90 The Potatoe Plague. 



Ashes. Salt. 



iLaminaria saccharina gave to 100 Ibs. about 10 Ib. 3 Ib. 

 Fucus vesiculosus " 100 " " 20| G^ " 



Fucus serratus " 100 " 26 10 



Fucus crispus, or 



Chondria crispa " 100 " 25 \ 4f" 



They varied also considerably in the other ingredients. 

 ^Now, when this great difference exists in the quantity of salt 

 in different sea- weeds just taken from the sea, and when it is 

 considered that the sea-weed is often made into a .compost, 

 turned over and exposed to all kinds of weather, by which 

 salt may be washed out, it must be obvious that no true 

 judgment can be formed of its' effects on the potatoe disease, 

 unless the kind of sea-weed, and all the attendant circum- 

 stances, be taken into account. The spores of the fungus, in 

 the cases alluded to, might have been, and most probably 

 were, so numerous, that the salt thus adventitiously obtained, 

 was not sufficient to destroy them. 



In a paper transmitted to the N. Y. State Agricultural 

 Society, (alluded to in a former communication,) I recom- 

 mended an analysis of sound potatoes, and a parallel one of 

 those just contaminated by the rot ; and this to be done, not 

 in the usual way, by reducing to ashes, but by expressing the 

 juices and analyzing them. This would show whether there 

 was any difference in the ingredients that might be consider- 

 ed as offering favorable circumstances for fungus vegetation. 

 The analysis by incineration should also be tried. For, if 

 salt destroys the fungus, as my own eyes as well as those of 

 others have seen, it is a fair presumption that if we can get a 

 solution of salt into the juices of the plant, in any shape, that 

 it will be unfavorable to the vegetation of the spores. 



Until I see a number of experiments fairly tried with salt, 

 lime, &c., and they have failed, I shall not be persuaded that 

 the views I have taken of these as remedies for the potatoe 



