126 



Qll)c iTavmcr's iitcintl)l|j iltsitor. 



well hiive a share in the cunstenialioD. Our pub- 

 lic journals aie life with speculation on this suh- 

 jpct, which liiiiy privelfgo irie to adil one more 

 opinion to the nnnjhcr. 



Jf it he u diet, that the potato is declining in all 

 qnarttMs of'the (.'lohc; anil tlial the potato lately 

 pnidnccd IVoni the seed is siiarcd tla? epidemic, 

 then these (iicis shall conslilnle llie hasis of my 

 arf;ninent. I shall commence hy hinting the 

 analo};y of ve^riahle to animal life. 



All know, in the animal world, theie is a time 

 ofhinli, a timer olhein;.', and a linie o!V('u//i ; and 

 but for the wisdom olDeiiy in lininiiig the gieat 

 jdan otpro-cn-nlion, which gives aconlinnal snc- 

 CKSS'Ve re-proilnclion, man, and every other crea- 

 ture constitnlcil like himstH; would long sinc-e 

 have passed Irnm oH' the liice of the earth. Jf 

 the analogy, as IJotauisls iisscrt, and onr own 

 knowledge, reason and e.\|jerience teach, he Irne, 

 then what is Irne of the animal, nnisl also he 

 true of llie vegetahle. A Botanist has written, 

 "Sinpid indeed must he that mind which is not 

 hy tlie considerallon of the one led to reflect n- 

 pon the other." We have seen a plant spring in- 

 to existence, attain its maturity, decliiu; and die. 

 Birth, life, death, form a prin<-iplo iji all organic 

 matter. Jn stating this, I have told nothing new. 

 i have oidy endeavored " lo resuscitate surprise " 

 to do that which an eminent vvriler has said "is 

 in vain after familiarily has laid the suhject as-- 

 leep," and to afl()rd an iniroilnclion for the bet- 

 ter consideration of what follows. 



Do not laugh at me, should 1 attempt to prove 

 the disease of llie potato the elTect of mere old age; 

 of a worn out cousiitiuion. The potato, like ev- 

 ery other individual, both animal ami vegetable, 

 must decline ami die. 



It is now hilt tuo or three centuries since the 

 world was made acipiainled with this vegetahle. 

 History makes no mcniion of it belbre. 'J'he 

 common potato (Po!fini(mtiiherosum)i^ a native 

 of om- own (-01111117, and, Jlolanisis tell us, was 

 not known till after the discovery of America. — 

 In the year 15i)7, Sir Waller Kaleigh had thought 

 to introduce to ihe Old World a novelty, ami ac- 

 cordin;;lv left some potatoes on hisremrn liom 

 this c(Mu"ilry, in Ireland. 'I'hey were planted and 

 reiu-ed uiili such success that they svere soon in- 

 troduced into England, and from thence dissem- 

 inated over the continent. We see from this 

 that the age of the potato, un'ess it has been re- 

 produced from the seed, must he every where 

 the saitie. 



It is plain for what purpose tlie seed of the [io- 

 ta lo was designed; and no doidif, in its wild 

 stale, there was a conslant reprodnciion ; but af- 

 ter the discovery of this plant, this order was 

 subverted. 



We again assert, vegetables, like anittials, have 

 their time of lifi-. This may be apprelieiided hy 

 the most careless mind. In the liimily of the 

 grapes {Grriinani] we have examples. The 

 wheat and corn survive but a season, llie com- 

 tnon herdsgrass hut a limiied period, and others 

 of the same class more limited still. The pota- 

 to, too, must fidlow the laws of organic matter.— 

 1 am not prepared to name its day of lilt?, be it 

 long or short, it is nolliing to my argument; but 

 1 am iis certain it must die, as that we must pay 

 the debt of nalure. 



The cultivation of this vegetahle has been dirt- 

 srent from the geiurrality of plants. Whilst the 

 .■igricnltmist has been obliged lo raise Ids emu, 

 barley and oats, from the ««(/, he could do diirer- 

 ently with ihe potato ; he conid plant the root. — 

 The planting ollhe rout was but a roiilinvriliun — 

 not a reproduction — of tliemwe potato; and for 

 au(;ht we know, we are cultivating the smite potato 

 ill this day, that Kaleigh and his conlemporaries 

 cullivalerj idiiiost three hundred i/eitrs niro. 



We should wiiuder at a biMiig in ihe nniinal 

 creation, the life of which would exceed on<; 

 IiniHlred years; we should be surprised to see 

 the ciicmnher vegeiiitiug the sd'ond si.-ason from 

 the same rooi, or the corn outlive its time ; but 

 here we are conllinndcd that a vegelable, afler it 

 has lived three /n/;irfrc</ ^rars, withstood tint wralh 

 of elenienls, Ihe liosl of seasons, anil the pover- 

 ty of ihe soil, ."lioilld di<' ! 



Should it he nrsed against me, that the potato 

 deuenm-ates in ddlijrein climes, at dill'crcnt peri- 

 ods, and dilVrriuit species at dlHi-rent times also, 

 the answer is, it is the effect of that clime upon 

 its constituiion, or the soil has failed to foster it, 

 or in the latter case it is a reprodueliuii liom the 



seed, which gives a new life, that only survives its 

 progenitor's. We have seen men and animals 



de'ienerate and die under like circumstances. 



It is said there has been discovered preying 11- 

 pon the stalk of this vegetahle a minute species 

 of the i'luigi ; that this lt;eds upon its life, which 

 causes its decline. But this is a conseiiuence of 

 its age. The aged tree that has w ithslood a thou- 

 sand storms, is infested with the same parasite; 

 deeny is its congenial soil. This very state of the 

 potato is "ominous of the grave." 



We are told, too, French Philosophers have 

 round out the cause of its disease, and prescribed 

 a remedy ; but reason teaches it must die ; and the 

 only remedy fijr continuing its species must be 

 a resort lo reproduciiun. The plant, in the seed 

 it bears, afibrds us the means. 



But some may say it has been reproduced, — 

 This perhaps may be true, to a certain extent, 

 but the practice is not general nor ofien. A kind 

 may have been so obtained within ten years, 

 another within twenty, ihirty or forty, and some, 

 we may conjecture, may have never been repro- 

 duced since their discovery. But should it be 

 ascertained that a certain kind has been so ob- 

 tained, within ten or twenty years, and is now 

 failing, it doe.-> not impair tlie argument, lor its 

 age may be more limited than we suppose. The 

 manner ol" obtaining a supply of tliis vegetable 

 has been sueli, it is believed its period of life 

 has never been ascertained hy trial or observa- 

 tion. Botanists have never alleinpled lo tell its 



Some one attributes the cause of its disease to 

 the peculiar warm weallier at a certain stage of 

 the potatos' growth. But liovv comes it that 

 this very state of weather, at just such a stage ol 

 the p'lant, should des)ioil it lor the last two or 

 three years, and, what is more singular, he so 

 universal as to spread its pestilent wings over al- 

 most every plant of Ihe kind on the liice of the 

 whole earth ? 



It is not denied that the warm weather, nor 

 that certain kinds of ."^oil, as fanners have discov- 

 ered, influence the disease of the potato ; because, 

 at Ihe time of its ripening, it absorbs oxygen 

 liom the atmosphere. 15einv: heated, the more 

 it would call forth oxygen, so ihat it would gath- 

 er a preternatural supply. This, we may rea- 

 sonal)ly suppose, would liavo a tendency to pro- 

 duce decomposition. A heavy soil, too, would 

 retain more caloric than a light one, and Uir the 

 reason slated, bring on disease. Bui let all this 

 be true, it does not destroy Ihe argument, ihal 

 old age is the the cause of the present nnliealthy 

 slate of the plant. A man who is wearing out, 

 may somelimes shorten his life by a change of 

 clime, food, or circumstances. 



Portland, May, J64G. 



I''ic.ni llie llaiU'iTil Times. 

 The Potato Rot. 

 This suhject has now assumed truly an alarm- 

 ing nature, and it merits the deepest attention 

 both in this country and in Euro|ie. It becomes 

 the dn:y of every one, who has an opinion as lo 

 the nature or cause of the disease, lo let that 

 opinion be known to the end that llie sum ofall 

 information may lead to a discovery of the true 

 cause. With this view, permit nie to state Ihe 

 result of my observaton, and my opinion on the 

 suhject. 



A few years since, when the disease was com- 

 paratively in its bcginuiiig', i enterlainud the be- 

 lief that the cause of the rol lay in the potato it- 

 self; that its pr<ipertics had become ilrgtmerated 

 from various causes, the chief of which was llie 

 Im^ coulinued praciice of planting the potato 



11^ 



insteml of Ihe seeil, and that hy recurring ollener 

 to the seed the virtues of the root might be pre- 

 served ; and with iliat intent 1 have raised lliem 

 from Ihe seed in the potato ball, and now have 

 them the fourth year from that seed. The lirst 

 year they were mostly as large as garden peas, 

 and luivu continued enlarging imlil last tiill, 

 when some were nearly as large' as a common 

 sized hen's egg. lint this year llicy have degeii- 

 erati'd, and I have less butli in size and ipianliiy 

 than tluise I planted in the spring; and also they 

 were the first this season to dei'ay in their tops. 

 I have also supposed with others, that they ina\ 

 have degenerated or become less hardy by keep- 

 ing tliem in a liea|i in cellars, instead of sulfcr- 

 iiig lliein 10 retriain in their natural bed in the 

 ground, and exposed lo the fiosls of winter. I 



have raised them from those which had lain in 

 the ground through the winter — have applied 

 asliea and other substances lo the hill, and I 

 must confess that liilherto all llio.-e experiments 

 have completely failed ; this year the rot is worse 

 than ever, and the complaint is common, with- 

 out particular regard either 10 soil or location. 1 

 would .say, however, that the iMercer variety, al- 

 though a polaloe of lender and excellent quality, 

 and those which were planted early have decay- 

 ed by far the most, while other kinds which I 

 planted are as yet affected but little. 



I am now for my own part satisfied that the 

 cause of the rot is connected with Utatops of the 

 potaloe instead of the roo<, and that it is occasion- 

 ed by a premature (hcay of the lops, and that 

 this decay is occasioned by an insect which per- 

 fiurates the stalks and leaves, in numerous |>l;iccs 

 causing the juices 10 exude, and thus withohling 

 from Ihe [lolalo llie natural and necessary niitri- 

 Inenis which should be drawn from the almos- 

 phere. I have noticed on all of the lops' whicii 

 decayed prematurely, numerous punctures upon 

 the stalks, and in some of these places have 

 found what appeaierl lo he the eggs of an insect. 



I have also found in many of the stalks a worm 

 about one inch long, wliich I see by corres- 

 (londeiits in some of the papers, is alleged to be 

 the cause of the rot. The worm may easily be 

 delected by a heap of white olfal 011 the hill di- 

 rectly heneath his place of depredation. I do 

 not think, however, with others that this worm 

 is the main cause of the rol, lor I detcclcd it in 

 the stalks of different varieties of weeds, having 

 eaten out the inside without destroy ing or ap- 

 pearing'to injure their growth in the least; be- 

 sides ihe (lotalo slalks whicli contain the worm 

 are in some cases vigorous, while the slalks in 

 other hills are nearly dead, and they only bear 

 the marks of external injuries. The worm, with 

 the lops and the weeds which it inlested, I here- 

 with send you for examinaiioii if you wish. — 

 This worm, however, may be the grub which 

 proilnces the fly, bug or other kind of insect 

 which makes the fatal incisions in ihe stalk. — 

 ']'he insect may, and probalily does, pass ihrough 

 different stages or forms of exisleiice before it 

 assumes the form in which it inflii-Is its injury 

 upon the |)olalo crop. The locust is said to pass 

 lliroU!;h limrteen dillerenl stages in Ihe form of 

 fly, bug, miller, grub, &.C., before it lias the dis- 

 tinguished honor of appearing upon ihe slaire as 

 "locust," and in armor equippeil for depredalion, 

 and their visits occur, as is well known, once in 

 fourteen years. The great damage lo the wheat 

 crop ill some seasons, by the Hessian fly, is said 

 to be caused by punctures whicli it makes upon 

 the stalk in a green slate, causing the juices of the '; 

 stalk lo escape, and the berry to blast ; and it is 

 not unreasonable to attribute the disease of the 

 [lolaio lo a similar cause. 



'J'lie nmisual decay in fruit put up for winter 

 use Ihe past season, is attributed to its ripening 

 premaluiely, in consecpieiice of the extraordinary 

 drought last summer and fall, for li'uit generally 

 keeps longer and better by maturiuir and ripen- 

 ing gradually. If then, to reason fiom analogy, 

 the disease in the potato is caused by a prema- 

 ture decay of the tops, and iliereby causing an 

 early maiming and decay of the root, by preven- 

 ting the natural supply of atmospheric nuiriment, 

 I cannot see any good reas<m for the recommeii- 

 dalioii ol some wiiicrs on ihe subject to "cut off 

 till! lops before they are ripe," unless lh<y may 

 be poisoned hy the bile or sting of ihe insect. — 

 Hut iiolH illistanding my « ant of liiilli in the pro- 

 cess, it is very well to give the experiment a fair 

 trial, as it is asserted by some that the disease is 

 cimsid by contagion in the atmosphere; hut the 

 opinion, in my view, cannot he sustained hy ihu 

 least item of evidence. These views, should 

 they be found correct, may another year induce 

 agriculturists to adopt some mode of deslioying 

 these insccls, or for preventing their ravages. .\s 

 it is now too late with many llelds to stop the 

 progress of the disease hy experimenls upon the 

 lops, would it not lie worth the «lille to experi- 

 niint upon the polalo itselK and endeavor to dis- 

 cover sonar process by «liicli an evil so great 

 inav he arrested. R. II. Puklps. 



East Grniiby, Aug. 10th, 1840. 



.\ii old miser, hy the nnnio Dii'k, ilicil at Millville, 

 Ohio, last week. .After his deiilli, there was found in 

 an old chest in his room .^33,000 ia gold! 



