372- [Senate 



For my ovm part, I must say, that I remember no changes during 

 the past summer, more sudden and violent than those which occurred 

 during the preceding summer, which I also spent in this country. In- 

 deed it seems to me, that if the potato is fatally injured b^ sudden 

 changes, and cold wet weather, it never could have thriven at all in 

 this climate. The only really warm days of the past season, were in 

 June, and it was much the same in the preceding season. 



Query 21. — What are thie first symptoms of decay after storing 1 

 Are the symptoms altered by previously drying the potatoes in the 

 air 1 



The symptoms described in the answers to this query, are much the 

 same in most cases. 



Mr. Findlay, Lanarkshin, says, '^^ In spite of the pains taken to 

 exclude all tubers visibly infected, and to store in narrow pits or bogs, 

 my potatoes after being thus stored, very soon showed symptoms of 

 heat." 



Mr. Elliott J Hardgrove. "The first symptoms of decay after sto- 

 ring, are, w^hite mould comes out all over the potato and the brownish 

 color of the diseased part becomes darker." 



Mr. Girdwood, Corstorphine. " It seems almost impossible to pre- 

 vent their heating if stored at all." 



Mr. Pagaii, Dumfriesshire. '' When close pitted they get heated 

 and become mouldy." 



Mr. Gillespie, Annan Bank. " A. mouldiness very soon takes place, 

 heat and rottenness soon follow." 



Mr. McBride, Wigtonshire. " After storing, all those affected 

 soon get covered over with a white mould or fungus, as far as the dis- 

 ease extends. Exposure to the air dries it up, and seems in the mean- 

 time to check its progress." 



Mr. Kennedy y Stranraer, mentions a fact which does not seem to 

 have occurred to, or have been noticed by, any one else. " A sub- 

 stance resembling cream, oozes from the skin, which soon affects those 

 that are comparatively sound." 



W^ith this exception, the unanimous report is, that the potatoes 

 stored in close pits, soon heat, ferment and mould, and that the decay 

 proceeds much faster if they are stored wet= 



