POTATO OUTPUT

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Volume 81, Issue 14, 9 October 1937, Page 3

POTATO OUTPUT

-Preae Agsociation.)

Prospects at Pukekohe

(By Teleerapb-

PUKEKOHE, Oct. 7. The new potato se&son at Pukekohe has opened promisingly. Crops on Puke^ kohe Hill look well and the total acreage Tuns into several hundred, It Es perhaps not quite as large as at this time last year, but is well up to the average and the favourable conditions to date give chances of the yield exceeding last season's. ,The rainfall this spring has been moderate,- and practically no portion of even the very earliest plantings of seed j was lost through rotting. Some fresh j did slight damage, but warm daya | which followod quickly helped the I plants to recover, and to-day they apI pear vigorous. They are also qnite ! free from blight. j Digging of the earliest crops, plantI ed in the latter part of May, commenc i ed a fortnight ago. ' They yielded about I 2J tons to the acre, which is regarded j as good, a light crop in the latter part | of September being from one to li tons | to the acre. Crops that were coming | out to-day were yielding about four j tons, and of about 70 tons of produce ; that was xailed away from Pukekohe j station during the day about' 25 tons | were new potatoes. i Wellington and other towns south of ■ Marton. take the bulk at this time of | the year, at a luxury price ranging j round 3d per lb. As the output ' inj creases, which it does rapidly from now j on, practically the whole of the North I Island draws on Pukekohe for its sup- ; plies of potatoes. November will see ! about 500 tons of new potatoes a week | leaving Pukekohe, or nearly a trainj load a day. Given good weather, the I eeason's output should be in the Vicinity of 16,000 tons. j The gamble in potato-growing is a j big oue. The early crops invariably sell well, but at a price ' of, say, £20 a ton, the difference in a yield of 2£ tons to the acre, in a good spring, and one ton, in a severe one, is very subetantial. As the early crop comes out, a second crop is planted in the same ground. It matures late in January or early in February and eight to ten tons an acre is an average yield then. But ln recent years the price has varied from £1 5s to £7, The former is a fuinous flgure, but the latter is regarded as payable. The heartbreak in regard to tha former was that it was caused througb aver-supply, the season having been exeeptionally favourable. Last season a fairly good level of prices was maiatained, ranging up to £17 for the late crop, and growers are hopeful that the uew season will again see good production together with a remunerative level pf prices.