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POTATO DISEASE. \^\ 



Where betakes shiners in quantity, he may fail to secure a solitary 

 trout, although the latter fish is abundant, and when in the mood 

 is not averse to bait. 



There is no kind of fish but what will take a bait, and it is 

 equally true that there is no kind of potato that is not more or less 

 susceptible to disease. The Garnet Chili, and some others of Mr. 

 Goodrich's seedlings, have exhibited a great power of resistance to 

 the rot, but even J. G. W. does not aflSrm that this variety is to- 

 tally exempt from disease. J. Talcott, who cultivates the Garnet 

 Chili at Rome, but a few miles from Utica, reports that with him 

 they have rotted for three years, last year 20 bushels out of 180, 

 " being affected more or less, so that they are not fit to use." 



In Germany, Dr. Klotzsch in the year 1850, produced a hybrid 

 seedling by impregnating the flower of a " right vigorous" potato, 

 with pollen from the Solanum utile, a species differing from the 

 ordinary potato, Solanum tuberosum, in having an aromatic fruit, 

 (seed ball.) 



This so-called Bastard potato had hardy qualities, similar to those 

 possessed by Mr. Goodrich's seedlings. In 1856 it was entirely 

 unaffected at Berlin, when all other varieties were totally over- 

 powered by the disease. Dr. Schacht, the eminent Botanist, says 

 of this potato "that the foliage is firmer, and the cuticle of the 

 stem and leaves, which in the common potato is extremely delicate 

 is thick, and beset with wart-like prominences. The tubers have 

 extraordinary solidity, and the cell partitions are much thicker and 

 stronger than in the common potato." 



Here we have an example of a potato capable of withstanding 

 the rot, when other kinds were badly damaged, and the reason of its 

 hardiness is to be found in the great resistance opposed by its firm 

 tissues to the boring of the fungus. Dr. Klotzsch was of the opin- 

 ion, when he produced this seedling, that the renewal of constitu- 

 tion occasioned by raising from seed, was the secret of its im- 

 munity from the rot, but this idea had to be abandoned, for in 1856, 

 Dr. Ludersdorflf informs us that he saw this potato infected with 

 the disease. In Germany other kinds of potatoes are known, viz.: 

 Ockel's Rio Frio, the Onion potato of Saxony, and the Green or 

 Heiligenstadt potato, which have shown an uncommon power of 

 resisting the rot. The last mentioned is recommended as especially 

 adapted to wet and heavy soils ; but it is unfit for table use. De 

 Bary, however, afiSrms for Germany what we have yet to learn to 



