JOURNAL  OB'  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
October  3,  1901. 
324 
More  about  Potatoes. 
The  buyers  from  the  large  wholesale  markets  have  been  on  their 
annual  round  of  inspection,  and  we  were  about  to  say,  purchase,  but 
this  year  they  have,  to  a  large  extent,  let  inspection  serve.  Little 
fault  can  be  found  with  the  crops,  but  their  views  as  regards  future 
prices  do  not  coincide  with  those  of  farmers  who,  at  present,  cannot  see 
why  a  10-ton  crop  should  not  be  worth  double  the  amount  of  a  5-ton 
one.  A  few  lots  have  been  bought  by  the  ton  at  55s.  on  rails,  and  an 
exceptionally  fine  crop  of  Dates  has  fetched  £30  per  acre.  Other  prices 
per  acre  have  not  transpired,  but  they  are  supposed  to  be  much  lower, 
except  in  the  case  of  a  fine  plot  of  the  British  Lion.  This  latter 
Potato  is  growing  in  favour,  and  if  it  escapes  disease  bids  fair  to 
become  a  standard  variety.  It  grows  too  much  top,  if  anything,  and 
keeps  growing  late,  which  is  a  worse  fault,  but  its  strong  point  is  its 
kidney  shape,  which  gives  it  a  distinct  advantage  over  oval  or  round 
Potatoes,  such  as  Up-to-Date  or  Imperator.  Only  its  fine  size  and 
quality  could  have  obtained  for  the  first  of  these  its  great  popularity. 
Its  great  cropping  powers  were  sure  to  attract  the  favour  of  growers, 
who,  naturally,  are  always  locking  out  for  weight-producers;  but 
farmers  cannot  dictate  to  their  customers  for  very  long,  and  no  Potato 
has  had  a  long  reign  unless  it  has  been  acceptable  to  the  retail  trade. 
What  is  needed,  and  we  have  long  been  waiting  for,  is  a  Potato  with 
the  productiveness  of  the  Up-to-Date  and  the  shape  of  the  old  Magnum 
Bonum.  Whether  British  Lion  fulfils  these  requirements  another 
season  will  probably  show. 
The  new  German  Potato  of  the  Imperator  type,  Professor  Maerker, 
s  disappointing.  The  haulm  is  still  very  green  and  full  of  growth, 
with  no  sign  of  disease,  but  the  tubers  are  small  in  size.  They  are 
very  numerous,  as  many  as  forty  b<ing  found  at  a  root,  so  there  will 
be  plenty  of  seed.  It  has  very  stringy  roots,  and  reminds  us  rather  ot 
the  Scotch  Champion  than  of  the  Imperator.  Another  new  kind, 
named  Dr.  or  Professor  Schultz,  from  the  same  source,  is  being 
announced,  but  growers  will  give  a  further  trial  to  the  Maerker  before 
they  are  tempted  by  the  other.  For  summer  and  early  autumn  delivery 
nothing  has  been  found  superior  or  equal  to  selected  Giants.  A  man 
we  know  has  been  selling  Giants  for  the  past  two  months  grown  on 
dark  soil,  and  has  realised  £30  per  acre.  A  bird  in  the  hand  is  worth 
two  in  the  bush,  and  few  will  make  the  price  this  season.  The  grower 
is  very  safe  to  follow,  for  he  seldom  makes  a  mistake. 
That  our  own  Potato  markets  can  be  amply  supplied  from  British 
sources  we  are  convinced,  and  British  farmers  will  be  well  advised 
to  deliver  freely  at  a  reasonable  figure,  and  so  forestall  foreign  importa¬ 
tions,  which  are  not  required,  and  which  would  only  make  matters 
worse  later  on. 
Potatoes  aijd  Pork, 
Mr.  Eider  Haggard,  on  tour,  has  found  three  antidotes  wherewith 
to  combat  agricultural  depression.  They  are  “small  holdings,” 
“  Potatoes,”  aud  “  agricultural  banks.”  There  is  close  connection 
between  all  three,  for  small  occupiers  invariably  grow  Potatoes,  whiht 
the  banks  can  only  be  useful  to  men  of  small  capital.  Mr.  Haggard 
has  several  times  pointed  out  the  comparative  prosperity  of  P^  tato 
growers,  and  recommended  the  extended  cultivation  of  the  tuber 
But,  as  in  this  year  of  grace,  it  may  occur,  and  would  frequently  do 
so,  if  the  acreage  under  the  crop  were  much  increased,  that  the 
supply  should  far  exceed  the  probable  demand.  Well,  we  can  supply 
ourselves  w.th  Potatoes,  but  there  is  a  by-product  of  the  Potato  which 
is  in  ever-increasing  demand.  We  refer  to  poik.  Pork  is  the  only 
kind  of  meat  which  is  worth  as  much  as  it  was  thirty  years  ago.  The 
demand  for  good  pork  and  Ei  glish  bacon  seems  inexhaustible,  and  live 
pigs  of  all  kinds  and  ages  are  very  dear.  Yet  with  home-grown  Corn 
at  9d.  j  er  stone,  and  unlimited  Potatoes  for  the  growing,  there  is 
practically  no  reason  why  we  should  import  an  ounce  cf  bacon.  We 
hear  a  great  deal  said  about  the  apathy  of  fanners  in  connection  with 
dairying  and  poultiy,  but  much  greater  force  would  attach  to  criticism 
of  their  inaction  as  regards  imported  pork.  Eggs  and  butter  are  not 
produced  without  much  labour  and  trouble,  labour  and  trouble  often 
badly  repaid,  but  the  labour  entailed  in  the  production  of  £100  worth 
of  bacou  is  hardly  worth  mentioning  when  compared  with  poultry 
learing  to  a  similar  value.  Ti  e  public  are  also  less  easily  deceived 
with  ngard  to  bacon  than  they  are  with  eggs,  for  most  people  can  tell 
the  difference  in  taste,  and  not  a  lew  the  difference  in  cooking  ;  but  to 
most  town  dwellers  an  egg  is  an  egg,  and  they  have  to  take  the  word 
of  the  provision  dealer  as  to  its  freshness  or  origin. 
Very  few  large  farmers  go  in  largely  for  hog  industry,  partly  no 
doubt  because  they  do  not  grow  Potatoes,  but  that  can  be  easily 
remedied,  and  every  occupier  of  500  acres  might  grow  eight  or  ten 
acres  with  a  view  to  pig  feeding,  but  for  marketing  when  prices  are 
satisfactory. 
Potatoes  may  also  be  used  freely  for  cattle  with  proper  care,  and 
we  have  ourselves  proved  that  for  cattle  and  pig  feeding  they  are 
worth  nearly  £3  per  ton.  With  dear  pork,  therefore,  and  scarce 
fodder,  there  must  surely  be  a  ready  outlet  for  all  the  tubers  that  are 
not  required  by  the  British  public  for  food.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that 
milk,  pigs,  and  Potatoes  are  the  rentpayers  of  the  small  farmers  whose 
success  Mr.  Eider  Haggard  describes. 
Work  on  tlie  Home  Farm. 
How  hard  and  dry  the  subsoil  had  become  is  now  abundantly  proved 
by  the  continued  difficulty  of  ploughing.  The  rain,  though  very 
beneficial  to  surface  vegetation,  has  penetrated  the  soil  to  a  very 
slight  depth,  and  none  but  those  of  a  loose  nature  are  movable  except 
by  the  aid  of  the  cultivator.  The  attempt  to  plough  strong  land  has 
proved  fatal  to  horses  in  one  case  we  are  acquainted  with,  and  unless 
rain  in  much  larger  quantities  comes  quickly  the  cultivator  will  be  the 
only  available  means  of  providing  a  seed  bed.  The  labour  is  greater 
certainly,  for  in  any  case  ploughing  must  precede  drilling,  but  if  the 
swarth  has  been  broken  up  and  worked  about,  the  land  may  be  ploughed 
one  day  and  drilled  the  next,  with  every  prospect  of  a  successful  result. 
The  soil  will  have  to  be  in  a  “  Garden  of  Eden  ”  condition  as  regards 
cleanliness  if  it  does  not  benefit  from  the  dose  of  fallowing,  and  fully 
recoup  the  outlay. 
The  crop  of  Mustard  is  still  out  in  the  field.  When  the  weather  has 
been  fine  there  have  been  heavy  night  dews,  and  the  withering  prooess 
has  been  very  slow.  Patience  will  soon  be  exhausted,  and  the  crop 
will  be  put  in  a  heap  at  the  first  possible  opportunity. 
All  foals  should  have  been  weaned  ere  this,  and  proper  attention 
and  feeding  between  now  and  Ladyday  will  be  well  repaid.  There  is  no 
necessity  for  coddling ;  foals  really  do  better  out  at  grass  as  long  as 
they  have  a  warm  shelter  during  frost  and  snow,  and  are  provided  with 
a  sufficiency  of  good  dry  food,  apart  from  any  grass  they  may  pick  np. 
We  are  sorry  that  we  can  chronicle  no  improvement  in  the  root 
crops.  A  sporting  friend,  with  favourable  opportunities  for  observa¬ 
tion,  gives  a  very  poor  report.  Early  Turnips  are  especially  bad  ;  they 
are  not  a  bad  crop,  but  so  many  are  cankered  and  rotten.  This  is  the 
more  serious,  as  grass  and  other  kinds  of  keeping  are  so  scarce.  The 
fields  look  green,  but  the  bite  must  be  a  very  near  one.  Lambs  gene¬ 
rally  are  being  folded  on  Turnips,  and  the  majority  have  the  food  cut 
for  them.  Care  is  taken  to  have  the  Turnips  up  at  least  forty-eight 
hours  before  they  are  used.  Neglect  of  this  precaution  is  responsible 
for  thousands  of  lives. 
New  Crop  Corn. — The  new  Corn  trade  year  is  not  opening  well, 
so  far  as  prices  for  home-grown  grain  are  concerned.  With  big  sales 
in  the  statute  markets,  the  offioial  average  prices  now  stand  at  26s.  2d. 
per  quarter  of  480  lbs.  for  Wheat,  24s.  lid.  per  quarter  of  400  lbs.  for 
Barley,  and  17s.  41.  per  quarter  of  312  lbs.  for  Oats.  Put  into  values 
for  equal  weights,  these  prices  represent  6s.  Id.  per  cwt.  for  Wheat, 
7s.  per  cwt.  for  Barley,  and  6s.  4d.  per  cwt.  for  Oats,  showing  that, 
weight  for  weight,  Barley  is  now  making  the  highest  price,  and  Wheat 
the  lowest.  In  arranging  for  his  sowings  for  the  coming  year,  however, 
it  is  useful  for  the  farmer  to  know  the  value  at  current  prices  of  average 
per  acre  yields  of  each  cereal.  Taking  the  past  ten  years,  an  average 
crop  of  Wheat  has  been  16  cwt.  per  acre,  of  Barley  15  cwt.  per  acre, 
and  of  Oats  14  cwt.  This  gives  ns  £4  17s.  4d.  as  the  present  market 
value  of  an  average  acre  of  Wheat,  £5  5s.  for  an  average  acre  of 
Barley,  and  £4  8s  8d.  as  the  value  of  an  average  acre  of  Oats.  In  per 
acre  value  Barley  is  again  first,  but  Oats  here  occupy  the  lowest  place. 
Susslan  Crain  Returns. — Information  gathered  from  trust¬ 
worthy  sources  by  the  Minister  of  Finance  gives  the  following  as  the 
result  of  the  grain  crop  in  Russia  for  1901.  The  orop  of  winter  grain 
has  been  excellent  in  the  south-western  provinces,  and  it  has  been 
above  the  medium  in  the  Northern  Caucasus,  in  Finland,  and  in  several 
parts  of  the  western  provinces.  On  the  other  hand,  the  crop  of  winter 
train  has  only  been  mediocre  in  the  south-eastern  region  of  European 
Russia  and  on  the  shores  of  the  Sea  of  Azov.  The  Volga  Provinces 
and  those  adjoining  them  have  yielded  a  crop  partly  above  the  medium 
and  partly  bad.  The  crop  in  the  Vistula  region  and  in  several  districts 
of  the  Baltio  coast  has  not  been  satisfactory.  Throughout  the 
remainder  of  Russia  the  crop  of  winter  grain  has  been  satisfactory. 
The  spring  grain  crop  has  everywhere  been  worse  than  the  winter 
crop,  which  is  accounted  for  by  the  drought.  The  best  yields  are 
those  in  the  provinces  of  the  south-west,  where  the  crop  has  been 
above  the  medium.  The  countries  of  the  Ural  and  the  Volga,  as 
also  the  adjoining  provinces  containing  arable  land,  have  not  yielded 
very  satisfactory  results;  in  fact,  for  the  most  part,  very  bad  ones. 
The  same  has  been  the  caee  in  the  western  provinces  as  far  as  the 
shores  of  the  Baltic.  The  spring  grain  crop,  on  the  other  hand,  has 
been  satisfactory  in  the  Vistila  region  and  in  the  rest  of  Russia. 
