1766 STARCH CROPS 



1275 - Potato Trials in Guernsey. — McFie J.B., in I'lu- Hardener's chronicle, Vol.I,X, 

 No. 1355, pp- 180-1H1 ; I,(in(lon, October 14, 1916. 



During the autumn of 1915 potato trials of some of the leading early 

 varieties were carried out in Guernesy at the Brookdale Nurseries of Messrs. 

 W. Manger and Sons, with the. purpose of ascertaining which were the more 

 suitable for their district taking into account the crojjping and cooking 

 qualities. Land to the extent of one acre, on which bulbs had been grown for 

 about ten 3^ears was set apart for the purpose and prepared as follows : 

 Seaweed at the rate of 30 tons per acre was spread on the surface and allowed 

 to lie for a month or so, after which it was diig in about 5 inches deep. That 

 was in the fall of 1915. In January of this year the ground received a further 

 dressing, but this time of stable manure at the rate of 20 tons per acre. This 

 was ploughed in about 9 inches deep. At the end of February and early 

 in March the trials were planted beginning with the first earlies. Two feet 

 were allowed between the drills and about 16 inches between the sets. A 

 liberal dressing of Peruvian guano was sown in the drills during the planting 

 ( ^2 'tow to the acre) , and as soon as the tops were clearly visible they were 

 forked between and earthed up ?• fortnight late^. At the end of May, when 

 the plants were growing strongly, they were sprayed with Bordeaux mixture, 

 and again after a fortnight. The result was that practically no blight {Phy- 

 tophthora infestans) was seen on the early varieties. During the early part 

 of July, the disease was noticed in the second early and main crop varieties. 

 Fortunately, however, this only affected the haulm, as at digging time hardly 

 i per cent of the tubers were affected, a lesult which is no doubt entirely 

 due to the spraying with Bordeaux mixture. 



The following are the average crojjs, per acre, obtained : 



Tons Cwts 



First Earlies: Midlothian Earty 12 10 



Sharpe's Express 12 8 



Witch Hill 10 18 



Dunottar Castle 10 14 



Second Earlies : Great Scot 24 18 



Edinburgh Castle 19 12 



Bobbie's Favourite ig 12 



Stirling Castle I'i 10 



Arran Chief 16 10 



Suttons Flourball 14 i7 



White City 10 8 



1276 - Experiments on the Manuring of Potatoes in Germany.— \vrber p. and kle- 



■B-ERGE-R,in Journal fiir LanduirlscJiafl, Vol. 61, Part 3, pp. iSi-igg. Berlin, October 19, 191 6. 



Experiments have been made to determine how the yields of potatoes 

 and starch are affected on sandy soils, loams and clays, when a manure 

 containing phosphate and potash is supplemented by one or other of the 

 following nitrogenous fertilisers : ammonium sulphate, calcium c^'anamide, 

 ammonium nitrate, purin. 



In each experiment the manure applied per acre consisted of 3 Y2 ^wt. 

 basic slag and i 14 cwt. potash salts (40 per cent), together with the nitro- 



