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not less than thirty of these had come under his notice, while 

 several of the old sorts were already known to be lost. All 

 these varieties were well marked and permanent, and must have 

 been produced before their introduction here, as, although 

 occasionally flowering, the plant has never been known to seed 

 in this country." — Archdeacon Walsh, in the Trans, and Proc. 

 New Zealand Institute 35, page 13. 



Australia, Queensland. 



(i) "From observation and numerous experiments carried 

 out, the sweet potato apparently is not fertile to its own pollen 

 and that to produce seed it is necessary to cross-pollinate by 

 hand. I may mention that I have found the raising of seedlings 

 a more difiicult matter than the production of seed. I enclose 

 herewith two photographs of seedlings." (One photo of six 

 young seedlings, other of foliage and root of each of three seed- 

 lings. )^ — ^Report by C. B. Brooks, transmitted in letter by H. C. 

 Quodling, Director of Agriculture, Queensland. 



(2) "We are not aware that sweet potatoes have ever been 

 grown in this State from seed prior to the experiment made 

 last season at the Penal Establishment at St. Helena, which 

 has proved eminently successful. 



" From a report on the experiment by Captain C. Pennefather, 

 Comptroller General of Prisons, forwarded to the Secretary for 

 Agriculture, we take the following: — -'Some vines raised from a 

 few small sweet potatoes given to us by Mr. C. E. Hayes in 

 1898 were planted out in 1899, and in 1900 the Chief Warder 

 noticed on the vines grown from these tubers several pods which 

 contained two or three seeds each. These seeds were sown, 

 but, although a great deal of trouble was taken, only eight 

 seedlings were raised. A large number of plants came up, but 

 most of them died off. This was in 1901. These seedling vines 

 were planted out, and the result was very satisfactory. Owing 

 to the drought last year (1902), which delayed the planting of 

 the vines until November, the crop was not very productive, 

 but the tubers grown are large and sound. A few lilac-colored 

 stalks were found among the vines when the potatoes were being 

 dug, and these were planted out. The result is, a potato dif- 

 ferent from the other in colour (being a bright yellow when 

 boiled), and the shape of the leaf is different.' 



"The favourable result of this experiment should prove of 

 great interest and value to farmers who grow sweet potatoes for 

 the markets. Of late large quantities of tubers grown from 

 vine cuttings have proved to be diseased, and the continuous 

 planting of cuttings of vdnes from the diseased tubers can but 

 have the effect of perpetuating the trouble. The raising of a 

 totally new variety, perfectly free from disease, should result 

 in banishing the disease from the fields of those who can either 



