POTATO GROWING.

Taranaki Daily News, 26 August 1922, Page 11

POTATO GROWING.

SOME HINTS AND OBSERVATIONS. (By “Agricola.”) An important consideration with growers of potatoes in gardens should be the condition of the tubers previous to and at the time of planting. Seed tubers should be placed in shallow boxes, or on open shelves, in a cool, airy loft, or outhouse, so that the young shoots, by this process of induration, are strong and robust when they commence to grow. If the tubers are kept d*v and airy the shoots rarely advance beyond a certain stage of growth, and it is proved that tubers so treated, when carefully planted, retain all their original strength and vigor, and should turn out most productive. At planting time the tubers should be carried to the garden in shallow boxes ,'and ba set upright in the ground without damage to the shoots, to ensure a rapid and even growth and not be pushed into a hole anyhow. POTATO SOILS. With reference to proper soils for the (potato, much has been written from time to time, but those who have gardens must make the best of what they i find, and if the land is light and open, then with ordinary cultivation good crops ! will be likely to result. Soils that are ' of a stiff or clayey nature can be rendered more open and porous by the application of strawy manure, or any kind of decomposed vegetable matter, ' especiallv the (black) ashes of burnt refuse. All these substances greatly assist the soil, and bring healthy crops without inducing the rank growth which usually follows the application of raw i manures. If the soil is light and gravelly, |strawy manure, which has been in the stable, should be applied, as this will i aid in solidifying the soil and retaini ing moisture during the summer. | All soils in which it is intended to plant potatoes should be trenched, or dug during the previous autumn so that they may be sweetened .and . pulverised bv the action of wintry weather. In all cases of applying manure it should ibe worked into the ground in the autumn so as to become thoroughlv incorporated with the soil by the following spring, but it is safest and best to allow the potatoes to succeed some kind of green crop, the soil for which had been previously well manured, as the virulepice of the potato disease is aggravated hv the presence of crude manures. A good stirring should be given to the

soil as soon ae the hcnlm is well through the ground. This process destroys weeds, pulverises the soil, and makes earthing up an easier matter. Earthing up is essential to the cultivation of sound and sweet tubers, as the nearer they are to the light and air the more are they rendered unfit for the table, and unless this plan is adopted a large proportion of the crop will often become greenish and unpalatable. Ilshould be carefully done with a large hoe when the haulm has made about

six inches of growth. m There is some advantage in growing a. select number of varieties, and not trusting entirely to one or two. Out of six kinds some will be found to suffer i from the effects of the disease less than. 1 others,, so no total failure of crop can 1 result. When a number of sorts are I grown, those most subject to the disease can be detected and discarded in favor J of others not so liable, or newer varieties i can be introduced, and thus special kinds • I that in a particular locality prove al-

most free from -the disease can be permanently grown. If it is claimed for any particular kind that it is never affected by the disease, such a statement must be received with considerable reservation, and, strange to say, it is often those of inferior quality that are least subject to it. It is true that some of the very best sorts in cultivation, while almost free from the disease in some parts of the country, in other places are much affected by it*