259 



at a poiut, and its spawn spreads like fire in nitrous paper. So exceed- 

 ingly small is the plant that with the aid of a good lens I am not able to 

 see the fructification distinctly, but when examined with the higher pow- 

 ers of the compound microscope it is a beautiful object, the fructification 

 having something of the appearance of bunches of grapes — hence the 

 generic name Botrytis. 



In an inquiry like this, it is a matter of some consequence to know the 

 qualifications of the men who decided that a fungus is the cause of the 

 potatoe blight. Were they qualified by their previous knowledge and by 

 their opportunities to be competent observers ? 



The Commissioners appointed to inquire into the matter by Sir Robert 

 Peel, of whom the celebrated botanist, Prof. Lindley, was one, acknow- 

 ledged that Mr. Berkeley was eminent above all other naturalists of 

 Britain for his knowledge of the habits of fungi. When the disease ap- 

 peared in England in 1845, Mr. Berkeley was residing in the country in 

 the midst of potatoe fields. On the 23rd of August Dr. Lindley pub- 

 lished an article, in which he hastily and most unfortunately ascribed the 

 rot to atmospheric influences, to the cold, cloudy, and wet nature of the 

 season. On the 26th of August, Mr. Berkeley received from his friend. 

 Dr. Montague, of Paris, some potatoe leaves infested with the parasite, 

 and at that date Mr. Berkeley wrote to Dr. Lindley apprising him of this, 

 and said, that he had inquired in every direction and could hear of no 

 tidings of the disease in his neighborhood, and that his own crops were 

 never more abundant or finer. A few days afterwards the disease reached 

 Korth amp ton shire, and Mr. Berkeley, like Prof. Morren, followed its 

 progress in various potatoe fields. The result of his observations at that 

 time and afterwards may be briefly summed up. He found that the same 

 fungus which had been forv/arded to him by Dr. Montague, from France, 

 which Prof. Morren found preying upon the plants in Belgium, and 

 which was a species new to all of them, in every case preceded the 

 work of destruction. It attacked the leaves when green, or yellowish 

 green, and caused them to decay. The attack on the leaves preceded 

 the putrefaction of the stems. The partial decay of the stems preceded 

 the decay of the tubers, and those tubers nearest the stem or surface of 

 the soil were generally first tainted ; and the same mould which springs 

 from the substance of the leaves uniformly bursts forth from the tubors 

 exactly at the spot where the decay originates. That the mould pro- 

 ceeds from within, Mr. Berkeley can state from personal observation, and 



