' 
THE AUSTRALIAN GARDENER. 
7 Annual net Income, £594,870. 
December 1, 1907 
NE_ Ww ZEA TLARN ED 
imsuwuramnce Co., Luitd. 
This old Established Colonial Office covers every description of 
Fire, Marine, and Accident Business, 
At Lowest Rates. 
£6,000,000 paid in Claims. 
SOUTH AUSTRALIAN BRANCH, 112 KING WILLIAM STREET, ADELAIDE. 
LOUIS E. WILSON, Manager. 
Active Agents Wanted. 
Potato Experiments, 
[From the U.S. Experiment Station 
Record]. 
During the past two years the statlon 
has carried on tests comparing various 
methods of potato culture, different sizes 
of seed pieces and quantities of seed, 
different kinds of seed, and distance ex- 
periments. 
Seed potatoes produced under a straw 
mulch the preceding year yielded 47 per 
cent. more in 1905 and 41 per cent, more 
in 1906 than similar seed grown by culti- 
vation. Seed potatoes stored in an ordi- 
nary cellar, » here they wilted and sprouted 
badly before planting, gave poor results. 
The average yield from sound seed was 
56 per cent. greater thar from sprouted 
seed in three separate tests. Of different 
combinations tried, the best results were 
obtained from 18 bushels of seed per acre 
cut in quarter tubers and the pieces 
planted 18 in. apart. Nearly as good 
results were obtained from 36 bushels per 
acre of seed tubers cut in halves and 
planted 12 in. apart. 
An old alfalfa sod ploughed up in the 
fall of 1905 and reploughed in the spring 
seemed to have increased the yield of 
potatoes only 5 per cent. Planting the. 
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Customuis have a choice oi over 2,000 
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NOTE THE ADDRESS, and profit 
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post free to country customers patterns 
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Please mention this paper. 
seed pieces in furrows made with a lister 
after ploughing increased the yield 28 per 
cent. as cnmpared with dropping the seed 
pieces in every third furrow as the plough- 
ing was done. Ridging up the ground 
over the rows of seed pieces when planted, 
and harrowing the ridges down as the 
weeds began to grow, increased the yield 
53 per cent, over leevfng the ground level 
above the rows of planted seed, 
Potatoes planted 4 in, deep gave better 
yields in 1905 than those planted 3 and 5 
inches deep, but the tubers were about 
equal in quality. Planting the seed 1 
and 2 in. deep decreased both yield and 
quality as compared with deeper plant- 
ings. 
In 1905 7 cultivations gave 47 per cent, 
greater yield than 5 cultivations, but 10 
cultivations reduced the yield slightfy 
below that from 7 cuitivations. In 1906, 
from weedy lands, 3 harrowings followed 
by 4 cultivations produced a yield 132 
per cent, greater than 2 harrowings and 
2 cultivations. The same year, on cleaner 
ground, 3 harrowings and 4 cultivations 
increased the yield over 2 harrowings and 
3 cultivations by 60 per cent., while with 
4 harrowings and 6 cultivations the yield 
was slightly decreased. 
Seven years’ experience indicates that 
mulching is a fairly satisfactory way of 
growing potatoes ona small scale, although 
the method is practicable only when the 
mulching material can be obtained cheaply. 
Old hay or straw should be spread about 
4 in. deep just befere the plants appear 
and after the ground has been harrowed 
once or twice since planting. Rather 
large seed pieces should be planted 2 or 3 
in. deep, ane the hills should be placed 
18 by 18 or 12 by 24 in. 
$< 
Euphorbia corollata is a pretty plant 
with its abundance of small white flowers, 
One of the most showy plants is Listris 
pychnostachya, with its long spikes of 
purple flowers. 
Sunflowers have some species which are 
very showy. One of them is mollis, then 
there is multlflorus, the fine double form 
of decapetalus, and one of the finest 
garden forms is known as Miss Mellish, 
It is a variety of rigidus. 
Lespedeza Sieboldii is a fine plant. It 
is often classed as a shrub, but it is pro- 
perly herbaceous. It is perhaps better 
known as Desmodium penduliflorum. 
Lobelia cardinalis and its varieties are- 
very fine with their bright colored flowers. 
Then there.is Lobelia syphilitica, with its. 
fine blue spikes, though common in some 
sections it certainly should find a place in 
the border. 
The rudbeckias are very showy; the 
varieties sub tomentosa and triloba are: 
good, medium tall sorts, but of course 
the most showy are the taller laciniata 
and its double form, better known as 
Golden Glow. 
Somz Press Comuents on a BURBANK 
AcHIEVEMENT.—“‘ And he gave it for his 
Opinion,” wrote Swift, “that whoever 
could make two ears ef corn, or two 
blades of grass te grow where only one 
grew before, would deserve better of man- 
kind, and do more essential service to his. 
country, than the whole race of politicians 
put together,” If this be t:ue as a general 
proposition, what must Luther Burbank 
deserve who grows seventy-three varieties 
cf apples cn a tree which Nature designed 
should bear but one? ‘To call Mr, Bur- 
bank the greatest grafter in the. United 
States is a compliment not an offence.— 
Brooklyn (N.Y.) Eagle. Luther 
Burbank has grown seventy-three dif- 
ferent kinds of apple on one tree. It’s 
unfortunate that trees like that didn’t 
grow in the Garden of Eden, for then. 
Eve couldn’t haye made up her mind 
which one to eat. On second thoughts, 
however, it’s just as well there wasn’t, 
Eve might have eaten them all._New 
York American. 
E. BLACKEBY, 
BOOT & SHOE MANUFACTURER, 
226 Rundle St., Adelaide. 
CUT SOLES A SPECIALITY. 
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