The Potatoe Plague. 47 



I think, must be plain to every capacity. Neither is the det- 

 riment likely to have arisen from the presence of fungi, infu- 

 sorii, or insects, where nothing of the kind has been discover- 

 ed by the most vigilant observation. Indeed, it seems to me 

 a death blow to either of these theories, that, in very many 

 instances, the disease has broken out after the roots were 

 dug, apparently in a sound and healthy condition, as well as 

 the stalks. One cause remains ; an obvious, if not the only 

 one the difference in the quality of the seed planted, of 

 which I shall have more to say in another place. 



It appears to me that there are many causes to which the 

 failure of the potatoe crop the world over, may be attributed, 

 without supposing any specific disease, epidemic, or malig- 

 nant influence whatever. The blight assumes different ap- 

 pearances in different climates and regions. In some parts 

 of Germany, the diseased potatoe becomes hard, like a stone, 

 so that it requires considerable force to break it with a ham- 

 mer ; in other parts it has been observed to turn fibrous and 

 woody, or withered, or watery, or to turn into liquid putre- 

 faction. Can it be that all these appearances are but differ- 

 ent forms of one and the same disease ? 



Every one who knows what a potatoe is, knows that all 

 kinds of potatoes do not bear the action of boiling water alike. 

 One kind Comes from the kettle watery or waxy, another 

 mealy ; one requires twice as much time in cooking as anoth- 

 er. Those who eat know . not the cause ; but- they know that 

 it is so. They are satisfied to say that it is a good or a bad 

 potatoe, and to eat or fling it away ; and they often come as 

 nigh the fact without investigation as they could have done 

 with it. The truth is, that it is not owing to culture, soil, or 

 disease, that the fruit so turns out ; it is the nature of one 

 variety of potatoe to be watery, and another to be mealy ; 

 and we could not make it otherwise were we to study a thou- 

 sand years. 



