POTATO VARIETIES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 15 January 1943, Page 5

POTATO VARIETIES

SOWINGS IN NEW ZEALAND. AMPLE SUPPLIES EXPECTED THIS SEASON. According to the potato estimates collected by the statistician's office, the Aucklander Short Top variety, which has occupied more than 40 per cent of the total acreage in New Zealand in recent years, is losing some of its popularity. In the 1942 season the proportion was 42.69 per cent, and an estimate of plantings for the 1943 crop is 38.30 per cent. Dakota, the next on the list, increased from 17.07 to 19.53 per cent, and Arran Chief, the third in popularity, from 13.80 to 14.22 per cent. Well down the list come King Edward VII., a popular variety in the south, increased from 8.69 to 9.45, and Inverness Favourite, 5.91 to 7.91. The next variety in popularity is well down —Arran Banner, which increased from 2.06 to 2.83 per cent. The increase of 21 per cent in the use of the Dakota variety for next year may be due to some extent to the scarcity of seed. Whilst there was a large circle of disbelievers in the practice of cutting Aucklander seed, there has never been any doubt as to the suitability of Dakotas for the purpose. There has been a much greater quantity of cut seed, used this season, and in the opinion of some growers these cut seed crops are showing a more vigorous growth than whole seed of the same variety. This fact has been established in many garden plots.

The potato crop generally is looking particularly well, and with the low market for early potatoes it would appear that there will be ample potatoes for all purposes this season. The effect of the present low prices will be to make many farmers delay digging until the crop becomes weightier. One of the causes of the poor prices is the absence of a demand from the military camps. The camps have been supplied from imported American potatoes, which have been brought in in much greater quantities than were necessary, and were not released for civilian consumption when the excess could have found a market. There were still heavy quantities of these imported potatoes on hand just previous to Christmas week, and their commercial value now would seem to be negligible.