TRANSACTIONS. 359 



of a small quantity of plaster, ashes, lime, salt, or a mix- 

 ture of some of these, applied to the hill at the time of 

 planting the seed, does, sometimes, add much to the quan- 

 tity and quality of the crop, without increasing its liability 

 to disease ; while a free use of strong, rich, nnfermented 

 manures seems directly to induce disease, producing rank^ 

 ill-flavored, unhealthy tubers. 



Five or six farmers in this town, whose potatoes have rot- 

 ted badly since they were put in their cellars, made a free 

 use of unfermented manure upon their potato ground last 

 spring. I have made frequent inquiries of other farmers 

 who did not use green manure for their potato ground, and 

 in no instance have I learned that any of these farmers 

 have lost by the dry or any other rot. So far as I can 

 learn, it seems to be the opinion of most farmers that green 

 manure seems to induce disease. 



For two or three years after the appearance of the rot, 

 I continued to manure (as I had previously done,) with 

 fresh manure ; but my potatoes rotted badly, both before 

 and after they were dug. Then, for some years, I used no 

 fresh dung for the potato crop — the yield was usually light, 

 but generally sound. Tired of digging " small potatoes," 

 in the spring of 1853, I thought I would try for "large po- 

 tatoes." I manured about sixty rows of green-sward land 

 with the winter made manure from my dung shed, plowed 

 about eight inches deep, raised a large crop, some appear- 

 ances of rot when dug; they were stored in an out-door 

 cellar; in the spring more than one-third of them were 

 worthless from " dry rot." 



The two last years I have used Peruvian and Mexican 

 guano ; also superphosphate of lime, and lien manure and 

 muck. Of the three lirst named kinds, used a large tea- 

 spoonful to the hill at the time of planting — a larger quan- 

 tity of the last named was used ; the result, a good yield 

 of sound potatoes. The Chenango has been tlie most lia- 

 ble to disease, so much so, that I had given them up. Last 



