THE POTATO 55 



fully matured were better adapted for seeding pur- 

 poses than those which had been fully matured 

 before being harvested. When it is added that in 

 those early days the average yield of the crop was 

 eight tons per acre, or quite two tons more than the 

 official estimate of the crop nowadays, it will be 

 seen that these potato growers of seventy years 

 ago were not so very far behind. 



"The year 1845 was a fateful one in the history 

 of potato-growing. In that year the dreaded 

 disease Phytophthora infestans (late blight) 

 wrought sad havoc among the potato crops 

 throughout the country. 



"'The disease,' as it is called by potato growers 

 — other diseases in potatoes are always indicated 

 by a specific name, but this one is *the disease' — -was 

 by no means a new pest, for, according to numer- 

 ous old records, it had year by year done more or 

 less damage to the potato crops of the United 

 Kingdom and the Continent. But the disease had 

 rarely, if ever before, been so virulent as it was in 

 1845. But worse was yet to come, and in the fol- 

 lowing season, which was wet and ungenial, the 

 disease fell like a pestilence on the crops and prac- 

 tically ruined them. The ruin of the potato crop 

 of that year had one most important permanent 

 effect on the agriculture of the kingdom, for it led 

 to'the abolition of the protective duties which had 

 up till then been levied on all foodstuffs imported 

 from abroad. 



"The potato growers of Great Britain suffered 

 heavy financial loss through the failure of the crop 

 in 1846, and for a time they lost confidence in their 

 own ability to fight the battle against the dreaded 

 disease, so that the area under this crop was for 

 some years greatly reduced. But just as a crisis 



