“But its no good, with the danger of dying when one is unaware.”
Lucie says anxiously. Although I understand that feeling, with at most 200 people, information will be able to spread properly in the elf village.
In addition, there is a reason that they must be grown no matter what.
“Still, to tell the evil truth, other than being able to harvest in merely 3 months and being nutritious, above all it is delicious. There is no such plant elsewhere.
To have plentiful for winter, I have no choice but to rely on this.
Frankly, there is not enough surplus in the case of emergency stockpile now, and from my reading, there will be trouble afterwards if there is not enough emergency stores for the elves to tide through.
Evidence is better than debating, since you will know its goodness from eating it, look, i cooked one.”
“Do i have to eat it?”
“You don’t have to, but I want Lucie to eat it.”
“Uuu, I got it,”
Just before leaving, I handed the still warm steamed potato to Lucie. Salt is the only seasoning.
Lucie who received that, shouted out enthusiastically before stuffing her cheeks.
“Ah, its soft and flaky and tender tasting, I may come to like this!”
“Right? And the quantity of crops is also extremely different from wheat. Roughly, planting this would yield about 20 times increase. Besides, it is easier to grow compared to wheat.
It’s really an excellent crop.”
In this era, it takes considerable labor to increase wheat planted by 5 times. The potato is overwhelmingly superior in comparison.
“That’s amazing. If planted in this big glass house, that would be enough to get through winter. I already crushed the wheat field for next year, should I grow the devil’s fruit?
Wheat takes 10 month to harvest, and almost everything is lost after threshing, compared to this devil’s fruit is much better.
With part from 2 boxes, strictly only harvesting all in this building, there might be enough quantity to be sprinkle onto the village’s field from next year onward. You should hurry up with that.”
I smiled wryly and said.
“The fruit of the devil, I said its actually called potato right?
Basically when one gets sick, there are a lot of situation when all will get the same illness. Since potato has to be grown, at that time, food in the village will run out.
That’s why when growing potatoes, there must be an ironclad rule to grow it in the situation where potatoes are completely wipe out and we are still fine.”
There are plenty of examples where villages and towns that has potato as a staple food perished. The famous one is in Ireland during the 19th century.
While various factors are involved, due to large scale spreading of disease for the potato, in just 4 years nearly 30% of 1.5 million Irish people who depended on potato as a staple food died from hunger, and a dire consequence of 40% of 2 million people fleeing overseas as refugees.
Although the potato is excellent, with explosive propagation saving tens of millions of people, but at the same time killing tens of millions of people.
A typical disease is the hollow stalk disease. No matter how one struggle, it is not possible to completely guard against it, at times just on one occasion might cause the annihilation of the whole potato field. If one is dependent on potato for food, the entire village will face a famine in no time.
One must not miss its disadvantage just because its convenient. Since I’m taking care of all the lives in the village, I must not fail.
“There is a pitfall in everything.”
“There are still others. Since the potato absorbs too much nutrients from the soil, successive growing on the same location would half the harvest. In addition, parasitic worms in a potato is burdensome, and the countermeasure is to not grow potato for 2 years on a plot of land that has just done it.”
Although I do not understand this world, potatoes are part of Solanaceae family and burdensome parasites called nematode occurs within them. This fellow clings to the roots of the potato and lays countless eggs.
Although there is no influence on the body, production would decrease sharply if an outbreak is permitted once, and the potatoes does not grow at all if it increases too much. In addition, even without parasitism, this fellow can survive for 10 years or longer in it’s egg state.
So once potatoes are harvested, plants of Solanaceae family is not planted for 2 years. By doing so, while the land where too much nutrients was absorbed recovers, outbreak of the parasite is prevented.
Still, since the eggs remaining on the ground lives for more than 10 years, their number increases little by little, sooner or later it becomes impossible to harvest potatoes in that field anymore.
In land that is known for sure these guys do not exist, if it’s possible to grow potatoes without parasites, measure will not be necessary. However that’s impossible in the present world.
“Even if its possible to harvest in 3 months, it’s painful to not be able to use it for 2 years.”
“Meanwhile, normally a different crop is usually grown. Parasites only live off crops of the same kind as potato.”
“Normally…, are there any other ways?”
“An opposite way of thinking. Discarding the land which potatoes has been raised once. You know, land is excessive. One just has to set up another glass house. It is possible to construct the glass house and plow the soil in a single day.”
So, there is no problem if it’s grown on uncontaminated land.
However, when those guy’s habitat enlarges along the soil, it will be the same wherever it’s planted. And because the bottom of this glass house could be made with bricks and set 3 m below ground, it could be isolated from the outside.
Moreover, without heat draining from the soil with this measures, there is the target of improving the effect of heat insulation too.
No matter to what extent these guys can propagate in this glass house, as long as it can’t get out from this glass house, potatoes can be grown in a new field in peace.
“Only Syril is able to do such a thing….. but indeed every time a glass house is put up, sooner or later land is used up and it’s wasteful.”
“Of course, I can reuse it. they are weak to water. while growing potatoes in a different location, water will be filled to exterminate them.”
And it’s also because I’ll fill it with water, that’s why I had undergone the trouble of intentionally covering the underground with bricks.
“And after they have died, water is released and dried, from then on its fine to use it as you please. Those guys, even if you say they are weak to water, they will keep living for 3 months. In addition, during summer and spring, it will be in effective if the water temperature is not high. Anything below, it will not die.”
And, this method was also finally discovered on earth in 2013.
A clear extermination method was not discovered till then.
From 1400, measures have been continuously sought, and finally in 2013 an effective measure was discovered, the fear of parasites can be understood when I think about it.
“Its a parasite that’s as frightening as it’s persistence, isn’t it. Ah, I see. the glass house is for that reason right? Because it’s warm here, it can be exterminated at any time.”
“You understood it well. That’s right. only here, these persistent guys are not very difficult.”
As far as I know of the bad things, although it isn’t in the top 3, it falls within the edge of worst 100.
“And so with the long introduction completed, let me plant the potato. Planting will be done in a done if it’s done by 2 people.”
I throw the contents out of the wooden box while saying so. Then, potatoes with sprouts are scatted around the area.
“Hey, those place in that box have not start budding yet?”
“That was done deliberately. Planting it that way is better. I expose all of them, except those that Lucie ate, to sunlight for budding so that it can be planted anytime.”
By the way, this work was done in the workshop on the outskirts of the village.
Exposed to the outside sun in the day, it was allowed to germinate.
Incidentally, in order to increase the harvest even a little, I when through the painful effort of dividing larger potatoes into 4 quarters while not injuring the growing bud to increase seed potatoes.
Thanks to that, the total number of seed potatoes made is 402. .
The soil was prepared by earth magic yesterday and 7 lines of soil ridges that rises above was done in intervals every 70cm, and from the ridge on the right edge, a seed potato was planted every 40cm.