598 



Journal of Agriculture. 



[to Sept., 1909. 



export of food was prohibited ; the Dutch 

 and Belgian Governments were so much 

 alarmed that they directed agents to pur- 

 chase rice in London, and their operations 

 were such as to double the price of that 

 grain in a single week. 



" What the amount of loss may realh- 

 have been, it seems impossible to ascertain 

 with accuracy or even probability. It has 

 been estimated at _^i8, 000,000 for the United 

 Kingdom ; Professor Lindley has computed 

 it to have been ^3,500,000 for Ireland alone. 



" Whatever the past fact may have been, 

 it is certain that the injury sustained this 

 year is very much more considerable, per- 

 haps twice as great, for many new districts 

 are attacked, no old ones are spared, and 

 the destruction is in all cases more extensive. 



" The real cause of this sudden visitation 

 is unknown. Some have ascribed it to the 

 ungenial season of 1845, ^'^'^ that has been 

 the prevalent idea ; others have fancied that 

 the life of the potato is wearing out; many 

 believe in electrical agency, and talk of blue 

 lights seen at night playing over the doomed 

 potato grounds ; insects, worms, parasitical 

 fungi, riight frosts, vegetable cholera, all 

 have in turn had their advocates ; and, as 

 usually happens, those who have the smallest 

 knowledge of the facts conceive themselves 

 most capable of explaining the cause." 



DISEASED STEM (Froni ///. Lon. N nvs). 



The illustrations which have been reproduced from the same numh.T 

 of the Illustrated London Neu^s are of striking interest for two reasons. 



Si) 



SECTION OF A POTATO, SHOWING THE DlSb'.ASE IN PROGRESS 



(From ///. Lon. Nczvs). 



