THE DISEASE IN POTATOES. 



55 



THE DISEASE IN POTATOES. 



VARIOUS THEORIES— THE LAST ENGLISH SUGGESTION. 



When it is considered that the Potato Crop 

 of the United States is set down at more than a 

 hundred million of bushels, it will be admitted 

 at once how important it is to discover, if pos- 

 sible, the cause of any disease which may seri- 

 ously threaten a branch of industry which is 

 followed and much relied upon for subsistence 

 throughout the whole country ; for there is not 

 a State in the Union which does not look to it 

 as the principal culinary vegetable. Even in 

 Arkansas, the crop is estimated at more than 

 50,000 bushels. New-York is put down at 2G,- 

 553,612 bushels, and, what we should not have 

 expected, the crop of North Carolina, prior to 

 the last census, is stated to have been 4,517,863 

 bushels, though we suppose the mountain ranges 

 of the Southern States to be exceedingly well 

 adapted to the growth of this important product. 

 In her more than 8,000,000 of bushels of Pota- 

 toes, Vermont doubtless iinds a great support to 

 her successful sheep husbandry. 



The following paper is found in a late num- 

 ber of the London Gardeners' Chronicle. What 

 sreates some hesitation in giving full confidence 

 to the theory of the writer is the fact that this 

 disease should have appeared simultaneously in 

 so many parts of the world. A statement ap- 

 pears from a friend of the Editor of the Ameri- 

 can Agriculturist in his third volume, page 354, 

 to the eflf'eet that the disease is to be ascribed to 

 an insect attacking the seed Potato when plant- 

 ed. He .says: 



" In the year 1843 I planted a field of several 

 acres in drills, harrowed the ground level, and 

 top dressed it with lime and charcoal dust. The 

 yield was 432 bushels per acre ; at the same time 

 the Potatoes throughout the neighborhood were 

 decayed. This year I planted the same seed in 

 the following manner: The ground was thro\\n 

 into drills, and manured heavily ; the Potatoes 

 were cut into sets of single eyes fourteen days 

 before reqiiircd for planting, and covered with 

 plaster and lime ; thej' were then placed in the 

 drill, 9 inches apart, tops, centres, and ends sep- 

 arately, to mark the difference in growth ; and 

 each alternate three rows then covered with dif 

 ferent substances, such as lime, .sulphate of am- 

 monia, silicate of potash, &c. When dug, they 

 were all sound except a few rows on which 

 nothing had been used but the manure, and 

 these were decayed, although received only 

 three weeks before planting directly from 

 France. The only reason that I can give why 

 my Potatoes have escaped tlie jot is, that the 

 above substances used in dressing them were 

 offensive to the insect." 

 (103) 



We shall omit nothing which may seem cal- 

 culated to throw light on this interesting subject. 

 In so doing, as must always happen, many con- 

 jectures will be hazarded and suggestions 

 tlirown out that may prove fallacious ; but it 

 would not be either fair or safe for us to with- 

 hold what the reader might deem to be signifi- 

 cant and at least worthy of experiment ; and, 

 after all, it is equally the interest and the duty 

 of the Farmer to make experiments, and, let us 

 add, to report the result for his Library and for 

 the common benefit. 



We have no doubt of the soundness of the 

 theory which recommends that Potatoes, as well 

 as fraits, be occasionally renewed, from the 

 seed. New and improved varieties may be 

 expecte^, after a few generations— with some 

 things sooner, with others later. It is said that 

 by planting the stone of the most worthless 

 peach, a fine variety may be expected in three 

 or four generations ; the same as to the apple 

 and pear in a somewhat longer time. The 

 famous Mercer Potato has been clearly traced 

 by Mr. Kennedy, near Meadsville, Pennsylva- 

 nia, to its origin in the seed apple. 



THE DISEASE AND FAILURE OF THE POTA- 

 TO CROP EXPLAINED. 

 [The foUowinc; are portions of a paper on this sub- 

 ject, by A. Patullo, Esq., of Edinburgh, read before 

 the Highland and Agricultural Society, on the 7th 

 instant. It has since been published "as a separate 

 ti-act.] 



As to the early histoiy of the Potato plant, it 

 appears to have been imported into Ireland from 

 South America more than 200 years ago, and 

 introduced into this country from Ireland about 

 the year 1740, whicli was a year of scarcity, 

 when a few were brought over to Scotland; 

 but their culture was then confined to the gar- 

 den, till about the year 1753 or 17.54, when thev 

 were raised in the field ; but the plant has not 

 been extensively cultivated in this country more 

 than seventy years. There are great varieties 

 of the Potato ; and the kinds finst known in this 

 quarter were the Kidneys, the Leather-coat 

 (called from the roughness of its skin), the 

 Blackamoor (that is, the dark-colored Virginia), 

 and the Killimancas (query, the Dons), which 

 appears to have been a cro'ss between the white 

 and red. The prevailing kinds in our day are, 

 the Kidney, Perthshire Reds, Dons, and Buffs ; 

 the latter two being at present most extensively 

 planted in this neighborhood. Then; is also 

 another .species called the Surinam, or Hog Po- 

 tato, or Yam : this variety is not eaten by the 

 human specie.s. at least in this couiitiy, "but it 

 has two valuable properties to recommend it, as 

 it is verj' productive, and has never yet been 



