ROOT CROPS. 1:83 



Earl n Manistee. — An early red >kin. Tubers somewhat flattened; table 

 quality excellenl ; shallow ej i s. 



Langworthy.—A white-skin variety. TubeTs kidnej shape, often taper- 

 ing at "heel"'; eye- -hallow; sprouts purple. A variety which 

 requires fairly good conditions; an excellent keeper. 



Coram/ ion. A lato-iuat tiring variety: blue -kin. mottled white, some- 

 what resembling Early Manhatttan. Synonomous with New Eng- 

 land Blue Skin or Guyra Blue. A heavy yielder under good 

 conditions, but if the season is dry the proportion of small potatoes 

 is very high. Particularly suited to New England and South-west 

 Tablelands. Tubers of good shape. 



Surprise. — A late-maturing variety, suited to the tableland districts. 

 The tubers are rounded in shape, light-pink in colour, with deeper 

 pink in the eyes. Wrongly known by some farmers under the name 

 of Freeman. The large tubers have a tendency to become hollow, 

 and are not the best of keepers. It is a splendid table variety, and 

 the bulk of the tubers produced are of a marketable size. Little 

 skill is required in grading to make an attractive sample. Very 

 rich soils are not suitable to the growth of this variety, as over- 

 large tubers are produced. 



Carman No. 1. — An early white-skinned tuber of good appearance; some- 

 what inclined to second growth. One of the best varieties on 

 granite soils. 



Early Rose. — An old favourite which still retains a good deal of popu- 

 larity among coastal growers. Suitable for early cropping. Tubers 

 oblong, skin smooth, and red in colour; eyes are fairly numerous. 



Late Manhattan. — A purple-skinned variety without white blotches. 

 Grown fairly extensively in the Orange district as the main-crop 

 variety. Usually a reliable cropper of good-shaped tubers. Flesh 

 very white. 



Planting and Cultivation. 



The best depth to plant is 4 inches; it should not be more than 5 inches. 

 The most common method of planting is by dropping at every third or 

 fourth furrow during ploughing, according to the width of furrow cut 

 and class of plough used. The rows should not be less than 27 inches 

 apart, and a distance of 30 to 32 inches is preferred; on poorer soils this 

 should be increased to 3 feet apart. 



When the dropping of the potatoes is done by hand, the sets should be 

 placed on the ploughed side of the furrow, reducing the possibility of their 

 being damaged or knocked out of position by the furrow T horse when being 

 covered. The tubers are dropped from 12 to 18 inches apart, a good 

 average being 15 inches. 



On small areas the single furrow is in general use, but on the larger 

 areas where the acreage under potatoes runs to or approaches three figures, 

 multiple ploughs are used. On these ploughs the dropping is made lighter 

 by having a box fastened on the plough to hold the seed, and a galvanized 

 iron pipe, into which a man or boy, sitting on the plough, can feed the 

 seed with his hands, the potatoes being dropped in the second furrow, and 

 covered by the third sod. 



