444 JoKntal oj Ai^^riculture , Victuria. [lo July, 191 i. 



spread on one side to the secondaries and tertiaries, wiiile on the other 

 side it had not yet crossed over (Fig. 4). The mycelium of the fungus 

 can grow, under favourable conditions, with the growth of the tuber, 

 whether it be a secondary or tertiary growth, or a j^oung shoot, and it 

 can just as easily pass along the underground branches and infect the 

 young tubers that are forming. 



EXCEPTIONAL GROWTH OF POTATO PLANTS. 



D. Mc Alpine, Vegetable Pailwlosist. 



The phenomenal growth during the present season was seen in potatoes 

 as well as in other plants, and the length reached by the tops or haulms 

 has never been surpassed in my experience. I had occasion to visit 

 numerous potato-growing districts and closely inspect the crops, and there 

 were plenty of plants which showed excessively vigorous growth alonu 

 with a large yield. But, taking the height alone into account, the tallest 

 was found in the Bungaree district, where I measured one 6| feet high, 

 with a fair supply of tubers at the bottom, although some of them were 

 diseased. This was the maximum height obtained until one was brought 

 under my notice from the Daylesford district, measuring 11 feet in length. 

 Quite a number reached 10 feet, and altogether the growth was quite 

 exceptional . 



While those stalks o\er 6 feet in height were grown in the ordinary 

 soil of the district, the latter were obtained from specially prepared soil 

 in a plot only 20 feet square. It will be seen from the description given 

 by the grower, that the soil was more of the nature of a hot-bed or com- 

 post heap than ordinary potato soil — 



First of all, I had a small dam for a fish pond and when this went dry I 

 filled it up with old grass and vegetable matter which 1 gathered from the garden. 

 When this rotted or decayed, I gathered some more and so on until the hole was 

 nearly full. Then I cleaned out an old water race that runs through the garden 

 and got all the sediment from the bottom. A few times after this I put a few- 

 barrow loads of fresh stable manure, then some more soil and mixing all this 

 tf gather my bed was prepared. 



This made-up soil was about 4 feet in depth when the potatoes were 

 plante(J. 



The variety grown was White Elephant, which is a coloured kidney, 

 with excessively large tubers, and a heavy cropper. The .seed was neces- 

 sarily cut and, on an average, twelve sets were obtained from each tuber. 

 One bucketful of seed was used for the plot, planted in October, 1910, 

 and the digging took place in May, 191 1. When the tops dried off for 

 digging, they were so luxuriant that they formed a layer about 9 or 10 

 inches thick all over the bed. The yield was six standard bags of 

 healthy tubers, and on an average each plant produced from 9 to lo 

 marketable potatoes. 



The photograph shows the stalk measuring 11 feet, and it produced 

 seven potatoes altogether, two of them like the one shown, and five others 

 not quite so large. This potato measured 9I inches in length, 4 inches 

 across, and weighed 31 J ozs. 



