AND FARMING PRODUCE. 31? 



by timely separating them from the mass, a con- 

 siderable portion of the crops of 1845 was saved 

 for the consumption of the community. 



The murrain first shows itself, like the blight, 

 in the fluids of the cellules, just beneath the 

 skins of the tubers. No fungus shows itself 

 externally, until the disease bursts through the 

 cuticle and epidermis. Nor does the disease 

 spread freely until the appearance of the fungus. 

 By keeping the tubers dry, and preventing fungi 

 from germinating at all, the tubers may be kept 

 from two to three months, before they become 

 unfit for food. By placing the tubers dry in a 

 window, I have been able to watch the progress 

 of the disease daily, from the first speck dis- 

 cernible by a powerful microscrope ; until the 

 disease has wholly penetrated the substances, or 

 has been entirely stayed. And my winter's 

 stock of potatoes, for the last two years, by being 

 kept thoroughly dry, has not had a score of 

 defaulters, that were deserving of being outcasts, 

 although specks of the disease have been found 

 upon many among the rest. 



From the immature state of the tubers, the 

 azotised parts next to the skin, seem to be in an 



