The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1880-10-09 00:00:00

AUTUMN PLANTING OF POTATOES

The Times on Thursday in last week published a
letter from Mr. James Howard, Clapham-park, Bed-
fordshire, in which that gentleman related the favour-
able result of an experiment in the autumn-planting
of potatoes (as advocated by "A Country Parson" in
a letter which appeared in The Times om August 30,
1E79). The subject has evoked the following corre-
spondence in The Times :
Sir,—ln the last week of October, 1879, I planted in my
garden two rows of potatoes about seven inches deep. In
April, 1830, I planted several rows next to the October
planted. The April planted in due time came to the front,
but I concluded the frost had "cooked" my October planted,
as they made no signs. In a week or two they appeared, and
their growth was fast and furious. The haulm was the most
luxuriant I ever saw, but, alas! when the time came to take
them up they were an utter failure, hardly a tuber to be
found, but no disease. The April planted yielded fairly.
This is the experience of a Cockney amateur who does not
intend to plant potatoes in October again.—G. 31., Hamil-
ton-terrace, N.W.

Sir, —Like Mr. Howard, I was induced by a letter from
'A Country Parson" to try his plan of planting potatoes in
October, but with a different result from that recorded by
Mr. Howard. On the 10th of October last year, I planted a
plot in my garsien with Myat's prolific dibbling, the sets
being put in 61n. deep; an adjoinine, plot of the same size
was planted with the same sort of 'potatoes in March, the
sets being put in 4in. deep. The spring planted plot showed
first, but the winter ones mere not far behind, coming up
very regularly, scarcely a set missing' showing that although
planted only 61n. deep, the frost had not injured them. The
spring potatoes were dug up first, and produced 20 bushels
of excellent, sound potatoes, there being only one or two
P
• diseased ones in the lot, and they have kept well. The
winter ones were harvested three days afterwards, and the
but more than half of them have since gone bad. The leayes
produce was only 12 bushels of apparently sound potatoes,
of the winter planted plot were spotted, and the spring ones
quite clean.—Your obedient servant, JOHN L. STRATTON,
Tnrweston-house, Brackley, Oct. 2.

Sir,—lf growers of potatoes will Sprinkle over the tubers
and their manure some spent brewers' hops, the earthworms
will be scared away, the tubers will not be robbed of their
manurial nourishment, and the crop, when ripe for digging,
will come up very clean witk less disease.
- •

If the haulms of potatoes and all peelings were burnt,
potato disease would be less everywhere.—l am, Sir, yours
very truly, JCHN CADDY, M.D., 82, Redeliffe-square, S.W.

Sir,—On reading Mr. James Howard's letter of September
27 last, I decided to try the effect of planting potatoes
"late in October or early in November."

On speaking to my bailiff I was surprised to find he had
practised this plan some thirty years since, when living near
Pershore. A Mr. Wilson Hunt introduced the plan there,
and always had first-rate crops Ile planted in the
autumn ; (2) covered the patch over with long manure; (3)
raked off in the spring all the manure that was left; (4)
when the potato shoots appeared he ''forked" lightly in
between them and the rows, afterwards " hoeing " in the
customary manner.
I intend to follow these directions, taking care to have the
potatoes planted at least Pin. deep, because my bailiff tells
me "the frost took them one winter." He does not recol-
lect how many inches deep they had been planted when this
happened.—l am, Sir, your obedient servant, EDWARD
AIiCHER. Beresford-house, Malvern, Oct. 2.

Sir,—My friend the late Mr. George Darling, of Fowberry
Tower, in tho county of Northumberland, practised autumn
potato sowing with great success upwards of 30 years ago
in his garden, and to a small extent in his fields. lie told
me that three important conditions must in practice be
strictly observed, viz. ;—(1) you must use small whole pota-
toes for your sets, or seed; (2) you must plant your sets not
less than Pin. or 10in, deep, and put a liberal allowance of
stable manure over and in contact with the sets; and (3)
you must plant in ground that has a slillht slope, so that
water cannot lodze. He was induced to try this plan from
observing how early and vigorous the potato plants always
were that grew from any piece of potato accidentally left in
the ground.—Your obedient servant, GOLFRAY SINCLAIR,
Udny Castle, Udny, N.B.