294. QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 Sepr., 1901. 
exposed to the air—the bulk of the rick is130 cubic yards. On 11th November the 
weight of a cubic yard of ensilage was taken—1 yard of the upper part weighed 
1,000 lb., 1 yard of the middle part weighed 1,400 Ib., 1 yard of the lower 
weighed 1,500 Ib. On an average, a yard weighed 1,300 lb. The total weight, 
making allowance for the spoilt outsides, was 170,000 Ib., or about 75 tons. 
This quantity constituted a portion of the daily ration of the cattle till the end 
of February. 
POTATOES. 
Many farmers take too little care of their seed potatoes. They are hauled 
to the barn, and either left in the bags until planting time comes round, or they 
are left in a large heap on the barn floor, with, perhaps, a covering of straw 
over them. When August or September arrives it is considered time enough to 
overhaul the heap, bags, or pit, and pick out the rotten ones. Too often the 
seed is found ina matted condition, owing to the potatoes never having been 
turned. The large amount of roots has caused them to heat and grow, and the 
long shoots are all matted together. This necessitates the whole mass being 
stirred up, which breaks off the majority of the shoots, and the rest have to be 
picked off by hand. Large numbers are rotten, owing to the few rotted at first 
not being picked out. All this loss, or at least a great deal of it, might have 
been avoided by being careful to turn over the seed occasionally. A gain in 
growth may be brought about by turning them over about 4 fortnight before 
planting. New shoots will then form, but they are not long enough to break 
off in planting, and will be up as early as those which were planted immediately 
after the last turning. Those left for a fortnight later should not be heaped u 
in a big pile, nor should they be covered with a great thickness of earth. This 
keeps away the air, and a quick growth of tender shoots is the result. If they 
are pitted in the open, the heaps should be long and narrow, and be only covered 
with just sufficient earth to keep out the wet. or else they may be bagged or 
spread out thinly in the barn. By these means the shoots will be strong and 
tough, and should heavy rains come on the seed can be kept for a longer time 
before planting, without injury. 
SPRAYING POTATOES TO PREVENT DISEASE AND TO 
INCREASE THE YIELD. 
Mr. Henry F. Hill of the Agricultural College, Aspatria, Cumberland, 
writes to the Harmer and Stockbreeder, on the subject of spraying potatoes as 
follows :— 
As the season for spraying potatoes is approaching, perhaps a short report 
of our experiment with fast year’s crop may interest some of the readers of 
your journal. 
The “ Up-to-Date” was the variety experimented on. They were sprayed 
with Strawsonite for the first time on 17th July, and again on 15th August- 
Although the spraying was not quite so successful as it usually is in preventing 
the disease in the tubers, it had a very decided and beneficial effect on their size 
and the yield of the crop, as may be seen from the subjoined table. 
Tn addition to preventing the disease, spraying has the effect of prolongin, 
the life of the stems or haulms, so that the period of storage for starch an 
other materials in the tubers is much increased, and, as a natural consequence, 
the sprayed plots usually yield a larger and a more regular sample than the 
unsprayed. 
The stems of the sprayed potatoes remained green for more than three 
weeks longer than those of the unsprayed. This lengthened period of growth 
allowed the medium-sized tubers to become large, and thereby increase the 
