,/thpugh llio Gold Coin is said to bn very- susceptive. By December 21 tho Void, Coin .. hud grown to. a good size, .•md'oirtho'2Bth of the sum© month some of.- the tubers weighed .lib, each. - By tho cnd;;of the"(irst week in January Sutton's 2Gthi were almost as big, the crop -in each caso being "eiitiroly satisfactory. Tho qualitj£o'f all tho varieties was unusual)v good; indeed, I'huvo not seen such good potatoes for n. long time, am! this 1 attribute very; largely, if not entirely, to the potash sulphate. As regards the quality of those grown with different, mixtures, >1- cannot say tliero was any thero was a decided difference vn_thc yield-in favour of the slag. The iulditiin "of blood and . bone did not appear to" make any incrense in the weight of crop over those: growers with the slag only. Possibly this- was duo to the fact that green' oats and mustard were dug in during this winter, thus supplying organic nitrogen in sufficient quantity, for the tops of tho potatoes grown without the,, addition of blood and bone wero : qui to as-luxuriant and vigorous as thoso : wb.iclijhnd that nitrogenous manure. (Clay.-soils are supposed to bo ricli enough i naturally in jiotash. I quite believe they are, but it is not always in an available form. I tried a potash experiment with - parsnips last yfcar. One row had . the samo phosphates as the others but no potash, and tho difference between thoso which had sulphate of potash aiid tho row that had none, was Very marked the leay6s"6£'.tlio lat.ler being stunted and yellow;ylillo the roofs were equally poor • As-regards blight on the Northern Star, they'were, sprayed just as offon as tho i.ai-Jy Puritans-,.but wiih belter results, as the amouut'of blight'On tbfim was

very (rilling J intciul growing oats rim tenches :n, aml wlicit plant liiK potatoes again I r-lia 11 not use ain other manure |h n n slag and potash. J also found llii.s mixture pnrlicularlv gooi lor scarlet runners. ■A discussion on the avenge weight oi a newly-born calf induced Mr. Cliarle: 1). Stewart to record the'weights of tln calves of liiiiteen Shorthorn cows, witl their ages and periods of gestation, tin results being contributed to the "Agricul tui'al Students' Gazette." Eleven;of tin cows had bull calves, 'llieir ages rangec trom four to nine years, their periods o gestation fram 280 to 207 days, and tin weights of their calves nt birth from 381b to llalb. Another calf weighed, 1141b. and a third 1121b. .Tile average age o the cows, was 8.27 voars, the avcrag< period of gestation 288.91 days; mid tin average ■ weight of a calf 89.451b.. Tin ages of the eight cows which droppe'i heifer calves ranged from four.to cighl years, their periods of gestation from 27' "93 days, and the weights of tlieii calves, from 7-llb. to 1051b. The averagt ago of the tows was 5.75 years, the aver ago period-of gestation 283.75 days, am the average weight of a calf 82.501b. Mr Stewart points out that the general Miei that bull .calves are carried longer thai heifer calves seems-to bo upheld bjvtlu tables, tho average period "of gestatioi being a little ever five days longer for r bull than for a* heifer calf. The average weight of a bull calf exceeds that of f heifer by nearly 71b. All the heavies! calves were produced by cows in theii prime,. from five to seven year\ of - age ami after the longest periods of gestation AiN'CUBA'rOItS FOR 1913.—N0w is tin time to book your requirements for com ing season. I'ull particulars on appli cation. A. aud P. FOOD CO., Welling ton.—Advt. ■ , b