12 
Seed Potato House. 
(By GrorGe Srymour.) 
In an article on ‘The Care and Pre- 
paration of Seed Potatoes,’ which ap- 
peared in the Victorian ‘Journal of Agri- 
culture’ for November, 1905. it was stated 
tkat the best way to keep potatoes in- 
tended for seed was, in the ubsence of 
cool storage. to spread them out ona 
piece of firm dry ground under the shelter 
of pine or other evergreen trees. As such 
a spot is not always available, the necessity 
for a suitable place prompts me to again - 
refer to the matter avd endeavour to 
furnish growers with a satisfactory soln- 
tion of the difficulty. On most farms the 
tubers intended for seed are kept in pits, 
This may do very well for hardy sorts 
and late manuring varieties, but it is de- 
cidedly injurious to the early ones. I 
am_ satisfied more injury is done to the 
yield of the crops by the improper way in 
which seed tubers are kept than by any 
any other single cause, and that more 
ben efit will be derived from a proper 
method of keeping the seed than from a 
change of seed which has in many cases 
proved disappointing. I feel sure it would 
pay every grower to erect a structure, 
however rough, to keep his seed in. The 
result would be a more even crop, with 
out thinly, the thinner the better. 
of over 60 degrees is required, 
THE AUSTRALIAN GARDENER. 
la 
STRAWBERRIES. 
stronger and more vigorous plants, which 
play an important part in the yield of a 
orop. The chief requirement is a cool 
dry place where the tubers can be exposed 
to the light as much as possible: the 
space should be sufficient to spread them 
The 
only thing to guard against is frost, and 
if this be avoided when they are first 
spread out, there will be little denger, as 
they will soon become green. Tubers kept 
in this way do not bud so quickly as 
when piled together in a heap, and, when 
the buds do start, the growth is very 
slow: the shoot will be strong, and of a 
green colour. If seed for early crops is 
kept in this way, allowed to sprout, and 
planted when the ground is warm, better 
results will be obtained than at present. 
The practice is to plant in the middle of 
winter. when the soil temperature is low, 
with the result that the plant has to 
struggle against adverse conditions. For 
the potato plant to flourish, a temperature 
In sup- 
port of this 1 may mention a parcel of 
Early Rose and Carman No 1 seed planted 
in my own field. The seed was dug in 
early in April, spread out all winter on 
the barn floor, cut mostly to a single 
eye, and planted on the 6th December. 
They were above ground in ten days, and 
befere the 6th January many of the 
June 1, 1907 
plants were in bloom, By the end of the 
first week in February, or under ten 
weeks after planting, there was a crop of 
tubers large enough to lift, but, of course. - 
too green to handle 
Instances have come under my notice: 
this season where crops of early potatoes, 
have failed or missed badly Had the 
seed been kept under proper conditions, 
this would not have occurred, 3 
Rabbit Destruction, 
According to the ‘Sydney Morning 
Herald,” Mr. W. M. Robertson, manager 
of “ © ochdale,’? Old Junee, reports a 
simple method of rabbit destruction as 
follows :—A piece of bagging or a small 
bough is saturated with ordinary coal 
tar, and placed at the entrance to the 
burrow, which is then closed up. The 
result is surprising, for the rabbits shun 
burrows so treated. A kerosine tin of 
tar, costing about one shilling, is sufficient 
to treat 300 acres of infested country. 
Experiments conducted by Mr. Robertson 
and a neighbor have been entirely success- 
ful, anda landh olderin the Murrumburrah 
district, whose land is wire-netted, was 
successful in entirely freeing his land 
from rabbits. 
