106 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



the gravel or sand before it reaches the clay, and in a 

 parallel direction wilh the edge of the deposit. In some 

 cases the merely perforating the clay in one continuous 

 line from oup gravel bed to another to the lowest level 

 will al^o equally well effect the object. The drains 

 must invariably bo deep enough to release the gravel 

 altogether, and a previous knowledge of their extent 

 and situation ought to be ascertained. No other 

 description of draining is so difficult to perform as Ibis, 

 or when done, repays so largely for the operation. Wo 

 might go on mnltiplying precedents ad injinitumj but 



it is not oxir intention to raise discussion, so much as 

 to point out general principles to obviate it. 



"WatfU' is the source of sustentation of the ani- 

 mal and vegetable kingdoms. The agriculturist, more 

 especially than all others, becomes subjected to its in- 

 fluence. The smallest quantity, either in excess or de- 

 ficiency, is to him severe injury or proportionate gain. 

 If, therefore, we have cleared away any of the im- 

 pediments by which its withdrawal can be effected, we 

 have not toiled entirely in vain, even if we only suc- 

 ceed in obtaining attention. 



REGENERATION OF THE POTATO BY CUTTINGS. 



[translated from the FRENCH OF THE "JOURNAL d'aGRICULTURE PRATiaUE."] 



The Agricultural Chronicle, of the first fortnight in 

 December, has in a spirited manner exposed both the 

 precipitous haste of the searchers after the philosopher's 

 stone, and the emptiness of those brilliant panaceas 

 which are produced on all sides as soon as a question of 

 a somewhat serious character has been brought before 

 the public. But all this noise quickly subsides when 

 the cause which has occasioned it is removed, and we 

 trouble ourselves as Utile about it afterwards as before. 

 We knew of no means of preventing it, and submitted 

 to it with every symptom of impatience ; but we do not 

 take into account the possibility of its return. What an 

 agitation was caused on the occasion of the potato 

 disease, of the scouige that attacked the vine, of the 

 disease which was announced in the beetroot ! Is there 

 any other produce which is not justly entitled to solve 

 this important problem — " Life at a cheap rata " ? 

 But how prompt are all voices, erewhile so noisy, to 

 become silent or to change the theme ! One question 

 expels another even to forgetfulness, without the confu- 

 sion it occasioned having conducted to any good end. 



" A mountain in labour uttered a cry so clamorous, 

 Tliat eveiy one ran at the noi^e, believing 

 It was about to be dehvered of a city greater than Paris. 

 It brought forth a mouse 1" 



The pota'.o disease is exhausted, and, thank God, tends 

 to disappear*. It has been this season less general and 

 less intense. We have spoken of it much, but it now 

 engages much less of our attention. " Remedies are 

 powerless to heal this disease," said the Agricultural 

 Chronicle, of the second fortnight of August ; and, in 

 its turn, silence threatens to invade this question. We love 

 to see a thing worthy of attention remain " the order of 

 the day" to a complete solution. Whilst we have not 

 found any means of preventing the return of the potato 

 disease, we think there will be great utiHty in bringing 

 it forward again : " It is the dead only that it is needful 

 to bury." Besides, we are probably not far from the 

 end. 



A practical man, learned'and modest, began in 1849, 

 experiments, which he has renewed every year since 

 then, having no other object than " the regeneration of 

 the potato." His labours deserve to be known, and his 

 experiments have need to be repeated by a great number, 

 in order to be either confirmed or invalidated. In a 

 word, they ought to be either repulsed or accepted, 

 according as numerous facts, everywhere observed, and 

 collected, establish or confute them. 



M. Decoste, a former military veterinary surgeon at 

 Sesanne, states that walking in his garden wholly occu- 

 pied with the continuance and serious nature of the 

 potato disease, the idea struck him of cutting some 



* Tliia was written in 1855. 



stalks of that plant, and pricking them into pots 

 filled with mellow earth. He was quite in ignorance 

 as to what this first attempt might lead ; it was only a 

 pilot balloon, and it went forth without pretension or 

 interruption. The only thing that the experimenter 

 proposed to himself was to ot)serve carefully and note 

 down exactly, all his observations. The result was fa- 

 vourable. M. Decoste had the satisfaction of seeing 

 that most of the cuttings that he had planted followed 

 the ordinary phases of vegetation. He obtained from 

 them small, but perfectly healthy tubers, which he after- 

 wards employed in making new experiments. Seven 

 years of consecutive culture have filled M. Decoste with 

 hope and confidence that he is possibly on the eve of a 

 useful discovery, ^interesting in the highest degree to 

 the agricultural world ; and it is Cv'^rtainly the least we 

 can do to give him the opportunity of rendering an 

 account of his experiments: 



" ' Of all the means employed for multiplying the good 

 qualities of the potato,' says Parmentier, ' and to 

 prevent them degenerating, there is none more efficacious 

 than sowing the seed. It is necessary from time to 

 time to renew and perfect in this manner the species we 

 intend to regenerate and propagate.' 



" Unfortunately a multitude of experiments have 

 invalidated this assertion, and proved that the seeds 

 have produced crops of diseased potatoes. 



"Up to the present time the process by cuttings 

 appears to have a better chance, and offers more certain 

 guarantees for the crop, than a perfectly healthy sowing, 

 and of which the ulterior products should be exempt 

 from the disease. Is it not, to say the least, to this con- 

 clusion that the results of the following experiments 

 lead us ? 



'^ First Year. — In the month of August 1849 I 

 pricked four cuttings of potatoes into a pot filled with 

 a mixture of earth and vegetable mould. The stalks, 

 preserving their verdure, gave out vigorous shoots. To- 

 wards the beginning of November tlie leaves faded from 

 maturity, and the sialics became dry, as at the termina- 

 tion of all healthy vegetation. I then turned out the 

 pot, and rummaged amongst the earth, and found at 

 each of the cuttings there were tubers, healthy in ap- 

 pearance and varying in size from a hazel-nut to a 

 walnut. 



" Second Year.— In April, 1850, I planted the small 

 potatoes produced from the cuttings of the previous 

 August, 1849. In July following I took from vigorous 

 and luxuriant shoots a number of cuttings, which were 

 planted in different kinds of earth. This was undoubt- 

 edly the most effectual means of ascertaining the precise 

 value of the process, either confirming or invalidating 

 the results of the preceding crop. 



