tsii ^»^m 



^^ERICAN HER1>B00^- 



DE VOT ED TO 

 AGRICULTURE, HORTICULTURE, AND RURAL AND DOMESTIC AFFAIRS. 



Perfect Agriculture is the true foundation of all trade and industry.— Liebio. 



Vol. X No. 8.] 



•3rd mo. (March) IGth, 1816. 



[Whole No. 134. 



PUBLISHED MONTHLY, 



BY JOSIAH TATUM, 



EDITOR ANI» PROPRIETOR, 



No. 50 North Fourth Street, 



PHILADELPHIA. 



Price one dollar per year. — For conditions see last page 



For the Fanners' Cabinet. 



Potatoe Rot— Objections to various The- 

 ories. 



Mr. Editor, — I have for some months 

 past, read with no little interest the various 

 articles which have appeared in difTerent 

 papers on the subject of the potatoe rot. 

 Merely to say that I am somewhat surprised 

 at the various ideas and reasonings in rela- 

 tion to the cause and cure of the disease, 

 would not be to express my feelings upon 

 the subject. I have been astonished ; and 

 although I had intended to trouble you no 

 more upon this matter, I have felt it my 

 duty to take it up again and treat it in a 

 different m.anner. 



I notice in many excellent papers, long- 

 essays on the potatoe disease; but were it 

 not that their authors sometimes intersperse 

 a few facts among their lengthy disquisi- 

 tions and fine spun theories, their articles 

 would be worse than useless. But whenever 

 they give facts they render a service, as bv 



Cah.— Vol. X.— No. 8. 



that means people may be enabled to judge 

 foi; themselves of the cause of the facts, and 

 thus arrive at the truth, if it be possible. I 

 am happy to say, that in your December No. 

 p. 159, I noticed an article devoted to facts 

 more than to theories, although the latter 

 are also given. Before going further, you 

 will permit me to refer you to the nature of 

 those facts. You will perceive that they 

 fully sustain my views. You will recollect 

 that my opinion is, that the disease is caused 

 by a want of alkaline matter, I stated some 

 months since in the Cabinet, that the cellu- 

 lar tissue is composed partly of alkalies, and 

 i where these were deficient the result was a 

 weakness, and ultimately a total destruction 

 :of that cellular tissue; and as an accompa- 

 Inying circumstance, the death and decay of 

 I the potatoe. The destruction of the cellu- 

 lar tissue at the time of the death and decay 

 of the potatoe, while the other parts of the 

 potatoe are comparatively sound, you will 

 perceive is stated in the article just referred 

 to — said article says : " It seems from the 

 microscopic appearance, that the starch es- 

 capes injury for a long time after the skin 

 and cellular parts are gone." 



But I object to the theory accounting for 

 the fact. The experience of a great many 

 of the farmers of this country has been 

 against such a theory. It is the opinion of 

 the different writers, that the rot was caused 

 by the cold and wet weather, while we are 

 well aware that the rot has been destructive 

 in limes of excessive heat and drought; so 



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