64 The Potatoe Plague. 



quently, to powder over with such a mixture, a soil in which 

 diseased potatoes have grown, is a good operation for destroy- 

 ing in that land the germs of the scourge. The operation 

 ought to be recommended everywhere. 



The storing of potatoes from fields that have this year been 

 attacked by the scourge, in cellars, caves, &c., will certainly 

 be to deposit the spawn of the mushroom in those very places. 

 They should, therefore, before receiving the potatoes, be 

 thoroughly cleansed, and scoured with lime, or ground char- 

 coal scattered over the bottom, (and on the potatoes as they 

 are stored,) which will conclude the series of operations, the 

 most rational and the most certain for destroying, if possible, 

 the evil at its root. 



C. H. MORREN, 

 Member of the Royal Academy of Science*. 



Liege, August 14, 1845." 



The Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society, sixth vol- 

 ume, contains an article on " The prevention of curl and dry 

 rot in potatoes," by H. S. Thompson, which is valuable and 

 interesting as it contains the result of extensive observation 

 and experiments on the subject, for the last five years. The 

 editor of the New England Farmer thinks that " the disease 

 therein described is analogous, if not identical with the one 

 so prevalent in many sections of our own country," and, he 

 adds, "it may vary in its effects in different soils, seasons, or 

 climates." Mr. Thompson commences his article by first 

 mentioning the results to which he has been led, which are : 



" That curl and dry rot are caused by leaving the pota- 

 toes intended for seed in the ground until ripe, and that, on 

 the other hand, these diseases may be prevented by taking up 

 the seed potatoes whilst the tubers are unripe and the tops 

 still green." 



.1840. " Having had my attention strongly drawn to tho 



