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But seedlings rot as much as potatoes raised from tubers. Why 

 not ? They come from the seed of diseased tubers. The seed par- 

 takes of the general deterioration. Whatever may have been the 

 primary cause of the disease, it has infected the whole plant. And 

 raising from seed neither invigorates the vegetative principle, nor 

 checks the tendency to decay. There is a defective constitution, the 

 vitality of which cannot be so restored. The disease is a constitu- 

 tional debility, resulting from the unnatural circumstances in which 

 the potato is placed, analogous to readily acknowledged causes of 

 decay in other plants. Some kinds do not rot much ; others are 

 almost destroyed; and all kinds are more or less affected. Some 

 may have been cultivated for a shorter time than others, and now 

 have a sounder health. We may also be ignorant of some conditions, 

 which, besides long-continued and unnatural cultivation, may be 

 requisite to produce the result. Where it is so difficult to pronounce 

 positively upon the primary cause of the disease, may we not be jus- 

 tified, in the absence of any other tolerable theory, in regarding the 

 result as proof of deterioration ? 



Does it not favor this theory, that potatoes planted on light, dry, 

 and especially on new land, are less liable to rot, than on heavy, wet, 

 and manured land ? It is reasonable that this should be so, because 

 the former condition is an approximation to that of the original plant. 

 Potatoes thus grown will produce a smaller stem and fewer leaves, 

 and though the tubers may also be small, they will be good flavored. 

 In the new and fertile land on the bayous of Louisiana, the tubers 

 are said to be as large and as good flavored, as dry and nutritious, as 

 any raised elsewhere. Fuom Bermuda also are brought our best 

 early potatoes. If such a culture will not restore health, it may 

 cause the disorder to assume a milder form. And while the whole 

 subject is environed with doubt, and the origin of the disorder has 

 baffled the sagacity of the wisest phytologists, we may well speak 

 with modesty of remedies.. But there seems to be reason in planting 

 cither on new land, or on light land, enriched with straw, clover, 

 leaf, or other vegetable manure. Whatever manures be used, the 

 land should be light and dry, and easily accessible by the sun.* 



* It may be in place here to inquire whether a part of the failure of the potato 

 crop may not have resulted from the slovenly manner in which this plant is 

 frequently cultivated, "^^^e plough once, throw into a hole some strong manure, 



