246 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 Sepr., 1899. 
ene case, and nearly 1 ton in the other. To the fact that the leaves of the 
potatoes receiving potash retained their funétions for several weeks longer in 
early autumn than the adjoining crop, which got no potash, is to be attributed 
the marked increase in crop which the experiment has demonstrated. 
The necessity—or, one might almost say, the dependence—of the potato 
erop upon a supply of farmyard manure is evidenced by the fact that, when the 
application of dung was suspended, the yield of marketable potatoes was reduced 
by over 5 tons per acre, and this, too, in the presence of a full dressing of 
artificials. 
In the same experiment three kinds of potash were put to the test, equal 
money value being the basis of comparison, and this standard is also in harmony . 
with the amount of pure potash used per acre. Both sets of plots give the 
same answer, and show that muriate of potash has produced a larger yield of 
potatoes than either kainit or sulphate of potash, while, of the latter two 
substances, the sulphate of potash has proved superior. 
When the muriate of potash was increased from 1 ewt. to 2 ewt. per acre, 
the yield of “ware” was improved by considerably over a ton per acre. 
It is also interesting to note the effect of potash on the proportion of 
“small” to marketable potatoes. As an example, it may be mentioned that 
where 15 tons dung, 1 ewt. sulphate of ammonia, and 6} cwt. superphosphate 
were applied, the percentage of “small” to the total crop was 25, whereas with 
the same manuring, plus 1 ewt. of sulphate of potash, the percentage of 
“small” was reduced to 18. The same tendency is observable where the 
dressing of muriate of potash was doubled. With a single ewt. per acre, the 
percentage of “small” potatoes was 34, whereas it was only 23 ater a double 
dressing of muriate was employed.—Scottish Farmer. 
POTATO PLANTER. 
A goon potato planter (says Lhe Mark Lane Express) is a very valuable 
implement on the farm or in the market garden. Ransomes, Sims, and Jefferies, 
Limited, of Ipswich (Suffolk, England], make an excellent machine, which acts 
on the finger-and-thumb principle. This will plant equally as well as the prize 
needle-action machine, but it is simpler in construction, and does not pierce the 
potatoes in picking them up. The mechanism cannot be hurt by stones being 
put into it with the potatoes. Being simpler in construction, it is also lower in 
rice. 
b Tt is well known that at the great trials of potato planters by the Royal 
Agricultural Society of England, in April, 1896, Ransomes, Sims, and Jefferies 
were suceessful in winning both the first and second prizes for their machines. 
The machine has a hopper and a disc on each side, but the dises are 
furnished with eight pairs of fingers, or a “ finger and thumb,” which pick up 
and hold the potatoes as the dises revolve. A cam opens the fingers at the 
right place, and the potatoes drop into their places as if put in by hand. It 
