74 ESSEX SOCIETY. 



Furthermore, I am aware that it still exists in the sm-face soil, 

 perhaps in considerable abundance in some particular places, 

 but unless those who plant, know that it exists there, all their 

 endeavors to obtain a good crop, will be at hap-hazard. This 

 principle or element in the soil, I think I have found to be more 

 abundant in yellow marl, or as some have termed it, yellow 

 dirt. Wherever this maybe found, of a bright orange color, in 

 considerable abundance, we need not hesitate to plant potatoes ; 

 yet this may not always prove infallible, for I am inclined to 

 think its virtue lies in the organic or combustible matter which 

 it appears to be more or less charged with. There is a kind of 

 yellow marl, which I would recommend for a compost, with 

 stable manure, to put in the hill, as an experiment. It is such 

 as I have seen, of a bright orange color, in the banks by the 

 road side, where a cut has been made for a road through the 

 top of a hill covered with shrub oaks. 



I think the disorder has been aggravated by the stimulating 

 effect of stable and barn cellar manure, too highly charged with 

 ammonia, for a healthy growth in this plant ; the unnatural 

 stimulus propagating the disorder, and inducing mildew in the 

 premature vines, where the disorder appears to commence. It 

 should be remembered that the potato is a kind of plant which 

 grows helow the surface of the ground, having the ground for 

 its element and the air for its sustenance, the vines being 

 nothing more or less than aerial roots, through which it derives 

 its sustenance, in order to make it grow and perfect its meali- 

 ness. Hence we see the necessity of healthy, lively vines, and 

 also of proper sustenance below the surface, to produce these ; 

 for if we cannot have healthy, lively vines, we should not ex- 

 pect good and sound potatoes. I am inclined to believe we 

 should depend more upon the natural, steady warmth of a 

 genial soil to perfect the vines, than on the stimulating heat of 

 fermenting manuie. 



Has there as yet been a better method discovered to over- 

 come this disorder, than to plant early, in a warm, genial soil ? 

 If we admit the production of healthy, lively vines, to be the 

 first and great desideratum, then I think we may also admit 

 the utility of planting early in a warm, genial soil, in order to 



