280 POTATOES FOK 1849. 



until nearly May. The soil amongst the potatoes not only pre- 

 vents fermentation, but, by preventing contact, arrests the spread 

 of accidental decay in any of the tubers. 



One great point will be gained to the country by tliis early 

 course — a point, I conceive, that involves a profit of some mil- 

 lions in the aggregate. Potatoes will be entirely off the land by 

 the middle of July : thus a crop of turnips may follow, or the 

 best of opportunities will be afforded for a preparation for corn 

 of any kind, and for cleaning processes. 



By this mode, however, I would in all cases avoid the use of 

 manure ; or, if used at all, I would have it thoroughly decom- 

 posed. My design in using very rotten manure would be merely 

 to give the young stem a quick impulse as soon as above ground, 

 thus accelerating the maturity of the plant, in consonance with 

 the principles before laid down. I would, however, be very 

 sparing in the use of it, being persuaded that, although not the 

 cause of the disease, as I conceive, it has at least caused a great 

 aggravation of it. Indeed, wherever early maturity is desired, 

 manures should be sparingly used. They in all cases, whether 

 of fruit or vegetables, retard the ripening or flowering period. 

 This is well known to men of experience. It is a phenomenon 

 daily before the gardener's eyes. Soils in pretty good heart, 

 witliout manure, should therefore be selected ; and for this early 

 course the soil should be in the best of tilth. 



Some, it seems, are of opinion that Botrytis infestans com- 

 mences its ravages at the top of the potato-stalk : this is surely a 

 mistaken notion. I have constantly watched the disease in all 

 its stages, and have each year felt assured of its approach as early 

 as the beginning of June, on account of the discoloration at the 

 base of the stem generally manifesting itself about that period. 

 According to my ideas, this fungus, like most of the order, revels 

 in tlie most nutritious matter ; and the accumulated stores in the 

 tuber being exhausted by it, together with the act of sprouting, 

 the fungus works its way upwards at the very period when rich 

 secretions are being deposited in their fresh storehouse — the new 

 tuber. 



I have noticed in many cases that the disease, after com- 

 mencing at the end which connects the young tuber with the 

 parent stem, proceeds with great speed to invest the eye-ends. 

 It has occurred to me, therefore, that there is probably a greater 

 concentration of quality at that part for the supply of the young 

 buds. During a residence of some twenty years in Cheshire, I 

 have witnessed the introduction and wearing out of very many 

 kinds of potatoes — each in its day esteemed as a paragon of ex- 

 cellence. Strange, however, to say, none of them produce more 

 per acre than those that preceded them. I have inquired particu- 



