23 TRANSACTIONS, NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 



crop. Ground— a dry, deep, sandy soil, with south- 

 ern exiDosure — was well manured previous autumn, 

 and had not been used for potatoes for three years. 

 These circumstances caused me to anticipate a 

 favourable result. The settings germinated Avell 

 and evenly, without, I think, a single failure. The 

 *shaws' were exceedingly strong and vigorous, but 

 the tubers were slow and late in forming. Dug at 

 Hallowe'en and found the crop productive, but the 

 half of them were much under the 'settings' in 

 size. This I attribute j)artly to the earth being 

 drawn too high up the stems, as the 'Red-bogs' 

 had the same fault though in a less degree. I 

 found about one-eighth diseased ; the ' Red-bogs ' 

 were quite free of it, but they were all used by 

 September. Boiled a few and considered them soft 

 and greenish, resembling immature jDotatoes." 



I will now make a few remarks on the experi- 

 ments generally; 1st— In all cases the tubers were 

 numerous enough but small. I suppose the plants 

 have not yet adapted themselves to their new con- 

 ditions. 2nd — Those first imported have produced a 

 larger crop than those imported last spring. I 

 believe the reason for that is that the first lot have 

 had a year longer to accustom themselves to this 

 country. I may here mention a case that seems to 

 have a bearing on the subject of change of country. 

 A sea-captain, who had just brought his ship from 

 Australia to Chile, gave a few Australian potatoes 

 to my brother. He planted them in his garden, 

 and grew them by irrigation. The shaws were 

 good, but when dug the crop was nothing to speak 

 of. The change from Australia to Chile, or from 

 Chile to Scotland, is apparently too great to be 

 made at once. The potato is quite unsettled and 

 thrown out of its old habits, and it then takes 

 several years to adjust itself to its new environ- 

 ment. I hope that my friends who have already 

 tried the Chilian potatoes will persevere for a year 

 or two longer to see what they may grow to. 



