The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1880-04-17 00:00:00

THE CULTURE OF THE POTATO.

The Committee of the International Potato Exhibition have,
In view of the National Relief of the Irish Distress, sent to
Her Majesty's Government the following recommendations
for the growth and cultivation of this tuber :

1. The land intended to be planted with potatoes
should be effectually drained, for if it become saturated
.with moisture at any time while occupied with the
crop, disease is likely to ensue. The neglect of drainage
in potato culture has been so largely attended with dis-
appointment and disaster that it is impossible to over-
rate the importance of the subject.

2. The land should be prepared by deep digging and
liberal manuring with what ever cheap fertifsers the
district will readily afford. The cow-byre and pig-
stye should be regarded as supplying life to the
potato crop. Weeds'ancl parings of heath soil burnt
in small heaps carefully stopped with earth or clear-
ings of ditches to prevent flame, will furnish an
excellent fertiliser at little cost and suitable for every
kind of soil. Where the land is poor and sandy, a
mixture of kainit and superphosphate orlime, to. be
used at the rate of from three to five hundredweight
per acre, would be likely to prove highly valuable in
aid of the crop. In places contiguous to the sea, the
people should be encouraged to manure their potato
plots with seaweed, wrack, shells, and sea-sand, all of
which contain minerals that conduce directly to the
healthy growth of the potato.

3. Only on dry sandy soils should the dibber be used
in planting potatoes. The best mode of planting is to
open shallow trenches with the spade or' plough, and
lay the seed therein at regular distances, to,be covered
about four inches deep only in the first instance.
When the sha,ws first show, the ground should be well
worked between with fork, hoe, orplough, to keep down
weeds and admit air into the body of the soil. In
about three weeks afterwards they should be moulded
up. It should be impressed upon all cultivators that
to mould the plant overmuch is injurious. It is suffi-
cient if the growing tubers are fairly covered. Indeed,
if a few are exposed, and become green in consequence,
there is no loss entailed, for they can be sand for
seed.

4. In planting on the poorest soils, a distance of at
least twenty inches from row to row, and of nine
inches from seed to seed, should be allowed. Generally
speaking, with land of average quality and sorts of
average growth, a distance of 2ft. Gin, between the
rows, and of one foot between the seeds, will be found
the best. Sorts that are known to be rank in growth
must have ample space allowed for the spreading of
the shams to the light and air, and with these a dis-
tance of three feet or even four feet between the rows
will be requisite. So far as may be possible, plantiw,
on light dry lands should be completed during the
month of March, and on heavy lands during the month
of April. Good crops may be expected from seed
planted in May if the work is well done, but the
'danger of delay in the planting is that the increasing
warmth of the season compels the seed to sprout
unduly, and thus leads to a waste of energy. Every
detail of potato culture should have in view to conserve
the original vigour of the plant.
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5. The sorts specially recommended for general cul-
turs on heavy soils, and for districts where the rainfall
is considerable, are Scotch champion, redskin flourball,
magnum bonum, Irish cup, Perthshire red, and white
rock. The sorts specially recommended for light land
and for districts that have a moderate rainfall are
early rose, late rose, beauty of Hebron' Manhattan,
Victoria,' Grampian Skerry blue. All those recom-
mended fo-r heavy land may be planted on light land,
but those recommended for light land should not be
planted on heavy land.
6. The practice of planting small refuse seed has
contributed in a most material degree to the deteriora-
tion of the potato, not only in Ireland but, throughout
Europe. Any seed tnber weighing less than an ounce
and a-half is unfit for planting' and it is to be preferred
that tubers averaging two to four ounces should be
selected. Seed that has sprouted but little or not at all
is to be preferred to that which has made much growth
in store.

7. The proper cultivation and improvement of the
potato may be greatly promoted by means of com-
petitive exhibitions, at which prizes should be awarded
for the best samples, true to name, presented in a
clean and attractive manner. In the schedules of all
agricultural and horticultural exhibitiQns classes should
be provided for potatoes, with a view to quicken
inquiry and promote a permanent interest in the
rational treatment of the plant and the selection of the
most useful varieties for particular soils and climates.
8. The so-called " lazy-bed " system of potato grow-
ing should be discouraged except in cases where
proximity to towns ensures a ready and profitable
market for early crops of small-growing sorts of high
mitality. The robust habited kinds, on which alone
dependence should be placed for main crops in agri-
cultural districts, are scarcely amenable to the system,
which necessitates close planting and tends directly to
degeneracy of the stock.