126 ARTIFICIAL REMEDIES FOR 



potatoe plant, with the view of obtaining again healthy 

 seed from which to propagate our plants. 



(493.) It is doubtless upon this plan, that a mere eye, 

 left from a thoroughly rotten potatoe, has been found to 

 produce sound tubers ; as the plant, in this case, is from 

 the very commencement thrown upon its own resources, 

 and has to form its own starch and fibre from the leaves, 

 instead of drawing at first diseased material from the set. 



(494.) For the regeneration of a diseased plant we 

 should employ dry, poor, unmanured soil ; we should use 

 small sets, and should have a dry and warm atmosphere. 



REMEDIES AGAINST THE CONSEQUENCES. 



(495.) We have now to consider the best modes of 

 averting the consequences of the malady in the tuber. 

 The starch which has been formed still exists in the dis- 

 eased tuber, but in bad cases very little even of that 

 material is formed ; and no doubt the quantity of starch to 

 the acre under cultivation is enormously diminished. It 

 is possible practically to extract the starch, and preserve 

 it for fattening cattle or for use in the arts. 



(496.) It is quite manifest that we can do nothing to 

 increase the starch in the empty cells, and, therefore, we 

 can only preserve that which is already existing. The 

 cells have a tendency to become broken down and useless, 

 and the nitrogenized portion is liable to decompose. 



(497.) I have already mentioned that in potatoes and 

 other vegetables tending to rot from the present disease, 

 the disorganization continues even when the plants are 

 quite protected from the atmosphere ; and, therefore, we 



