A HOPEFUL EXPERT.

Waipa Post, Volume I, Issue 23, 4 July 1911, Page 4

A HOPEFUL EXPERT.

CONTROL OF IRISH BLIGHT,

Quite recently, in the course of an interview with the Director of Agriculture in Tasmania (Mr A. H. Benson), Mr E. C. Pratt, an English potato grower, stated: " I am of opinion that the Irish potato blight can be greatly reduced, if not destroyed. To commence with, the profitable lifetime of any variety of potato is from 15 to 20 years, and when any one variety is grown beyond that number of years it loses its constitution, and consequently is more liable to disease than a new variety of stronger growth. My firm belief is that the present I varieties grown commercially should be discarded, and new j

and disease-resisting varieties should be imported from England or Scotland, the latter being the rearing-bed of the potato world. lam sure this new seed would produce heavy crops free from blight." On the question of spraying Mr Pratt was very emphatic. He said: " I would also recommend that spraying be carried out; the more times the better, as each spraying will increase the yield of the crop considerably, and at the same time prevent disease. Potatoes should not be grown on the same ground oftener than one year in three. Artificial manures have been proved to be the best for, the tuber, provided they contain a fair percentage of ammonia. . . Ploughing in green crops, such as peas, oats, and mustard, will get the land in good heart and supply humus as well as furnish a considerable amount of organic nitrogen.

" Potatoes should always be lifted when mature, and not allowed to remain in the land to harbour disease. All precautions should be taken to prevent disease, but the two most important items are: —I. To get entirely new stocks of seed from England or Scotland. 2. Continuous spraying, which will prevent any disease making headway, and at the same time, put money into the pocket of the grower, as every spraying increases the yield.." Mr Pratt gained his experience in South Lincolnshire, England, the largest potato-growing district in Great Britain, where on their own farms they grow upwards of 300 acres of potatoes yearly. At one period they had " blight" badly ; to-day they are clear of it, although Mr Pratt said: "I am sure it would soon break out again if we omitted changing our seed from Scotland or from spraying at least three times. In England we often have to accept £2 per ton f.o.b. on the railway for our potatoes, and can make a profit at that price, because we get such good crops, due to continuous spraying, which keeps the plant growing until the very last, and in odd cases we have had to mow off the tops to ripen off the crop."