The Lancaster Farmer. 



Prof. S. S. SATHVON, Editor. 



LANCASTER, PA., FEBRUARY, 1875. 



Vol VIL No. 2, 



OUR "SITUATION." 



It is not to be inferii'd lh;it when an indi- 

 vidual assumes the editorial control of an 

 agricultural Journal, that he therefore knows, 

 or necessarily ouglit to know, more upon 

 agricultural sultjects than all, or any portion, 

 of his readers. K veil if he were an aeknowledReil 

 oracle on the sulijeet, iiis stock of knowledffe 

 would soon be exhausted. It is iirecioiis little 

 real knowledge that any mw man has, on aiii/ 

 subject, in this age of sliifting and constantly 

 developing progression, and the more an indi- 

 vidual knows, the more humiliated lie becomes 

 at the scantiness of his stock of knowledge, the 

 more deeply he will be impressed with the 

 rertection that there is much for him yet to 

 learn ; and these facts and feelings he may be 

 doomed to carry with him through all his 

 experiences, to the very end of the longest 

 possible life-lease. An agricultural journal is 

 essentially — or ought to be — a depository of 

 the thoughts, experiences and knowledges of 

 its readers, its contributors and its patrons, 

 among the agricultural classes ; and an agri- 

 cultural editor, at best, can be little more than 

 "a gatherer and disposer of other men's stuff;" 

 and to do this effectually would seem to pre- 

 clude the possibility of his attaining proticiency 

 in both functions. The functions of the editor 

 are necessarily those of ktlers — .a collector and 

 arranger of the external garments which clothe 

 the ideas of practical cultivators; and although 

 it may not be necessary for him to have a 

 mechanical knowledge of the subject, yet he 

 should be sufficiently intelligent to comprehend 

 its scope and avoid impcjsition. 



Six years ago the editorial mantle was, in a 

 manner, thrust upon our .shoulders, and the 

 experiences of those six years have served only 

 to astonish ns at the little progress we have 

 made ; and if anything were necessary to in- 

 crease our astonishment, it is, that the world 

 itself has api)arently been progressing no faster, 

 notwithstanding its many h^gh professions. 



Since the functions of an agricultural editoi', 

 then, are mainly thoseof a ' 'gleaner, ' ' the value 

 of his labor will be more or less apparent and 

 effective, according to the character of the tield 

 allotted him to glean. If there is nothing in 

 it, nothing can come out of it. But we have, 

 during all this time, felt a conviction that in 

 the field which we are exploring there are 

 valuable "mines of wealth," and we have 

 never been without the hope that we would 

 ultimately strike the rich veins for which we 

 have so long been " prospecting." 



It is not personal pecuniary wealth, either 

 present or prospective, that has stimulated us 

 in this apparently bootless enterprise ; but the 

 moral, social and intellectual wealth, which 

 we felt was hidden in the deep recesses of rural 

 minds, and the life-experiences of our fanning 

 population. We have all along felt, and we 

 still feel, that there is no independence more 

 enviable than that of a Lancaster county far- 

 mer, and if we have had any ambition in 

 the matter, it is that he might stand socially 

 and intellectually where he does physically and 

 materially. 



From the very origin of The Farmer, in 

 assuming its editorship, we never expected to 

 dictate, or to teach practical lessons on agri- 

 culture, but merely to manipulate the jour- 

 nal .so as to make it a medium of the jjractical 

 ideas of our farming public; and to do this 

 successfully we did expect, and we still expect, 

 the co-operation of our rural patrons. 



When the centennial jubilee of American 

 freedom and independence transpires, we want 

 to see our journal and its patrons occupying a 

 position worthy of the "grand old county" in 

 which was established the second printing 

 office and printing press that dignified the 

 early history of the American continent. If 



this is a fantasy in us, it is due to partialities 

 and sympathies imbibed for farming occupa- 

 tions through a five year's api)rentice8hip dur- 

 ing a labor-iovhig boyliood. 



It is, of course, indisputable, that if an 

 editor is so i'listructed and constructed as to 

 combine all the practical and thiMiretical know- 

 ledges of farming in his own fiiiK'tional com- 

 position, he would possess superior (pialifica- 

 rioiis for the work befori^ him, and could do 

 much more good. IJut then we rarely, or never, 

 find such rare combinations of talent, in any 

 calling, consenting to work six or seven years 

 without the hope of pecuniary compc^nsation. 



Even if an editor should not be able tocom- 

 liose and write a single original contribution, 

 he might still find the labor of selecting and 

 compiling infinitely more onerous than origi- 

 nal composition. There is much that finds its 

 way into public prints of a most excellent 

 character that may not be at all adaiiled to 

 specific localities, and therefore if our agri- 

 cultural and domestic readers cannot write 

 themselves, we will feel ourselves under obli- 

 gations to them for approi^riate selections ap- 

 proved by their judgment, and which they may 

 desire to preserve in a more compact and du- 

 rable form, than they are in the journals where 

 they first appeared. 



THE POTATO BLIGHT. 



{Peronospora infeitann.) 



On page 11, at the bottom of the third 

 column, of our January number, is a brief 

 notice of an important step that has been 

 gained in the natural history of the "Potato 

 blight," through the investigations of Prof. 

 De Bary, of Strasburg, Germany, in which he 

 has detected the existence of an "alternation 

 of generations," in the life-history of the 

 above named parasitic fungus, which causes 

 the disease. 



A very full history of the "Potato blight 

 and rot" is also given in the United States 

 Agricultural Report for 187.3, with many 

 microscopic illustrations, (pp. ISlJ to 19i)) 

 through the investigations of Dr. Payen, Dr. 

 Lyon Playfair, Rev. M. .1. Berkeley and other 

 eminent mycologists of Europe. Although 

 the researches of these distinguished savans 

 are very interesting, yet, as their experiments 

 were mainly microscopic, and under a power 

 of 50 to 75 diameters, very few farmers, under 

 the ordinary opportunities of observation, 

 woidd ever be able to detect the minutia 

 which they describe ; nevertheless, the 

 "blight" aiid "rot" are the visible effects of 

 causes which have their beginnings in just 

 such minutia as are here alluded to, and Ihirc 

 is where the remedy must be applied, if ever 

 the disease is to be abated. 



It is stated that the potato disease was first 

 observed in Germany, near Liege, in 1842 ; in 

 Canada in 1844, and in England in 184.5. 

 This may be so, in reference to the places 

 named, but potato-rot was known in Penn.syl- 

 vania, to our knowledge, at least ten years 

 prior to the latter date, or about 18:i5, and 

 was quite extensively prevalent throughout 

 Lancaster county ; aiid especially on low rich 

 grounds. Wc cultivated a lot that j-ear, and 

 except in one end, which was little more than 

 a bed of stone-coal ashes, the potatoes all had 

 the "rot." 



It has been estimated that the damage sus- 

 tained by Great Britain and Ireland alone, in 

 the year 1845, amounted to at least Ui-mtij-one 

 niiUions pounds sterJituj, and that in the follow- 

 ing year it was nearly twice that amount. 



Tlie Tycmdon Titwa estimated that the loss 

 sustained by Great Britain in 1872 reached 

 about thirlti millions sterling. 



For the last quarter of a century the potato 



rot has been attributed by the most scientific 

 and intelligent explorers, to a jjarasitii^ fungus, 

 most (extensively known as Botrytis itifesUms;* 

 but byaraciM>f cliarlatans it liasl)cen attribu- 

 ted to all sorts of improbable, and in some 

 instances inq)>ssihle, sources ; and on these 

 theories remedies have been improvised, about 

 as u.seless and as ridiculous as administering 

 salt' to a bird's tail, or snuff to a di-sordered 

 threshing machine. The researches of Dr. 

 Payen, however, have resulted in the discovery 

 of a form of fungus in diseased potatoes that had 

 not been previously known, although Berkeley 

 and others are of" the ojiinion that the new 

 form discovered by Payen may be only a 

 secondary fruit of li'itri/tis itself, the habits of 

 which are not yet fully understocjd, notwith- 

 standing some of the ablest explorers of 

 Europe have for years been devoting mcjre or 

 less attention to this subject. It has been 

 discovered that the fungus attacks the stalks 

 first, causing brownish blotches and then 'the 

 disease is transmitted to the tubers. If a 

 withered stalk be taken, which has decayed 

 through tlie infection of the fungus, it will lie 

 found that the brown marks have matured 

 into forms similar to those discovered by Dr. 

 Payen, and if a section of the same is made 

 lengthwise, the interior wjU also exhibit spores 

 highly matured, and generally connected with 

 a very slender-jointed brown mould (my 

 cclium). These details are interesting in a 

 microscopical sense, but they arc too delicate 

 to be of much practical advantage to potato 

 growers in general. 



Here, however, is a statement that is of a 

 more practical character, whether we can 

 account for it on rational principles or not. 

 Mr. Alartin McKinzie, of Boston, Ma.ss., wrote 

 to the department at Washington, in Novem- 

 ber, 187-2, to the effect that in a field near his 

 residence. Early Ros(! and Jackson White 

 potatoes were planted the previous season, in 

 enclosures adjoining each other, but the Early 

 Rose proved nearly an entire failure from 

 fungus-blight, whilst the Jackson Whites 

 were an entire success, growing to perfection. 

 Not the slightest appearance of blight was 

 manifested on them in a single instance, and 

 it is further stated, that all the conditions of 

 planting, cultivation, manuring and .soil, were 

 in both cases iiractically the same. It is 

 alleged that this is not an isolated case by any 

 means, and may ultimately demonstrate that 

 the disease was due to the condition of the 

 seed before it was planted. 



It has often been stated that "the potato, 

 from high cultivation, is running out, and 

 that recourse should be had to the seed of the 

 I)lant, as a means of renewing the crop." And 

 here it may be stated that the tubn- or edible 

 portion, and which grows and matures under 

 gronnd, is not, properly speaking, the seed of 

 the plant. Tkat is only an enlargement or 

 tuljeral development of the root. The seed is 

 contained in the berry, or apple, which grows 

 on the tops, and in form is similar to that of 

 all other solanacious plants, the egg plant and 

 the t<miatofor instance. It is from the plant- 

 ing of these seeds that new varieties are pro- 

 duced, and it is to this source, many c intend, 

 we nmst return to escape the diseases which 

 now so extensively infect the plant. Some- 

 thing analagous to Ibis obtains in i)erpetuating 

 ths <inality of "live stock," and in all proba- 

 bility it is the same in the vegetable world. 



To know exactly when the .seed is infected 

 by di.scase, and to what extent, in order to 

 prevent its increa.se and spread, is what potato 

 growers want, and ought to know. But, if 

 the presence of disease in the seed-tuber can be 

 determined only by the aid or a .50 or 75 diame- 

 ter microscope, there seems to be a poor pros- 



•Now referred to the genua Peronotpora. 



