THE AMERICAN METHOD OF RAISING POTATOES FROM THE SEED.

Lyttelton Times, Volume VI, Issue 369, 17 May 1856, Page 4

THE AMERICAN METHOD OF RAISING POTATOES FROM THE SEED.

(From the' Agricultual lleport to Congress.) * On the subject of the decay of trees, bulbs tubers, and roots, Mr. Clarke says :—" It is a principle that plants, which are usually propogated from the bulb, root, or tuber, lose after a time their proereative or vivyiyiugl power, and it is neccessary to resort to the original element or seed. The Hop would lose much of its strength and productiveness, except forthe.introduction of an occasional male plant. The'dahlia requires to be renewed, and it is impossible to preserve for any length of time any particular species of apple or pear by continued engrafting. Tiie bulb, the tuber,and the.tree all gro* old" and require to be renewed from the seed. This principle is strikingly illustrated in the case of the poplar, now in a state of decay all over the United States. This tree, from the luxuriance of its growth, symmetry of its proportions, and . the beauty of its foliage, was an universal^ favourite, aud gained the name of the ' tree of civilization.' It was brought to America by the late Chancellor Livingston, about forty-five years ago, and has been propagated from cuttings alone. The female tree only was introduced, and it now bids fair to become extinct.

" Without inquiring- whether the iot which has so extensively prevailed in the potatoe crop is owing to the fact that it is cultivated from the tuber, ami not from the seed, it is true Uiat certain varieties of the potatoe </o resist the disease more than others. It is desirable to ascertain whether new varieties raised /'rum the seed are less liable to be attacked by the disease than old, and experiments should be extensively tried and the results careftillj noted. "It becomes, therefore, desirable to know the best mode of propagating the potatoe from the seed. For this purpose, select good, fair sized, ripe potatoe balls, from the best varieties of potatoes, cut the balls open, aDd wash the pulp containing the seed in water, until the seed are entirely separated from the pulp and perfectly clean, then strain them out of the water and dry them; examined with a microscope, they have the appearance of the seeds of the summer squash. The seed should be started in a hot bed, so that the plants shall be about three inches high when the weather is so warm that there is no danger fiom frost. They should then be carefully transplanted into warm, rich, and mellow earth, set in drills, 2£ feet apart, and ten inches from each other in the drill. The vines of potatoes thus set by me in 1849 grew strong and thirty three feet in height, blossomed, and bore balls, from which I have now the seed. Many of the potatoes attained a fair size, weighing in many instances six ounces each, and were good edible potatoes. In one season I have thus obtained over one hundred varieties."

Mr. Clarke adds :—" Thus for two successive years the potatoes raised from the seed have been in no wise affected by the rot, and if there was not a potatoe in America, I should not despair having a tolerable supply of good edible potatoes the first year from the seed. The common impression that three yea<s are necessary to propagate potatoes from the Jseed is erroneous, and I impute the rapid growth and large size in the instance alluded to, to the perfect mode of saving the seed, and to high and judicious cultivation. " Mr. A. Killain, of Mexico, N. W. has had great success in growing tubers from the seeds in potatoe bulls. Tubers proceeded from seed, gave 1751b5. of excellent potatoes to the square rod, and 230 bushels on a half acre; although an early frost killed the tops before the plants \ had ceased to grow. Mr. K. says.—l ploughed the land six inches deep, plumed the potatoes three inches deep, leaving the hills level with the earth : and I planted the rows three feet apart, with the hills two feet from centre to centre, making 44 hills to the square rod, and 7841 to the acre. Allowing 14 hills to the bushel, as some of mine yielded, it gives 500 bushels to the acre. I fully believe that if I had soed from the balls sufficient to plant an acre,^ and cultivated them as I did what I planted,* they would have produced at least 500 bushels. We take this occasion to repeat what we have said elsewhere, in connection with an analysis of potatoes, that wood ashes in addition to a

rich mould, are exceedingly valuable as a fertilizer for this crop. " [We have transcribed this, because we consider it to he a subject of the greatest moment to the New Zealand potatoe grower. The New Zealand sets are, in a very large degree, the reproductions of lhu Van pieman's Land tubers, themselves an unvarying reproduction of themselves. Disease hits for many years extensively previtiled in the Tasinautan roots. And, since the time of the California trade, the worm has been the scourge and the bane of ours. If, then, potatoes are to be looked to as a New Zealand export, no pain snould he spared by the grower to raise an aiticle which shall be sound, safe, and marketable. The American system, by growing from the seed, seems likely to achieve that end, and we therefore hope to see it fully and fairly tried.] — New Zealander.