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TEE AORICtJLTURAL JOVUNAL 



reaped 550 bags. They averaged 10s. 

 per bag of loOfts. Tbe quality of the 

 potatoes and the yiekl were so satisfac- 

 tory, that I decided on planting on a 

 bigger scale. Last year I got from one 

 particular acre 119 bags, but the average 

 M-as about 100, and the average price was 

 18s. All the land of the Little Mooi 

 Eiver flats, although it differs in degree, 

 is first class, and on this farm I have a 

 good share of it. It is sandy loam, alluv- 

 ial and rich in humus. At present I 

 am manuring with chemicals, but soon 

 I shall also go in for green soiling. 



Cultivation. 



"What will this years crop run to?" 



"I expect close on 4,000 muids." 



"And your system of culti ration ?'' 



"My system comes from observation, 

 reading, and my own experience, and I 

 am always on the look out how to im- 

 prove. -I am a close observer, and keep 

 notes of any changes I may make. In 

 June or July I plough the land if I can 

 possibly manage it, because of the benefit 

 to the soil and because winter ploughing 

 keeps down the cut-worms. This pest has 

 been exceptionally bad this year in the 

 Mooi Eiver district. The planting begins 

 in September, and goes on into October. 

 I plough the land and give it four or five 

 harrowings to get it into good tilth. The 

 planting I do with a potato-planter. You 

 have seen the planter; it makes the drill, 

 puts in the fertiliser, puts in the seed 

 potatoes at regular distances — 10 inches, 

 as a rule — and covers up the drill all in 

 one operation. With a home-made roller 

 — the trunk of a bomvaan tree — I then 

 roll the field flat. Then I give two 

 vreedings with a weeder — one of the most 

 useful implements a farmer can have — 

 then I go with a scarifier between the 

 rows, then I earth up with a double mould 

 board plough, then I give two more weed- 

 ings — no, there is no danger to the 

 baulnis at that stage — and then, the field 

 being flat again, I finally earth up. Yes, 

 it is a lot of cultivation, but it pays. Po- 

 tatoes want any amount of cultivation, 

 and as you yourself have seen, there is 

 hardly a weed to be seen in the fields. 

 The only way to tackle weeds with the 

 weeder is to catch them just as they be- 

 gin to show themselves." 



"What depth do you plant?" 



"About two inches, and those who plant 

 deeper make a great mistake, in my opin- 

 ion." 



"Why ridge up, and knock down again 

 with the weeder?" 



"Because it is the most eiiective way of 

 keeping down the weeds." 



"Do you cut your seed?" 



"No. This subject is an important 

 one. Cut seed do not suit this country, 

 and unfortunately for the imported seed 

 potatoes, would each give at least two 

 setts. I have tried year after year to get 

 small seed, but never succeeded. The 

 bill for imported seed, if planting for a 

 crop, is a big one. This year mine will 

 come to over £200, each ton costing ?at 

 Rosetta £15. If instead of sending table 

 potatoes, seed of only a half or a third 

 of the size were sent, one would get as 

 much land in at half or a third of the 

 outlay. With seed that has sprouted, I 

 have made some experiments. Seed that 

 is beginning to sprout for the first tune 

 gives much the best crop. When the 

 second lot of sprouts come — the first hav- 

 ing been knocked off — the return will be 

 much smaller, and seed planted after the 

 third sprouting will yield barely half a 

 crop. The seed, as I liave said, are forked 

 in by the planter every ten inches apart, 

 and the rows are, as a rule — depending 

 on the class of potatoes — 2 feet 6 inches 

 from each other. And here is something 

 potato growers do not know of, or are apt 

 to forget, the direction of the rows. The 

 direction should, if possible, be from east 

 to west. If planted in that direction, 

 they get all the sun; planted from north' 

 to south, one half side of the plant is for 

 the most of the day in cold shade." 



"How do you store the potatoes?' 



"I keep them sacked in sheds, digging 

 them in May and keeping them till Sep- 

 tember. Potatoes deteriorate if kept to- 

 gether in large quantities. In this dis- 

 trict we can keep them the whole year 

 in the ground if we wish; that is, planting 

 m September and digging them in the 

 September following. Seed that I like is 

 from one ounce to two ounces, and sound 

 • — not the least withered." 



