PROBLENS IN POTATO GROWING.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXII, Issue 8891, 10 August 1907, Page 4

PROBLENS IN POTATO GROWING.

The pot«to planting season will f-oou to round, ami as the growing thi:: staple foot! crop is now attended wi'h more difficulty tliaii in former years, a few notes from an article in the May unmher of the Journal ol the British Board tof Agriculture, from the pen of Mr W. B, Bear, may be of interest. The potato crop, savs the Christchurch Press, lias been j a ” favourable subject for cxpc.i-i meats in recent years, and results may bo said to have settled some points in reference to its cultivation, wiiiic there are still some problems loft to bo solved, ami others, etc- | pendent largely upon local circarn- ( stances, as to which, probably, no ! conclusions oi: application i can bo arrived at. Among thopoun s ; that liavc been settled, tlic nrs.- i that mav bo noticed relates to ine seed. Taking all tJio varieties into consideration,’it is confidently statou that a. great majority of trials has proved that whole sets, as a rule, .rive tlio greatest yield; but that the excess over the yield of sots of medium size is not generally sumcicut to pay the additional cost or seeding. An exception may, of course", be made when potatoes are cheap. Another point in relation to ■ S .V><l which has been proved in nearly all trials is that sots snrontiug in brr:os iu'o much more productive tnuu, tubers leapt in pits through the winter in the usual wav. The preservation of the first shoots is the most important result of boxing; whereas when the seed is kept in bulk mnnj of the first sprouts arc broken oft before the sots are planted. With respect to manuring the potato crop there is avast accumulation of evidence in support of certain conclusions. Kearly maxim mu crop can ho irrowu with the n.-o of about twenty tons of farmyard manure per it ere, iiiiii the addiUf'U of ari‘l- - fertilisers to this heavy dressing, although it may increase the yield, hardly ever increases it sufficiently to prove remunerative. At least as good a crop, as a rule, can bo obtained by the vise of half the- large dressing of farmyard manure and a complete mixture of artificials, cou- i taining nitrogen, phosphoric acid and potash, us by the application of the full quantity of the natural manure alone, and at less expense. The omission oL»my oue"o£ the three classes of artificial manure almost invariably leads to a reduction in the yield. No quantities of artificials Vet fried have proved of equal efficiency to the combination of natural and 'artificial manures, although the profit from the application of artificials alone has sometimes boon the greater. A considerable number of trials have indicated that the (imililT :\;f Aim potato grown with artificial manures alone is superior to that grown with the help of farmvard manure, and this may be regarded as the rule, to which varying circumstances afford exceptions. It’ has been fully established that spraying with Bordeaux mixture, particularly when done two or three times in a season, reduces the percentage of disease, as a I’uio, v> hen there" is avis'. It is commonly believed to increase tho yield by proloaging tlio i life of the haulm, at least so far sis tho main crop is concerned. The operation does not apv,i>av to ho generally deemed necessary with first earlios. "Possibly the result of experinmuts in Glront Aril ain may not entirely accord with tho experience- of potato growers in this colony, where the climate for the most part is very different, and there is room for much more expcrimciu.U work to bo done here.