HOW TO GROW POTATOES.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 6, Issue 270, 27 April 1917, Page 3 (Supplement)

HOW TO GROW POTATOES.

PRACTICAL HINTS BY THE EDITOR Or 'THE SMALLHOLDER.

Wise gardeners when they start grow, ing potatoes turn their land over in tiie autumn and winter, and give in>i frost and air a chance to make the ground whole some ajid swtiet. The give tlie laud opportunity to absorb sun heat,and it they have a choice, they select for thenparticular potato pa tell a nice sandy loam, although of course, potatoes will grow iu almost any soil <even clay. They break up tho ground 2ft. deep il possible, smashing lumps,and producing as line a tilth a-s they can, but they always take care to avoid bringing a poor sub-soil to the surface.

Doi:s IT REQLIUh LIME.

If tlic soil is too heavy they add road grit, burnt garden refuse, and decayed garden rubbish, so as to make it lighter, and if tlvj land is otherwise poor, they also, early in the year, use liberal doses of farmyard manure. Before they plant ilieir potatoes they also take cane to tind out if limo be required. This is very easily ascertained by a simple chemical experiment. They fill a wine-glass, or a cup, with the soil, add to it a little weak spirits of salts —that is, hydrochloric acid—consisting of two parts water and one part acid. If there he effervescence, they knew that the soil contains a .sufficiency of lnne ; if not. they scij the soil is deficient, and take steps to lime it. Thero is a very simple reason why 1 hey insist upon deep cultivation for ]x>tatoes. All experts agree that tins indices d-ep looting, and that it enables moro water to pass down lively in wet se.asons than shallow dug land could possibly do. The roots find manure below, and the sub-soil becomes greatly improved. Tii"y never lo.se sight of the fact th.it the potato came originally fiv.it) Rni, and that it revels m heat, light (which produce starch ), and air, bin above all. demands moisture.

THRKK I'I.AMINOS

Nowadays every gardener should make time plantings of potatoes—one early in July ior a very ,«arlv crop. another :i'. tho end or!" .) uly tor a mid-season crap, and a third the *.Hond week -n August for a main, or storing, crop.

The advantages of splitting the planting season up in this way ar-> many. In the tir>t place, early crops are more valuable. 11l the -.'lond they oee'lpv tli.r land only a very short time, and ill ■ ground Incomes again available lor <.' In r Clops. Xevr Ttlul.-s it iiiu<t ie.-> ll.cted that to grow rea'lv good early potatoes the soil cannot Iv too rich or too well aerati d ■ r sweetened by exposure to tho air. and th,' crops throughout mu>t I v *.:ir. inlly tended. There are time popular ni -thoils of planting potatoes—witli a dibl.< i drill, or by cutting out s. ■ I tint Mill, to 0111. deep. !•> o ' 1 • 1 ' ■'

in r w-> 2ft. <iin. apart. I I Is held to be th. be-'t. I '" l- : ver. N not th 'I! finished -t* " • : ].0.-■>. by ridging up ard ground tree from weed*. I' ira ts and seasons it is a ,!-r.v <.<»•! ovi the -h Hit. as thev np'e ir. Abo. when i-lv ton growth i. -on. ergi> llie b'l is usually dross 1 d v. ith snmo art-'ieial manure, earo being taken to l-r. ak no the soil well.