352 [Senate 



In the laboratory of the Agricultural Chemistry Association, chemi- 

 cal researches on an extended scale are commenced, and will be car- 

 ried on during the coming year. 



The purely scientific investigations must be slow, and a long time 

 must elapse ere by means of them we can come to any absolute con- 

 clusion that shall involve a full explanation both of the cause and the 

 remedy. In chemistry, for instance, it is necessary to make organic 

 and inorganic analyses, of both sound and diseased potatoes, of diffe- 

 rent kinds, from a great variety of soils, grown with different manures, 

 imder different circumstances, and at different stages of growth. Even 

 persons unacquainted with the long processes of analysis, may see that 

 this involves at least the labors of one or two seasons. 



While these investigations are in progress, the gentlemen engaged in 

 them have been active in their endeavors to give immediate aid, in the 

 preservation of the present crop. 



" Provisional suggestions, for the preservation of the potato crop of 

 the present year," were drawn up and published by Prof. Johnston 

 and Mr. Fleming, of Barochan, at an early period; and so far as I have 

 been able to observe, these suggestions embody nearly all of what is 

 really useful, in that which has since been suggested by others. 



Immediately after the publication of the suggestions, a series of que- 

 ries drawn up by Prof. Johnston and Mr. Fleming, were transmitted 

 to many of the most skillful practical farmers in Scotland, with the re- 

 quest that they should return full and explicit answers. These an- 

 swers are sent to Prof. Johnston, and he has commenced publishing 

 them, in order that the knowledge thus gained, may be at once disse- 

 minated, and that it may call forth fresh accessions of experience from 

 others. 



I have now before me four numbers of this publication, containing 

 letters from 57 practical agriculturists, and furnishing accounts from 23 

 counties. 



I can in no way give so clear an idea of the features of the disease 

 in Scotland, its extent, and the means used or recommended, to pre- 

 serve the crop, as by abstracts of these answers. For the more full 

 development of the subject, I will take up each query separately, and 

 give all the information that I can collect from the answers, from my 



