492 THE GARDENER. [Nov. 



torial sanctums were infested with the Botrytis infestans in a despe- 

 rately aggravated form; and we heard of one editor who was, by his 

 own confession, positively " sick of the disease ; " and who resorted to 

 disinfecting measures of the most rigorous description for stamping 

 it out. His plan was by fire. Every missive supposed to contain 

 " spores," either " resting " or " active," was carefully reconnoitred 

 and then transferred to the flame. It is needless to say that the 

 plan was completely effectual. 



AVe have an impression that scientists carry themselves rather loftily 

 in the disease matter. They know what it is, and how it comes ; they 

 have traced the destroyer to his very lair, but they have not caught 

 him. "Whenever the disease is worse than usual, the "practicals" are 

 down directly with a host of facts and suggestions, which our philos- 

 opher treats in a half patronising, half supercilious manner. These 

 things are not new to him ! dear, no ! There is no mystery about 

 the potato disease, none whatever. Mr Fungophobia has long ago 

 pointed out the cause, and no measures for its prevention which are 

 not based upon Fungophobia's theory, can possibly be attended with 

 success. They feel it their duty to impress this upon the public, as they 

 have often done before, and they reproduce Fungophobia's statements, 

 and trot out his procession of queer-looking objects, having a strong 

 resemblance to tadpoles, and which the j)otato-grower is told he must 

 catch, drown, suffocate, or do away with in some way or other, before 

 his emancipation comes ; all of which appears to the practical common- 

 sense farmer like a proposal to bottle up the wind, and quite as fea- 

 sible. For anything he knows, he may be carrying thousands of 

 " resting spores " among the hairs of his head, and setting a colony 

 sufficient to infest a whole district at liberty every time he takes his 

 hat off in the field, unless disinfecting measures begin upon his own 

 person. 



But seriously, is it possible that a disease which affects other plants 

 beside the potato, which is so subtle in its development, and which 

 spreads with a rapidity entirely beyond our comprehension, is likely 

 to be stamped out or even abated by any measures of a merely dis- 

 infecting kind, supposing the fungus theory to be correct, which is 

 disputed by not a few thinkers 1 It is certain that the potato disease 

 was almost unknown before 1845, but the Botrytis infestans was fami- 

 liar enough to fungologists before that time. What then caused it to 

 attack the potato with such virulence all at once "? This has never 

 yet been explained, and the fact has led many to believe that the fun- 

 gus is but the consequence not the cause of the disease. There is no 

 doubt about the presence of the parasite in every diseased potato, but 

 it is just as likely as not that it came there because the conditions for 



