POTATOES AND PEELERS

Dominion, Volume 35, Issue 291, 7 September 1942, Page 4

POTATOES AND PEELERS

Both In Demand CONSTABLE GOOD FELLOW WITH FAMILY MAN

Members of the police force established by Sir Robert Peel, known as peelers for a long time, have since been called hobbies, cops, flatties, demons and other names indicating even less respect for the majesty of the law. but if their signatures on applications for seed potatoes have not resulted in their being known by their original name, it' is sufficient to constitute them as friends of the family for many hundreds of households. Signing applications in the street, in shops, against veranda posts, on suitcases in trams, and even at their own front doors, Wellington policemen have been busy coping with the rush of gardeners applying for seed. _ Even though applications were to be in the hands of seed merchants by the end of August, inquiries are still being received by the police. 'Because of the conditions under which the applications were countersigned, it was impossible for the police to estimate the number dealt with, but at New Plymouth, where an effort was made to assess the number of applicants, it was considered that they numbered over 600. It does not always fall to the lot of the policeman to have the opportunity of making himself a good fellow with the passing parade, but at least one constable on patrol duty found himself caught up in a swirl of potatohungry citizens and acclaimed the best of good fellows when a flourish of his pen. solved their difficulty. Informed by a suburban seed-merchant, that the signature of a policeman was necessary on an application for seed potatoes, a customer went rather hopelessly to the door, and much to his surprise found a constable within hailing distance Entering the shop guilelessly at the gardener’s request, the policeman found himself engulfed by home gardeners. It was over half an hour before he had finished signing his name over and over again, and was able to leave feeling that he had done his day’s good deed.

TABLE POTATOES Method Of Using For Seed “Now that table potatoes have been liberated for seed purposes, there comes the question of how best to propagate in order to get the largest possible yield,” says a note by Mr. J. L. McDowall, B.Sc., president 0/ the Royal New Zealand Institute of Horticulture. .... For crops cultivated at military camps or by the home grower, the note says, the following method,, not. suitable for large-scale production, is recommended : — Select sound seed. Remove each “eye,” with not more than one square inch’ of skin, about one-eighth of an inch thick attached. Place these eyes on damp river or very well washed sea sand in a shallow box and cover lightly with more sand. After about one week, when root development is sufficient, plant out in the permanent position with about three “sets” in each group. . Plants propagated in this way, the note says, are more virile than those from sets with a large piece of potato attached. The balance of the potato from which the eyes have been removed can, of course, be used for food.

NELSON GROWERS’ VIEWS

NELSON, . September 4. The decision of the Price. Tribunal to fix the maximum, retail price of North Island and Nelson-grown early potatoes at 7d. per lb. this month has been generally accepted philosophically by Nelson growers. However, some criticism of the decision was made in view of the fact that the Minister of Marketing, the Hon. J. G. Barclay, had previously indicated that there would 'be a free market during September. Up to this period of the year Nelson is the main supplier of new potatoes to the Wellington market. While pleased to benefit from recent market prices, which went as high as 1/4 per lb., a number of growers considered them so high that the tribunal’s action was justified, but it was suggested that, in view of the earlier announcement, the tribunal might have allowed a higher return from early production by setting different price scales for the two fortnightly periods in September.

As the result of the tribunal’s decision, a number of Nelson growers have stopped digging their early crops. A large proportion of the potatoes are immature, and will nearly double in weight by next month. Growers said that, from a production point of view, it was uneconomic to dig potatoes when they were small, and thought that that aspect might have had a bearing on the tribunal’s decision. Most growers would be satisfied with the new arrangement, which would allow returns on a par with the prices usually realized at this time of the year. Last year, the top price to most growers had been about 7d., and it was realized that the cost to the consumer of potatoes costing 1/4 in the market must be outrageous.