CHAPTER II. 



A View of the different Theories entertained on the Potatoe 

 Plague* 



THE article from Mr. Thompson, which forms a large part 

 of the preceding chapter, has been given almost entirely as it 

 was originally published, because it contains, I believe, the 

 most rational theory that has yet been promulgated on the 

 nature, cause, and cure of the Potatoe Plague. It is true 

 that his argument does not extend so far as to cover the 

 present appearances which the plague has assumed, but it 

 leads us to expect results precisely similar to those which are 

 now recognized with reference to it, and may be regarded as 

 prophetic, if, indeed, the view he has taken, be not assigned to 

 the true cause, namely, a discovery of the causes producing 

 the malady. A remarkable feature in the history of potatoe 

 cultivation is, that it has been free from a variety of diseases, 

 though, as before remarked, it has been subject to disease 

 from a very early period of its existence. The Curl and the 

 Taint, which last is considered a modification of the other, are 

 the only diseases of which any mention is made by writers on 

 the subject, from its first introduction as a field crop to the 

 present time. Now Mr. Thompson's article, though it is 

 professedly on the curl in potatoes, looks forward to a devel- 

 opement of this disease, assuming a malignant type, which 

 would ultimate, as he has predicted, and exactly as we have 



