i. 
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* 
OF the Caufe and Cure of the Difeafe 
in the Potatoe Plant called the Curl. 
From Tranjactions of the Society of 
Aris, Fe. vol. viii. : 
HE curl in potatoes, is a dif- 
eafe which admits of three 
diiferent ftages or degrees, 
ift. The half-curl. 
2d. The curl. 
3d. The corrupted. 
it. The half-cirled plants have 
leaves fomewhat long, and “curled 
only in a moderate degree: they 
produce a tolerable crop, if the 
fummér be not very dry; but if 
otherwife, the potatoes will be {mall 
and watery. : 
24. The cémpletely-curled plants 
are feldom more than fix or feven 
inches high: they foon ripen and 
die. The potatoes are generally 
fmaller than a nutmeg, of a raity 
ted colour, and unwhodlefome as 
food. 
3d. The corrupted potdtoes, or thofe 
in which the vegetative power is 
neatly deftroyed, never appear above 
round. ‘The feed may be found, 
at Michaelmas, as frefh, to appear- 
ance; as when it Was fet, with a few 
fmall potatoes clofe to it. 
The firft caufe of the curl in po- 
tatoes muft be traced to the manner 
in which the feed was raifed the 
preceding year, 
Af the potaroes be fet late in the 
ef 
SEFUL PROJECTS. 
feafon, that is, from the middle of 
May to the middle of June, in a 
rich, foil well manured, having a 
fouthern afpe&t ; and if the fummer 
fhould be hot and dry till (we will 
fuppofe) the beginning of Augult, 
when the blow of the plants has 
fallen off, then the feed will be éx- 
haufted in feeding the plant only ; 
and very few potatoes will appear. 
Should the weather now become 
moift and genial, the plants, efpe- 
cially if they fhould be earthed, will 
blow afrefh, and a’ plentiful crop 
of very large potatoes may yet be 
produced. bh ' 
Thefe potatoes ate perfeSily fit 
for ufe as food; but as they were 
producéd from the ftalk of the 
plant, after the feed ‘itfelf was ex- 
haufted, they will be defe&tive in 
moifture and vegetative power: 
and the plants which proceed from 
them the following year, will be 
found to be carled. 
Second caofe.——The curl may be 
roduced without manure, or éarth- 
ing, provided the potatoes be fown 
(at the end of May) thick toge- 
ther, in a rich foil, and covered 
with green fern, or other litter, 
before the plants appear. The rain 
rots the fern or litter, and enables 
it to penetrate as a manure to the 
roots ; and the plants are forced, as 
in the preceding éxperimént, to.a 
fecond growth and blow. ‘The feed 
G2 thus 
