The Potato

1913

Truby King Collection SB 211 P8 GV89

London: Constable & Co.

When growing up, a school chum remarked on King’s ability to focus: ‘Nothing would ever divert him from the particular line of thought he was on at the moment’ (Chapman, p.33). When King became Superintendent of Seacliff Lunatic Asylum in 1889, he also became a farmer. Seacliff was designated a Farm Asylum, with land stretching to about 400 hectares. He encouraged patients to work outdoors as a way to achieve improved fitness and to keep occupied. He also applied a system to obtain the best produce possible. The potato came under his scrutiny, and the yields were so successful that many ended up at the markets in Auckland. Grubb and Guilford’s The Potato was no doubt one book he consulted.