62 The Potatoe Plagiie. 



of a series of scientific experiments made by him. He hag 

 detected in the potatoe the growth of a fungus analogous to 

 the mushroom family. It is usually seen as a green mould, 

 and is often found in the cores of apples and the interior of 

 nutshells. The seeds are invisible to the naked eye, easily 

 carried about by the wind, and penetrate wherever the air 

 can enter. Their extensive dissemination is, therefore, easy. 

 "When they fall on the potatoe, in circumstances favorable to 

 germination, the blight, or decay, is the consequence. The 

 dry r<jt in timber proceeds from an analogous cause. 



Though maintained by several learned men, I do not deem 

 this theory a very probable one. It is rather difficult to con- 

 ceive a fungus alighting on the tops of a plant and thence 

 growing its subterranean way downward to the tuber ; and, 

 when arrived there, if it ever does so arrive, there is no con- 

 clusive testimony that it produces decay. That a parasite 

 vegetable can live and propagate itself in the capillary ves- 

 sels of another vegetable, is a supposition extraordinary, to 

 eay the least ; and, if it descend the outside of the stalk to the 

 tuber, how does it penetrate the skin and first appear, where 

 one would naturally least expect to find it, in the heart of the 

 potatoe ? This theory has, at least, the merit of novelty, to 

 recommend it ; but I cannot concede it my belief without fur- 

 ther evidence. It appears to me much more likely that the 

 potatoe fungus, like the supposititious potatoe fly, is an acces- 

 sary after the fact ; a consequence, and not a cause of the 

 disease. 



There are other some, who ascribe the potatoe plague to 

 the occurrence of a honey dew, a thing which, it appears, 

 was known to the ancients ; but is certainly so little known to 

 the moderns that I am sure they will not take it as an affront 

 that I tell them what it is. 



Early in the mornings of May or June, after a long 

 drought, in Carolina, and after a succession of warm days and 

 cool nights, there is found on the leaves of plants a fluid like 



