262 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE. 



which is power, no less in the field of labor than of blood. They believe ihcy have 

 a right to expect for this great national purpose, so identical with the general 

 welfare, appropriations bearing some proportion to the amount which the pro- 

 ducts of Agriculture bear to the aggregate wealth of the nation, and to the degree 

 of dependence of the Government itself, and all classes under it, on that class for 

 employment, protection, safety and support. 



THE DISEASE IN POTATOES. 



WHEN PLAx\TED FROM THE SEED, ARE POTATOES MORE EXEMPT THAN 

 WHEN PLANTED FROM OLDER TUBERS? 



Toledo, Oliio, November 3, 1846. 



Mr. Editor : I am well aware that many theories have been advanced to account for the 

 " disease," as it is called, so universally prevalent among potatoes. Some affinn that numer- 

 ous '• animalculffi" are the cause ; others " fungi ," and others, without any apparent reason 

 whatever, that it is owdng to wet weather which we have untimely (?) experienced. 



From repeated obsei'vations and experiments recently made in the cultivation of tliis escu- 

 lent, I am fully persuaded that the " disease," or "rot," is nothing more than the deteriora- 

 tion incident to their having nearly run out. 



I notice in your valuable .lournal for September a communication from a Baltimore corre- 

 spondent (who seems to favor the above opinion), recommending importations fif the original 

 plant from its natal place, South America, with which to start a new nm of crops. This 

 plan, if fully carried out, I doubt not would result in giving us sound potatoes, Uke those 

 produced after the plant was first introduced into Europe and the United States ; but tlie 

 impi'obability of its ever bemg done, to an extent sufficient to establish an entire new run 

 of crops, detracts, I think, materially from its importance to us at the present time. 



The loss of at least one-half of my crop in the year 1843, being a large increase upon pre- 

 vious years, satisfied m e that they had actually run out, or were fast approximating to it, and 

 suggested the feasibility of reproducing them from the seed of the apple. Accordingly, the 

 uext year (1844) I planted the seed of the apple in about twenty hills near the center of the 

 field, while all around them were planted potatoes of the previous year. After gathering all 

 the other potatoes in the field, I opened the remaining twenty hills, which I found yielded 

 on an average a dozen to a hill, and about the size of a large. walnut. These I planted last 

 year in detached parts of the field, and gathei'ed therefrom potatoes of the usual size, entirely 

 free from the " disease" or "rot" which infected those raised from the old potatoes. This 

 year I planted my whole field wdi these potatoes, and have gathereil a usual-sized crop, en 

 tirely Iree from " disease," as before. 



^Vith the above facts in view, I would ask, cannot a new nm of crops be produced tVom 

 potatoes raised from the seed of the old or deteriorated plants, equal to any that could bo 

 raised from the natal plant itself? If so, let it be urged upon the attention of fanners through- 

 out the United States, and thereby save the food of ihonsauds — that valuable esculent, tha 

 potato. G. B. 



In publishing the above, we feel called upon to say that the weight of testi- 

 mony greatlv preponderates against relying on potatoes raised from tubers which 

 have recently been produced from the seed. 



The most elaborate and careful investigation, after that of the Commissioners 

 appointed by the British Government, is to be found in the October number of the 

 Journal of the "Highland aisd Aukicultural Society of Scotland." 



(550) 



