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rate, and require renewal. Potatoes raised from the seed of the berry 

 will continue to bear berries for several years, whilst those raised from 

 tubers scarcely ever bear berries. It is a great mistake to suppose that 

 raising potatoes from the berry, will prevent the rot. I have seen young 

 seedlings in the hotbeds, destroyed by the rot. 



It is also a mistake to say that fall planting, or keeping the tuber in 

 the soil all winter, will prevent the rot; it will do no such thing. I 

 have several times planted potatoes in the fall, and although their pro- 

 duce in some cases, turned out well, if not ripe in time, they were as 

 liable to be destroyed by the rot, as the spring sowings. One good 

 point in fall planting, is that by this treatment the tuber is not wasted 

 by fruitless sprouting in pits or cellars, but fall planting cannot be adop- 

 ted in this country on account of the frost, and it is useless to dwell on 

 plans which are impracticable. The system which I recommend is sim- 

 ple and practicable, it is according to the principles of scientific hus- 

 bandry, and agrees with reason and common sense. 



I would certainly keep the potato in the soil all winter, but in a situ- 

 ation totally different from that which some recommend. I would 

 keep the tubers securely stowed away in a root house, pit or cellar, with 

 the intervals between them filled with clay or sand, and in every way 

 well secured from rain and frost; I would plant the tubers before they 

 were weakened by sprouting, and my principal care would be to have 

 the crop ripe, or nearly so, before the appearance of blight. Late 

 sown crops of any kind are generally subject to disease, but late potatoes 

 are almost invariably of inferior quality, and are sometimes entirely 

 destroyed by the rot, whilst early sowings escape that malady. 



I will now produce the testimony of impartial witnesses to prove that 

 the disease is atmospheric, and this is the most important point to be 

 decided. 



Beginning with 1845, the first year of blight, I will make an extract 

 from the Report of the Commission of Agriculture ef the Province of 

 Gioningen, in Holland, on the potato disease. After some preliminary 

 remarks, the report thus proceeds: The intense heat of the summer of 

 1845 was succeeded by cold and rainy weather, which lasted from the 

 15th of July to the end of the month of August. On the 21st and 

 22d of July, an extraordinary fog was perceived in many places. On 

 the 28th of July the first symptoms of disease were discovered in the 



