56 The Potatoe Plague. 



matter of the apple potatoe, and as the Nova Scotians do \ 

 by rejecting it altogether. The potatoes planted should be of 

 good size, and not cut into small pieces. You may as well 

 expect a vigorous blade of corn from a diminutive, shrivelled 

 grain, as a strong plant from a small potatoe. There never 

 was a more fatal error than the common one that " any pota 

 toes are good enough for planting." 



It is confidently asserted by many writers, and I believe it 

 to be true from by own experience and observation, that the 

 weakness of the seed is usually caused by over-ripeness ; that 

 is, by coming to full maturity before being taken from the 

 ground. The best potatoe growers dig their seed potatoes 

 before they have quite completed their growth. They are 

 full of sap, and remain so. From the fact that they are too 

 waxy for the table, they are the fitter for seed. Seed pota- 

 toes should not be of a mealy quality, nor should they be 

 stored so that they will heat, or be kept out of the ground 

 long after they are cut for planting. 



It does not follow that all potatoes of what are called new 

 varieties are necessarily equally new. Some of them may 

 have gone through more generations than others. I have 

 been forcibly struck with the truth, as it seems to me, that 

 most varieties now in vogue are actually dying slowly of old 

 age, the principles of decay being more or less quickened by 

 unfavorable seasons or unskillful management. The chenan- 

 go, for example, has been among the longest cultivated by 

 farmers, and has been, perhaps, the most affected by disease. 

 English whites and reds have not suffered so much, being 

 of a hardier constitution ; but they, too, have, for years, been 

 showing symptoms of decay. Perhaps the wisest course , 

 universally, would be to obtain new varieties from the seed, 

 ,. or to resort to the wild South American original. 



