THE DISEASE IN POTATOES. 263 



They framed and sent to hundreds of the most distinguished agriculturists the 

 following queries : 



"1. At vvliat jicriod in tho sesisoii, and after wliut sUito of the weather, the disease mani- 

 fested itspir.' \Viiat were the genei-al appearances presented hy tiie stems, leaves and flow- 

 ers, and by the tubers, when the taint had extended itself to them ? 



"2. Whether any oi' tin; varieties of potatoes connnonly eullivated have escaped the dis- 

 ease, or been less affected than the otliers ? Whether potatoes recently obtjuned from seeds 

 have been less subject to it than those which have been long i-aised from sets or tubers ? — 

 Whether any particular condition of the soil, as to wetness, previous cidtivation, or the kinds 

 of manures used, appear to have had imy influence in ])romotmg, retarding or proventuig the 

 disease ? 



" 3. ^Vllat have been the modes em])loycd in storing the potatoes, and what are the meaiL* 

 whicli have Ijeen found most successful in preserving the healthy tubers, and preventing the 

 extension of the taint from tlie disi'ased to the sound ones?" 



We liave not room in this number for even the substance of the answers to 

 these queries ; but it is admirable to see the promptness and explicitness of the 

 replies from no less than 132 farmers. The Society first embody in a very con- 

 densed statement the substance of these answers to each question, and then by 

 numbers refer to and publish the answers themselves, that the reader may see 

 the precise ground of their summary statement. Wc can only give their state- 

 ment of the answers received to the branch of the second query, '• Whether pota- 

 toes recently obtained from seeds have been less subject to it than those which 

 have been long raised from sets or tubers ?" and on this point the Society say : 



" The answers to tliis inqnii-y are numerous. Nearly all the reporters state that potatoes 

 raised recently from the seeds were equally subject to the disease as those which had been 

 long propai,'at<>d from the tubers; and, in the opinion of many of the reporters, the potatoes 

 recently nused from seeds were more liable to be affected than the others." 



They then refer to twenty-three reports, from as many different persons, and 

 say : 



'• All these reports concm- as to the fact that potatoes from seeds were as l^ad as, or worse 

 than, others. The contnuy opinion is reported by only three gentlemen, viz. 



" Mr. John Hogarth, Berwickshire, who states that some raised from seed were free from 

 disease, tmd kept well. 



" Mr. .\le.\aiider .T. Main, Edinburghshire, who says that sets of potatoes raised for four 

 years from seed were not so much affected iis those fi-om older tubers. 



" Mr. Fi-aiicis McMinn, Lanitrkshire, who mentions that the only potatoes rai.scd from seed 

 in his neigliboihood have kept." 



Nor is it probable that potatoes lately raised from seed will be more exempt 

 than potatoes of the oldest stock, if the cause of the disease is such as stated in 

 the next chapter. 



Those who have observed the progress of investigation on this interesting ques- 

 tion with proper and enlarged views, and a fair disposition to do justice to those 

 to whose acquirements and labors we might be indebted for the best elucidation 

 of the subject, cannot have failed to notice the very quiet and unostentatious, bu* 

 at the same time very efficient part performed by Mr. Teschemacher, of Boston 

 one of the most disinterested and accomplished vegetable chemists of the age. 



In giving place to the following from a late number of the London Gardeners 

 Chronicle, it would be a gross omission not to refer to the fact that as far back af 

 October, 1844, Mr. T. took the opportunity of examining chemically and witb 

 great care the first diseased potatoes which came within his notice, and pro- 

 nounced the opinion since promulgated by Morren, and now again insisted upon in 

 this most recent Report, made oliicially to the Danish Government, through the 

 Polytechnic Institution of Copenhagen, being written by Professor Liebmann, 

 and, in Denmark, thought to give a satisfactory solution of the cause of the sick- 

 ness. It is, however, proper to state that Professor Lindley, Editor of the Lon- 



(501} 



