TEE AORICULTURAL JOURNAL. 



781 



Manure. 



"What is your fertiliser?" 



"I have been using Fison's, but this 

 year I have gone in for dissolved bone, 

 using about 6 cwt. per acre. No, I do not 

 use yard manure for this reason, that I 

 have got practically none. I do very little 

 kraaling, the stock running day and night 

 in paddocks. Of course, stable manure 

 is grand for potatoes, but what I get is 

 not worth taking into account. Straw 

 or hay is excellent for the common way 

 of planting. One year I put into some 

 furrows the remains of a stack of hay 

 from which the cattle had been feeding 

 during the winter. The superiority of 

 the crop from those furrows was most 

 striking." 



Kinds of Potatoes. 

 "What kinds of potatoes have you 

 grown?" 



"Early Eose, Magnum Bouum, Impera- 

 tor, Skurry Blues, Beauty of Hebron, 

 Ninety Fold, Flour-balls, Reliance, Cen- 

 tenary, May Queen, Ringleader, German 

 Blues, Up-to-date, Gold Finder, and Red 

 Roughs." 



"And the best?" 



"The Imperator; it is white, it is the 

 heaviest cropper, and is far away the best 

 I have grown. Of course I am speaking 

 of this district and of my conditions as to 

 Boil and system of cultivation. Very like- 

 ly if I were in another district, experi- 

 ments might lead me to prefer another 

 kind. Whom do I import from? Sut- 

 ton and Sons, and except in the matter 

 of size, I find them very satisfactory. 

 Flour-balls are pink, and something like 

 the Early Rose, but rounder in shape, 

 and are very good croppers. Magnum 

 Bonums are also good croppers. The 

 Early Rose is not regularly a good crop- 

 per. Up-to-dates are good in shape and 

 good croppers. The Red Rough is a good 

 potato, but a poor yielder." , 



"Considering tlie price, why are you so 

 heavy a purchaser of imported seed?" 



"Because potatoes quickly degenerate 

 in this country. After three years, they 

 distinctly fall off in size, shape, and 

 yield." 



"You speak of the degeneration of 

 potatoes in this country — a point on 



which I know you would be supported 

 by practically all potato growers; do you 

 not think tliat the degeneration in a mea- 

 sure is due to the common practice of 

 planting small seed?" 



"No; I do not, but I must admit that 

 very small seed do give a larger percent- 

 age of small potatoes." 



"Have you ever tried dusting cut setts 

 of big potatoes with slack lime — a plan 

 which is claimed to prevent or delay the 

 rotting of the setts?' 



"No ; my experiments with cut 

 potatoes, but not so dusted, have been 

 failures. In December and January 

 cut setts rot much quicker than if planted 

 earlier in the year. The rotting of the 

 setts is always quickly followed by blight. 

 It is the hot sun of this country, in my 

 opinion, that rots the setts." 



Implements. 



Mr. Kershaw is one of the most pro- 

 gressive farmers in the Colony as regards 

 machinery. In a broad shed, some 90 

 feet long, I saw in farm implements what 

 represented over £500 in money expended. 

 In connection with this subject, I must 

 not omit to state that the labour is chiefly 

 coolie. I may also mention that for all 

 kinds of field work Mr. Kershaw prefers 

 oxen to horses. He holds that oxen are 

 cheaper, both as regards cash value and 

 as regards feeding, etc., and that for the 

 labour of the Colony they are the more 

 suitable. 



Potato Planter. 



The planter comes from the Aspinwall 

 Manufacturing Company, Jackson, Mich., 

 U.S.A., and costs, from the agents, 

 Messrs. G. North and Son, Durban, 

 about £31. Mr. Kershaw speaks of it 

 most highly, and says it saves labour 

 greatly. It has in his eyes one serious 

 defect; the fertiliser runs out at GOOfts. 

 per acre, a quantity he considers unneces- 

 sarily large for his ?oil. If the orifice is 

 decreased in size for lessening the dis- 

 tribution, then the fertiliser clogs and 

 stops running. He suggests that the 

 manufacturers should see to this defect. 

 Potato Raiser. 



The potato "raiser," or digger, is of 

 Scotch make— Jack & Sons, Maybole, 



