THE MAORI MESSENGER. Auckland, August 1, 1850.

Maori Messenger : Te Karere Maori, Volume 2, Issue 42, 1 August 1850, Page 1

THE MAORI MESSENGER. Auckland, August 1, 1850.

Within the last ten or twelve days, two large ships have departed from Auckland for California, both heavily laden with the produce of New Zealand; not merely with the timber of its forests, but principally with the food of man, which native industry and toil have contributed so largely to supply. In the first of these ships, the Inchinnan, - exclusive of a variety of other ar-

ticles, such as pork, pickles, oats, barley, &c, we find there were no less than two hundred and fourteen tons of potatoes, a small quantity of onions, turnips, and carrots, and fifty tons of hay. In the second ship, the Lord Stanley, there were, likewise, one hundred and fourteen tons of potatoes, twelve tons of hay, together with the usual varieties of a colonial cargo. Another ship, the Sarah Scott, yet remains; and she, too, is relieving the market, and advancing the Agricultural prosperity of the Country by the considerable amount of produce which she is about to convey to the same port. At Port Nicholson, severals hips have been similarly freighted, and one, the Orion was to have sailed with a large cargo early in July. These are encouraging circumstances. The New Zealand merchants have done well for the New Zealand agriculturists by thus seeking to find a beneficial market for the produce of the soil. We need not say how much it must be to the interests of both Natives and Europeans that the trade should succeed. But it behoves the growers to remember that although large ventures have been made no returns have been received, and that the profit will in a very great degree depend upon the condition in which articles of so perishable a nature as potatoes have been prepared for the long voyage they have had to encounter. There have been very bad tidings of the sale of some at the Sandwich Islands, but as these were raised prematurely from the ground, and as they were more or less rotten when sold, a fair price for a bad article could not be expected. As the Sarah Scott may be considered the last ship for this season, and as the time is approaching when the planting of the next year's crop will occupy the attention of the agriculturist, it may be

well to cosider what is the fittest season to plant and to lift—what the best means to preserve the vegetable from heating, rotting, or in any other way decaying, so that a trade so beneficial to the interests of New Zealand may be conducted in a manner the best calculated to insure its continuance, by the ability evinced in landing the roots in a sound, wholesome, marketable, condition. At the commencement of the season now closing, there was a scramble to get potatoes off to California. In the anxiety to ship to a high market, it is to be feared that many of the shippers overlooked those material considerations, the ripeness of the vegetable, and the condition in which it was packed. We ourselves heard of at least one lot that was in a state of active decomposition when put on board. From such carelessness nothing better than loss and disappointment could surely be anticipated. As nature cannot be made utterly subservient to the impatience of cupidity, and as our traffic with California can only become a prosperous one by observing the greatest care and diligence, we have culled a few more hints on the culture of the potato, believing them to be of the deepest importance at a moment that the plough is beginning to get the ground in order for the reception of that invaluable root. In no country of Europe is the culture of the potato more successfully followed than in Scotland. In Scotland, the potato was first forced into that general notice as a beneficial article of food, and as a special description of crop which is now universal throughout the world. Treating, then, of potato culture, a recent Scotch writer remarks:—

"Potatoes usually enter into a course of husbandry, particularly in the neighbourhood of populous towns, where a ready market can be obtained. The usual period of planting in the British Islands is the end of April or beginning of May, for the late and more common sorts (April and May in Britain, correspond with October and November in New Zealand). The early kinds, which are not kept for permanent stock, are planted in March, (September). The potato harvest is in October, or beginning of November (April and May, but, in Van Diemen's Land, the potato harvest may be considered general towards the latter end of March). It has been customary to plant by sets or cut pieces of the potato, each having an eye or point of germination; but the numerous failures of the crops

have introduced the practice of setting the whole tuber. In the large farms of Scotland, they are set in drill furrows (previously well manured), at a distance of eighteen inches apart, and six inches of earth is turned over upon them by the horse hoe. When the plants appear above the surface, they are repeatedly earthed as may be required; this, with the weeding of them, is done by hand hoeing. Potatoes are very susceptible of diseases, which cause failures of crop; but there is reason to believe that this arises from some kind of mismanagement, or accident—as, for example, producing again and again without change of seed, heating of heaps, &c. The preventives of disease, likely to be most successful are— frequent changes of seed, bringing seed from quite a different soil, not too frequent cropping from the same land, and spreading carefully out to dry after lifting. "There are two distinct kinds of potatoes—early and late. Early potatoes are a premature and transient kind; they soon come to perfection, and cannot be stored for future use. On this account no cottager should have anything to do with early potatoes, which are never grown but as a luxury; and, after all, they are in general poor waxy stuff. The true potato is the late kind, which will store for winter and spring use. Of this there are hundreds of sorts, every district apparently having one which is best adapted to its soil and climate. The sorts to be preferred are those possessing the quality of mealiness, and which will not degenerate or fail in cropping. The kinds we recommend, as far as they may be found suitable as to climate, &c., are kidney shaped, or long and flattish; red roughs, a round reddish-coloured potato; and those white kinds which are smoothskinned. Of early potatoes, the ashleaved kidney is among the best for open garden culture. "As potatoes are an easily raised crop, producing twice as much food from the same quantity of land as wheat, they are very largely grown in the British Islands, and notwithstanding the recent failures are likely still to be so. They are a cheap and available source of subsistence to the poor, and have besides much effect in lessening the prevalence of scorbutic, and other disorders." Since the above was written, the Kiwi has arrived from California. She brings excellent news for the New Zealand farmers. Potatoes are in great demand, and at high prices. A ship which arrived with 200 tons sold them at once, and well. If she had had 2000 tons they wou'd have sold as readily. Vessels had arrived from Auckland and their potatoes were in good condition. Use the greatest care, then, in planting, for next season the demand will be large.