35o 



Potato Development. 



marked out by drill coulters set 32 in. apart. The plants were 

 placed about 30 in. from one another in the rows. In 

 carting the pots to the field, racks made on light frames, with 

 divisions just narrow enough to prevent the pots from slipping 

 through, were used, and each rack carried 100 pots. These are 

 convenient also for carrying the pots in the field to lay out for 

 planting. The racks were long enough to reach across the carts, 

 one layer being placed in the bottom, and another across the 

 raves, so that it was easy to take 1,000 plants to the field at once. 

 After the plants were laid out, the planters, each with a garden 

 trowel, wrenched out a hole in the loose earth, and placed the 

 plant with all the soil from the pot adhering (being well held 

 together by the roots) into the hole. Planting was then com- 

 pleted, and the subsequent cultivation did not differ from 

 ordinary practice. The value of growing in pots was well 

 illustrated, for practically every one grew, while in a small 

 piece not potted there was a considerable percentage of misses. 

 So robust was the growth from these plants raised from single 

 eyes that the large amount of room allowed proved to be none 

 too great for their development. 



By taking out each eye separately it is not difficult, with 

 careful management, to raise 100 lb. of potatoes from 1 lb. 

 of tubers. This, however, is not by any means the limit to 

 which development may be extended. The eye of a potato 

 generally contains two to four shoots, and it is possible to make 

 use of all of these. If a potato is sprouted as in the ordinary 

 course of " boxing," and the shoots are allowed to grow three 

 or iour inches in length, these may be pulled off, and if carefully 

 planted will produce plants. 



The development of a large stock of potatoes from a single 

 tuber can therefore be quickly carried out, and it will tend 

 greatly to growers' benefit when they realise how little expense 

 need be incurred in getting new stocks, even though the cost for 

 the initial few pounds at first sight appears to be great. The 

 most expensive action on the part of a grower is the growing ol 

 varieties which have been cultivated so long as to have lost their 

 original vigour, and have become subject to dissase. The two 

 last years have very strongly proved this. 



W. J. Malden. 



