ON ROOT CROPS. 117 



all their endeavours to obtain a good crop, will be at hap-haz- 

 ard. If the proprietors of this kind of soil have been raising 

 good potatoes from it, year after year, with the real cause of 

 their having good potatoes staring at them with meridian 

 brightness, and they have not discovered it, perhaps this bright- 

 ness may have been eclipsed by the brightness of the forth 

 coming dollars, which they were likely to receive for their re- 

 splendant crop. But if they have discovered it, and keep it a 

 secret, that they may obtain thereby a yearly income, and en- 

 joy in the lap of nature what others are toiling to obtain by 

 art, it is high time for those who have to depend on art as well 

 as nature for a living, to put in for a share. But I have thought 

 perhaps very few of our farmers, either practical or scientific, 

 have discovered the real cause why some raise good potatoes. 

 My reasons are these — 1st. Our practical farmers have not dis- 

 covered it, because it consists of principles so different from 

 what they have considered indispensable to vegetable life, es- 

 pecially to that of the potato, that they have entirely overlook* 

 ed it. 2d. Our scientific farmers have not, because they have 

 not gone into the potato field with hoe and basket, and bent 

 down to the work, digging and comparing hill with hill, and 

 examined the soil, the manure, and the potato, in order to 

 ascertain what was deficient, and what was superabundant. 



I am inclined to 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 po- 

 tato is a kind of plant which grows below 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 mealiness. Hence we see the necessi- 

 ty 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 expect good and sound potatoes. 

 I am inclined to believe we should depend more upon the natu- 



