OF INTEREST TO VEGETABLE GROWERS. 



That part of the Ijulletiii which will most 

 interest practical mushroom growers is the 

 announcement of new and improved 

 methods of spawn growing. Two methods 

 of seciu'ing the coveted " virgin spawn " 

 are descrihed. The first is the artificial 

 germination of spores. By this method 

 one will he able to select spores from par- 

 ticular mushrooms, which by constant se- 

 lection may give superior varieties. An- 

 other line of development discovered by Dr. 

 DuQgar vielded even better results than the 



Sporeculture process. It may be termed 

 the ■' Tissue Culture " method. This 



method is comparable to the use of " Cut- 

 tings," as |)ractised In the nurseryman in 

 propagating superior .sorts of fruits, and its 

 use in growing mushrooms has been marked 

 by the same improved results. This pro- 

 cess renders it possible to select muslirooms 

 of a given character, or to select toward a 

 given end, with the same certainty growers 

 may select the seed of other crops commer- 

 cialh- trrown. 



THE CULTURE OF POTATOES * 



W. T. MACOUN, HORTICULTURIST, CF.NTRAI, IvXPIvRIMJiNTAL 1-ARM, OTTAWA 



'''I'^HE potato is one of the most import 



1 



greatest yield that we have been able to ob- 

 tain has been at the rate of 6go bushels 

 marketable potatoes, or a total cro]) with 

 the unmarketable potatoes of "jyi bu.shels. 

 This was from the old Peachblow ; not a 

 flesirable variety, on account of deep eves 

 and inferior qualitw One thousand bushels 

 l)er acre is something to aspire to, and it is 

 to try and make clear to farmers that the 

 crop can be increased ver}- much by pro])er 

 methods that this paper is presented. 



The tubers are not the roots of the 

 pot;ito, but are the tips of swollen under- 

 ground stems, the eyes being the buds ; 

 hence the tubers have little to do with the 

 development of the plant, but the develop- 

 ment of the root system of the plant and the 

 consequent development of the top has 

 much to do with the development of the 

 tubers. As heat is very essential in grow- 

 ing potatoes, it is important that the soil 

 should be warm. For this reason, sandy 

 loam and gravelly soils w^hich are naturally 

 well drained have been found the most 

 suitable, but the largest crop will be grown 

 where the soil is naturally moist, but has 

 not too cold a subsoil. As the conservation 

 of moisture is naturally well drained and 

 not very moist soil is very important for the • 

 best success of potatoes, every effort should 



* Extract from an address delivered at the twelfth annual convention of the Pomological and fruit growing Society of Quebec, he 

 at Ayer's Cliff, December 14-15. The remainder will be published in the spring when most seasonable. 



ant food products of Canada and one 

 of the commonest articles of diet. In the 

 province of Quebec alone, when the census 

 of 190 1 was taken, there were 127,205 acres 

 devoted to this crop, producing 127,135,731; 

 bushels, or about 135 bushels per acre. The 

 potato can be obtained at all seasons of the 

 year, and if pro])erly kept is about as good 

 at one time as at another. 



There is no farm crop which will repay 

 good culture as well as the potato nor any 

 of which the crop can be increased so much. 

 A few more bushels per acre may be added 

 to the wheat and oat crop by careful hus- 

 bandry, and the crop of turnips and man- 

 gels may also be slightly increased, but the 

 percentage of increase in all of these is 

 much less than in the potato. The average 

 yield per acre of potatoes for the province 

 of Ontario for the year 1904 was 116 

 bushels, and for the past 22 years 115 bush- 

 els, while in the United States it is under 

 100 bushels per acre. Yet it has been 

 proven by careful experiment that over 

 1,000 bushels per acre can be produced. An 

 authentic experiment has shown that from 

 a one-twentieth acre plot potatoes were 

 grown at the rate of 1,061 bushels per acre. 

 At the Central Experimental Farm the 



