INTRODUCTION. 



A VERY bad disease now exists in the potatoe plant, 

 but it is by no means certain at what period the ma- 

 lady first appeared. The first description, of any 

 importance, of the present epidemic, is (as far as I 

 can learn) to be found in a treatise by Von Martius, 

 who conceives that the disease is attributable to ve- 

 getable fungi. 



Martius states that the disease has existed in Ger- 

 many since the year 1830, and that, in November of 

 the year 1841, Dr. Zuchcariani wrote a paper upon 

 the disease, which was read in the Royal Bavarian 

 Academy of Arts. In 1^40 the malady spread ra- 

 pidly through the Bavarian Palatinate, which caused 

 inquiry. On the 27th February, 1842, the Govern- 

 ment issued an order for the Academy to inquire 

 into the malady, and transmitted to them various 

 samples of the diseased tuber. At that time Zuch- 

 cariani was indisposed, and on this account Von 

 Martius undertook the investigation. 



In this country, Dr. Bell Salter, on August 16th, 

 1845, first communicated to the " Gardener's Chro- 

 nicle" the startling intelligence, that a blight of an 



