861 



" boiled " state ; but he had proved that it could be more beneficially 

 brought into use in other forms. 



Mr. WooLLETT was desirous, before the meeting separated, to com- 

 municate an opinion that was daily gaining ground amongst experi- 

 enced farmers, that the potato-disease would soon disappear; and 

 that the potato would again be restored to its healthy state. He was 

 also anxious to bring under the notice of the Society a singular and 

 interesting fact connected with the diseased potato, that had come 

 under his own observation in Suffolk, namely, that the potatoes which 

 were found to be diseased in August, and which were left in the ground 

 as not worth digging, shot forth again in the spring, and produced 

 good gi'owth and sound, the only difference between them and pota- 

 toes before the disease being that they were a little darker. 



Mr. Rogers bore Mr. Woollett out in this statement, having him- 

 self witnessed it ; and information from Ireland, within the last few 

 weeks, represented that in many instances where potatoes had been 

 abandoned in the ground as totally useless, they had every appear- 

 ance of producing good crops this year. He rejoiced at the experi- 

 ments which the famine had led to as to the value of the potato; and 

 notwithstanding all the attempts which had been made to cry it 

 down, and to abolish it, he believed in his heart there was infinitely 

 more value in it than in wheat, inasmuch as the same quantity of 

 land would produce three times more than could be produced from 

 wheat. And was it not, he would ask, monstrous in the face of such 

 a fact, to conceive that the use of the potato, so valuable, should be 

 abolished, and that such a recommendation should come from lead- 

 ing men of the country } Let them look at the thing in its proper 

 light, and consider, if the potato be abolished, how can three acres of 

 land be added to the cultivatable soil of the country for the purpose 

 of producing wheat, for each acre that is now used to produce po- 

 tatoes. 



Mr. Franklin Coxworthy addressed some remarks to the Society 

 on his opinions as to the cause of the potato-disease, and on mete- 

 orological influences. 



After which, on the motion of Mr. Woollett, the thanks of the 

 Society were voted to Mr. Rogers for his statements, and the meeting 

 resolved itself into a conversational party. — Morning Advertiser, 

 May lOth. 



Vol. II. 5 p 



