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Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume 52, Issue 3297, 6 August 1943, Page 3

3. Purchase soipe table potatoes Cut the rose end (i.e. the end with the cluster of eyes) off each. The cut should be made 1 to It inches back from the rose end according to the size of the tuber. Instead of separating the pieces, however, place the cut surfaces into contact again and set aside carefully in a dark place foia week or two. By this time the cut surface will have suberised (i.e., produced an artificial protection) and will not develop rots. The rose ends can then be put out to sprout and perhaps later cut again, while the balance of the tubers can be put into the pot. As I an alternative to complete severing I of the pieces, the cut can be made almost but not completely through, leav-

ing a little tissue to hold the pieces together. This can be broken away later when separating the pieces.

Sprouts May Be Planted

4. For those wishing to experiment, place a few potato tubers in a box of wet sand and cover them to a depth of about 4 inches. Place the box in a warm place—a seed frame is an ideal spot. When the sprouts are through the ground lift the tubers carefully, break off each sprout where it is attached to the potato and plant them out about 9 inches apart in rows two feet apart.- They should be planted so that ihe green tip of the shoots come just above ground level. Later the plants are moulded up in the usual way. The tubers themselves may be replanted to obtain a further crop of shoots, or in dire necessity find their way into the kitchen.

Heavy yields should not be expected by this method, but up to seven shoots have been obtained from the first striking, with more later, so that the number of plants produced from each original tuber is considerable.

When cutting potatoes for seed potatoes, it is desired to stress that the tubers should be planted immediately after cutting, but the soil must be in good condition—neither too wet nor too dry. As an alternative to immediate planting, the cut surfaces should be kept in contact for a week or two until the surfaces have suberised and thus received protection from drying out.