THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



107 



" Placed ia conditions more generale, and consequently 

 less exceptionable than in 1849, these cuttings yielded 

 to the common laws of vegetation ; they faded before 

 they resumed that vigour which had led me to select 

 them ; but this weakness of the stalks was of short 

 duration. These soon recovered their primitive strength, 

 and threw out in good time new shoots full of sap and 

 hope. 



" I was impatient of success, and wished to detect the 

 facts in their progress and development, if I may so 

 express it. During the first days of October I took up 

 seme of the cuttings, and already the roots showed 

 themselves well furnished with small tubers of healthy 

 appearance. There was nothing to do but to leave them 

 to increase in size and reach maturity ; and in November 

 I gathered potatoes of excellent quality, and weighing 

 on the average from 30 to 34 grammes (about 1 oz.). 



" Third Year. — The crop of 1850 furnished me with 

 the seed of my plantation of 1851, wliich was made in 

 April, like the preceding one. The 5th of July I took 

 cuttings, which were again pricked into various kinds 

 of mould; the crop was taken up on the 20th of Sep- 

 tember, before completely mature : it was at once 

 abundant, and fine in the quality of^the tubers, which 

 were sent, with the cuttings attached, to the exposition 

 of agricultural products of the Agricultural Society of 

 Chalons-sur-Marne. 



" Fourth Year. — The potatoes of the harvest of 1851 

 were planted the 25th of March, 1852, namely — 1st, in 

 dry sand, such as is used in paving the streets ; 2nd, in 

 a sandy earth ; 3rd, in a calcareous earth ; 4th, in an 

 earth with clayey subsoil ; 5th and lastly, in an earth 

 said to be of good quality, both by nature and its state 

 of cultivation. 



"The 10th of June I separated cuttings which I 

 planted in the same soil as that of the plants from which 

 they were taken. 



"According to the proportions, the crop was satis- 

 factory in each kind of soil. The cuttings pricked in 

 the dry sand were frequently watered. The tubers had 

 a thin and glossy skin, a firm and close pulp containing 

 little vegetable water, and presenting to the taste the 

 flavour of potatoes of first qu;tlity. 



" Towards the 25th of July I had been able to take 

 new cuttings from the first, and plant them in their turn, 

 and I obtained from them a crop as abundant and fine. 

 The vegetation of the first cuttings was so active and 

 vigorous that I have measured stalks from half a metre 

 to one metre in height (or from 15 to 30 inches). The 

 tubers taken from the good earth weighed from IjO to 

 235 grammes (or from 41 to 7^ oz.). 



"The experiment of 1852 presented this peculiarity, 

 that the planting produced three crops in the same 

 season, one the produce of the tuber itself, the two others 

 from successive cuttings, 



" The facts have been repeated precisely the same in 

 1853, 1854, and 1855, and they appear so ranch the 

 more conclusive that they have lelt nothing to wish for, 

 either in regard to the abundance of the crop or the 

 good quality of the tubers. The disease has not ap- 

 peared during the vegetation of the cuttings, and the 

 potato obtained was excellent to eat and easy to 

 preserve." 



If ive were allowed to give our conclusion, we should 

 say: 



From these seven years of conscientious experiment 

 it follows that from potatoes planted in March or April 

 we may in June or July take from each bunch some 

 stalks, plant them with the precautions usual in like 

 cases, and in the following October obtain from the 

 cuttings a crop equal to that of the primitive plantation 

 without the latter suffering from it in any manner what- 

 ever. In reality, the separation of the branches is made 



sufficiently above the soil to allow of there remaining on 

 the stalk, thus cut, most frequently two eyes (axil of 

 the leaves), from whence spring new shoots, which will 

 amply suffice, with the non-mutilafed stalks, for the 

 complete development of the plant and the proper evo^ 

 lution of the tubers it ought to produce. 



*' The pulling of the bunches of potatoes proceeding 

 from the cuttings has constantly yielded a crop equal to 

 that of the bunches which had not had their stalks sup- 

 pressed. 



"In the diseased potatoes the first signs of the disorder 

 exhibit themselves upon the stalks which first turn 

 yellow, and sooner or later acquire a deep brown colour, 

 then quite black and easy to be perceived. Sometimes, 

 however, in times of drought, the spots, instead of turn- 

 ing black, assume a less decided tint, and become 

 bleached, whilst the stalk dries up. 



" In making cuttings for transplanting, we choose care- 

 fully the most vigorous branches upon the most healthy 

 stools. In this above all lies the advantage of the process; 

 for if in the number of cuttings any diseased stalks are 

 selected, they will soon be endangered ; the vegetation 

 will be arrested, the branches dried up, before they are 

 able to produce anything. The disease will thus be 

 stifled in its birth. This is wonderfully explained Once 

 separated from its centre of life, the stalk that is about 

 to be planted needs all the integrity of its organs, to 

 attract and to assimilate to itself, after a proper 

 elaboration, all the materials necessary to its develop- 

 ment, and the complete evolution of all its parts. The 

 diseased stalk offers none of these conditions, so indis- 

 pensable to its preservation, for the parts most essential 

 to its existence are the most affected (epidermis utricles 

 fibres of the Endophlseum, &c.) ; consequently it is soon 

 weakened, and ceases to live. 



" By the process of cutting, therefore, we should 

 have no more to fear from diseased seed, since we can 

 make use of no other than perfectly healthy plants. 



" In any and every case the cuttings seem to possess 

 a very great and real advantage over seed, even on the 

 supposition that this latter (what experience does not 

 warrant us in believing) offers all the guarantees desi- 

 rable for the regeneration of the plant so deeply affected. 

 In (act, in order to renew the plant by way of sowing, 

 it is necessary to wait the crop of the seed, and thus 

 lose a whole season ; nor is it less necessary to obtain it 

 of good quality ; and upon that point the uncertainty 

 lasts during a whole year. With cutting, on the con- 

 trary, we obtain two crops during the same season. 



" Let us not forget to state that it is indispensable to 

 allow to the cutting as many eyes as possible, for from 

 tills part of the stalk spring the tubers. The abundance 

 of the crop is consequently strictly dependent on them. 



" The culture of the cuttings presents nothing parti- 

 cular, demanding only the ordinary conditions required 

 otherwise by all the weeded plants — a light and deep 

 soil, that yields easily to the development of the tubers. 



" In case of drought, it speaks for itself; we must 

 not neglect to water at the commencement of the 

 planting, 



" One more word, in conclusion. Admitting that the 

 reproduction of the potato by cutting gives only the 

 means so much sought after, of regenerating that plant, 

 our experiments will not less have demonstrated to a 

 certain extent, that with a single sowing we may crop 

 several times in the same season. Had we obtained only 

 this result, still we should have congratulated ourselves 

 on having devoted seven years of experiment in finding 

 it. Let others now add to the facts which we have col- 

 lected, by renewing them, the sanction they necessarily 

 require before being adopted in the general agricultural 

 practice." 



The wishes of M. Decoste will certainly be heard. 



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