Aug. 2, 1920.] 



Agricultural Gazette of N.S.W . 



547 



Fanners as a rule prefer sowing closely one way, and usually that is done 

 in the drills where the practice is 1 ft. to 1 ft. 3 in. By keeping the drills 

 3 feet apart, cultivating and hilling are carried out without damage to the 

 plants. 



Some growers regulate the widtli between drills according to the variety. 

 One making sparse or dwarfed tx)p gruwth (like Manhattan or Satisfaction) 

 is sown in drills as clo.se as 2 ft. 6 in apart. Growers contend that not 

 sufficient shade is cast for protective purposes if the sowing is at a greater 

 width. 



About four inches is the usual depth for sowing, an'l unless the soil is of 

 a light nature it can be recommended. Sets planted deeper are said to 

 withstand dry periods better than the shallower planting. In the experi- 

 ment under review, many of the deeper sets failed to germinate. 



Up-to-date seed was used for the trials, with fei tiliser at the rate of 2 cwt. 

 of P7 per acre. The marketable percentage seems unusually high. This is 

 accounted for by the high prices ruling for potatoes during the season, 

 tubers that would be too small in ordinary seasons being included. 



Productivity as an Inherited Quality in Potatoes. 



T'roji investigations in Germany into the inheritance of productivity in 

 potatoes in connection with the choice of tubers for planting (says the 

 Scottish Jowtnal of Agiioulture), C. von Seelhorst comes to the following 

 conclusions : — 



The size of the tubers used for planting has a decided influence on the yield 

 of the descendants, the large tubers being usually more productive than the 

 small ones. The productivity of the parent plints appears to be of even greater 

 importance, however, for in the tests small tubers from productive parent 

 plants nearly always gave more productive descendants than those of large 

 tubers from slightly productive plants. For example, whereas the smallest 

 tubers (average weight, 33 grams) of productive plants had descendants that 

 yielded, on an average, 519 gi'ams of tubers per plant, the relatively large 

 tubers (average weight, 84 grams) of poor producing plants had descendants 

 that produced only an average of 488 grams of tubers per plant. 



