COMMUNICATIONS. 



POTATO EOT. 



The main facts in regard to the history and development of this 

 destructive disease have long been familiar to scientific men, and 

 the results of their investigations have been so fully made known 

 to the public that it is not possible to present much that is new 

 on the subject, or to throw much additional light on the question 

 in regard to its primary cause, or on the methods for prevention 

 or cure; but as it is a subject in which not only farmers but the 

 public generally are largely interested, both on personal and pe- 

 cuniary grounds, it seems advisable to restate, in another form, 

 facts that are already known in regard to it. To those who are 

 not acquainted with the hidden agents, forces perhaps, that are 

 operating in the natural world around us, it will be instructive, 

 and should the presentation of the subject at length lead to a 

 closer observation of the conditions accompanying the disease in 

 its various stages, facts may be brought to light that will prove 

 beneficial. 



Dr. Thomas Taylor, microscopist of the agricultural depart- 

 ment, in response to a personal request, and in accordance with 

 instructions courteously given by Commissioner Loring, has 

 kindly contributed an original article and also sent a number of 

 communications from Professor Worthington G. Smith, a well 

 known English observer on this subject. Professor Taylor also 

 furnished the accompanying cuts or drawings from which they 

 were made. It might have been in better taste to have limited 

 the presentation of the subject to these papers alone, but as each 

 paper presents different parts or stages of the disease, and taken 

 together do not give a full history of it, a plain, connected state- 

 ment of its complete development may not be regarded as out of 

 place, and by the explanation of some of the scientific terms 



17 — HORT. 



