POTATO GROWING.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 9, Issue 576, 19 October 1920, Page 1

POTATO GROWING.

GOOD SEED ESSENTIAL.

JERSEY ISLAND METHODS

LONDON'S EARLIf S-JPPIA'

The following extract from an article by a large grower in the Biitish Isles might be interesting to potato growers around Pukekohe:— "We cannot do better than quote the words of one of the largest po-tato-growers of the United Kingdom, who recently advised the Ministry cf Agriculture that the great secret in successful potato-growing is to get proper seed. He consider that there would be a very considerable increase in the potato crop if glowers would pay more attention to this point. He maintained that as a class they did not produce one-half of the potatoes that they should do with the labour and the .manures they nowused, and sent the following account of the'system which prevails in Jersey, where the potato-growers largely' secure their seed i';om th<\ ; r own stocks in the following manner:— 'The most green and vigorous plants are dug up for seed when the potatoes have reached about three quarter growth. These potatoes are put in boxes and left in the sun until they get thoroughly green and hard, when they are put away in a shed, where they will be secure from frost for the winter. The potatoes are examined about every ten days, to see that they are not sprouting too much; this is prevented by giving them more air or moving them into a cooler position. It is advisable not to let them grow sprouts more than three-quarters of an inch -, n length. If of the early variety these potatoes can be planted early \n March (September, New Zealand), or if of the late variety at the end of March or the beginning of April (October. Ifew Zealand). . . . There is no comparison between seed saved in this manner and seed saved from potatoes that have been allowed to ripen. Potatoes for this purpose must be lifted while they are in vigorous growth, and before any signs of blight ap- , pear, as once blight has shown itself in the halum the potatoes would not keep, if dug green, as the spores i from the. leaves and tljp spores on the land immediately affect the tuber that is dug immature."

The system of selecting potatoes before they are ripe for seed is almost analogous to the system around Pukekohe for autumn-grown seed. Here the potatoes are dug before they are ripe and left in the sun to dry. They are then planted, and from this source we get our autumngrown seed, i.e., potatoes planted at Christmas and dug in April or May. The question now arises if it would not be wise to dig the autumn crop before it is ripe and "green" it in the sun before it is stored away fee seed for the main spring crop. Aut'umn-grown seed is always in keen demand by practical growers.