A NEW BLIGHT-PROOF POTATO.

King Country Chronicle, Volume I, Issue 32, 31 May 1907, Page 3

A NEW BLIGHT-PROOF POTATO.

It would appear from a letter by Mr Thomas Adair, 8.A., of Belfast, published in the "Irish Farming World," that a blight-proof potato has been discovered. Mr Adair says:—"Experiments at the Albert Model Farm Glasnevin, with the new Uruguayan potato solanum commersoni violet, lately introduced from the South of France, shows that this new species of potato alone of all those experimented on resisted the potato blight. This is no doubt good as far as it goes, but'

your readers will be glad to learn that we have not to wait for furthur experiments in Ireland. The thing is now beyond the experimental stage. The new potato has for three or four years run the gauntlet in France under the observation of an army of experts and savants, who have finally established the fact of its absolute freedom from

disease. But, in addition to this, I have just seen reports from growers in various parts of Ireland, now in possession of Mr Bell, of Parkmount, Banbridge, County Down, and all these reports, without exception, agree in this —that there has been no disease whatever in any case. The cooking quality is excellent —as good, if not better, than that of the best of our ordinary varieties. But, as far as the relief of the congested districts on the Atlantic seaboard is concerned, by far the most important fact reported is the enormous yield in 'a wet and peaty soil'as stated by one grower. His yield, on 25 square feet, is 4% stones, which works out over 40 tons per statute acre, and this, although the seed was not planted until the month of Maytwo months' growth having been lost owing to the late arrival of the first lot of seed. This is however, more than four times the average crop per statute acre in the case of the best of our ordinary potatoes. This result fully establishes the claim of M. Labergerie, the French grower who has introduced the variety. His best result

in soils of this sort is about the same. This is a matter of great interest and importance, as, in dry soils, the yield is not in any way remarkable; but in damp, moist and wet soils, where no ordinary potato would grow well, the return is three or four times as great as in a dry soil. This fact, therefore, practically solves this now chronic and troublesome problem of finding remedies for the oft-repeated failures, even with spraying, of the common potato in these poor, boggy districts in the West of Ireland. It only remains that the new potato should be introduced as soon as possible into these districts, and no time should be

lost now in doing so. Mr Bell last year, at suggestion, obtained 10 kilos from France —about 261b, and later 20 kilos, in all about 681b. Most of these he sold all over Ireland and retained the rest for himself. He has now half a ton of these fine, large, sound potatoes; and no disease. One man had lOllb in a warm, dry soil from lib of seed. The percentage of starch in these potatoes is high, from iy per cent to l 8 per cent. This arises from the full development of the plant, which, without spraying, continues growing until the November frost. In these potatoes there is a total absence of solanine, the bitter, and indeed poisonous, substance found in the ordinary potato, and even the sunburnt portion can be eaten. So that this species, the first variety, merely of many new similar varieties, supplies an excellent table potato. The cost, considering the remarkable qualities of the new species, is, I understand, comparatively low. But the quantity on the market this year is strictly limited. The selling value is likely to rise as the season advances, and next year the price will probably be higher than now, as the tuber becomes better known. The plants have done well in the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, have flowered and borne seed, and seedling tubers are now, I understand being distributed by the Foreign Office but it will take at least four years to perfect the growth of these seedlings, though potatoes even more valuable than the Solanum commersoni violet of M. Labergerie may issue from these seedlings."

In the course of a recent interview at Christchurch, the Minister for Lands stated that in his opinion State farms, under the existing conditions, had outlived their usefulness. He intended this year to have the cost of their administration and upkeep taken out on a separate balance sheet, so that it might be seen what they were costing the country. What they really wanted was that the farms should be made experimental stations in a more modern manner, and that they should be equipped and run upon scientific and up-to-date lines, but this would cost a lot of money in their present scattered position.