POTATO EXPERIMENTS.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume VIII, Issue 2319, 12 June 1886, Page 2 (Supplement)

POTATO EXPERIMENTS.

Mr Edmund Herseygave, before the Mass, Stato Board of Agriculture, the Jesuits of numerous experiments. 'Smail "Seed," the product of small potatoes planted from year to year, gave better results than large potatoes cut to an average of two eyes. The seed ends give ft larger crop than the stem emtaPotatoes from Uovn Scotia used as "seed" were f>o per cent more productive-than home-grown tubers. The speaker would not havo the farmers take his experiments as a guide for themselves, as the character' of different soils and "climates greatly, affects all crops. It was to' discover a principle rather that to formulate a rulo that he had worked,. If .land be very poor small cut pieces 'must fail, us th« plant will stairo beforeit ia strong enough to draw sttllieient nourishment from the soil, while in a very■'. lieli soil, planting the whole large potato'.may be wasti-lul. Hilling is advisable in.'! wet land, lui.jl e'.ilt.me on dry, The causo or Bcab is a cum; j,nlrui,j. Two years work showed that -scabby .-..nl produced scabby, cropsj but the third year tlie reverse'- was shown, An overdose of nitrite ol soda brought potatoes entirely free from scab, The permanent shape of potatoes cannot be changed by selection. Permanent changes must come through the crossing of plants in the blossom. The crop "may be greatly effected by using sound or unsound tubers. Potatoes for planting Bhould not bo exhausted hy growing sprouts in Spring to be rubbed off in handling. Large crops are possible only on land that is fertile and well cultivated.