729 



for they have penned assertions quite as ludicrous as saying that a 

 daily journey from Norton Folgate to the Mint, and from St. Giles 

 to Rosemary Lane, qualifies a man to write on the potato-disease. 

 The microscope and its parts, at page 13, would do honour to 

 'Punch:' A, the foot, B, the pillar, C, the brass arm, &c., &c. ; we 

 venerate that microscope ; we possessed just such an one before our 

 beloved parents clothed us in that peculiar, bifurcate garb which in 

 this country distinguishes the sexes. The figure of the potato plant 

 at page 17, is equally delicious, and so is the following excellent 

 aphorism : — 



" In consequence of the set being usually below the ground, and 

 the shoots having a tendency to grow towards the light, part must be 

 below the earth's surface whilst the other part extends upwards and 

 expands its foliage to the atmosphere." — p. 18. 



Commissioners should have the following reprinted in gold : — 



" Potatoes can be cooked either by boiling, steaming, baking or 

 frying, the only point requiring attention being the application of the 

 heat, which should be managed in such a manner that all part may 

 be cooked equally, and not one part overdone before the other is 

 warm." — p. 39. 



The fumbling and cross-reasoning of the various writers is admi- 

 rably hit off by our witty author, a curious example of which we 

 shall give below. It is, however, due to Mr. Smee previously to state 

 that he charges the potato-disease to the account of a small insect, 

 the Aphis rapae of entomologists, to whom he very properly apolo- 

 gizes for giving it a new name, " the vastator." 



" The vastator begins at the larger leaves of the potato plant, 

 which, after a short time, becoming injured by the abstraction of the 

 sap, die either partially or entirely. In this case the insect follows 

 up the leaves till only a few on the top of the plant are left. 



" This operation is not going on in one plant alone; it is generally 

 progressing in every plant in the field at the same time, leaf by leaf 

 all dying, &c. — p. 87. 



We are then instructed how the abstraction of the sap causes the 

 disease : and after the subject has been treated with the most elabo- 

 rate prolixity we are refreshed by the assurance that the vastator 

 cannot live " upon a very vigorous plant, because it would be drown- 

 ed by the water transpired at night." — p. 133. This bit of nonsense 

 is really matched by much that has been previously published, and 

 is no caricature. We are then told that the vastator commences 

 upon leaves which have lost their vigour. " On placing insects upon 



