82 The Potatoe Plague. 



or the potatoe cut into two pieces, and planted at ten inches, 

 (both may be tried ;) the plants to be placed near the sur- 

 face, and never highly earthed up by the plough, as it is nat- 

 ural for the tubers of the plant to run upwards, and the more 

 of them that may be exposed to the sun and air in ripening, 

 will make so much better seed. They should be taken up 

 rather green and unripe than otherwise, but approaching to a 

 ripe state. They should be placed in pits, (in an airy situ- 

 ation,) of about two and a half feet at bottom ; the pits may be 

 made of tolerable length. They should have first a little 

 earth thrown over them say, half an inch and then a 

 good covering of straw, finishing with a few inches deep of 

 earth, as it is the straw which will defend them from frost, 

 and a few straw funnels at a short distance is all that is 

 necessary. 



In stating the cause of the potatoe rot, a correspondent of 

 the Maine Farmer, E. G< Buxton, states an experiment 

 which he made in growing some potatoes in the cellar, in a 

 dark place, and they were affected with rot, like those raised 

 in the field. From this he infers that the disease is not 

 caused by rust, heat, cutting the seed, &c., but that the cause 

 is in the potatoe. Some person, commenting on- this, at- 

 tributes the cause to disease in the previous crop, which was 

 not perceptible, and was transmitted to the new produce. 



Several pamphlets on this subject have been published in 

 Great Britain and France, the contents of which, and the 

 views entertained by their compilers with regard to the causes 

 and remedies for the malady, I shall now briefly state. 



In the Comptes rendus,* M. Payen states the result of his 

 chemical investigations. He finds what he calls the dry 

 matter, that is to say, all except the water, diminished in 

 quantity to the extent of twelve per cent. The diseased part 



# Comptes rendus Hebdomadaires, &c., Nos. 13 to 16. Paris, 1845. 



