68 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



POTATO ROT. 



At the agricultural meeting, Jan. 29, Mr. Calhoun 

 road the following communication : — 



Hon. "NVm. B. Calhoun-. Sir : As president of the 

 agricultui-al meetings, I do not hesitate in taking the 

 liberty of placing in your hands the enclosed paper. 

 It has been for some weeks my wish to have the sub- 

 ject under the attention of the agriculturists of our 

 state, and I know of no association, or body of them, 

 to Avhich it could be communicated with so much 

 projjriety as the one over which you preside. 

 "NVitli high respect, 

 (Signed) A. A. IIAYES. 



On a Method for protecting Potatoes, after they have 

 been harvested, from the further Spreading of the 

 Potato Disease. 



We are indebted to J. E. Tcschmacher, Esq., for 

 the first demonstration of the causes of the present 

 destructive disease in the potato, being a fungus 

 growth. The subsequent inquiries, up to the latest 

 observations, have only slightly modified the conclu- 

 sions arrived at in this country, by substituting for 

 the changes produced by a vegetating fungus, those 

 induced by the decay of that growth. 



The rapid decay which continues after the roots 

 have been removed from the soil, is often of the most 

 remarkable character, and aside from its economical 

 bearing, is a subject of scientific importance. During 

 the last season, I made trial of some chemical agents, 

 which specifically arrest all vegetation, hoping to 

 discover an application which would enable us to 

 preserve the diseased potatoes from further changes. 

 Early in the course of the experiments, it was noticed, 

 that a reduction of temperature, by exposure to cold 

 air, greatly diminished the rapidity of decay, while 

 a slight increase of temperature hastened it — mois- 

 ture bemg present or not. 



Heat in a moist atmosphere increased the destruc- 

 tion ; and samples which had been cooled, and there- 

 by partly protected, readily passed through all the 

 changes when again exposed to warm and humid air. 

 After using several substances by direct contact with 

 diseased parts of potatoes, I soon found that the mix- 

 ture of sulphurous acid, nitrogen, and common air, 

 such as exists when sulphur is burnt in closed vessels, 

 •would prevent the further progress of the disease in 

 tubers already affected ; and when exposed in contact 

 with tubers passing through all stages of the disease, 

 no further change in the prepared ones was induced. 



The trials were varied, and the uniformity of the 

 results has led me to conclude that the fumes of burn- 

 ing sulphur, flowing in contact with potatoes partly 

 diseased, will arrest the further progress of the dis- 

 ease, and prevent decay. It is proper that this conclu- 

 sion should be received as an expression of fact, 

 under the circumstances of experiments on a small 

 scale, and with no more than two varieties of pota- 

 toes ; but I confidently expect that the importance of 

 the application will be seen in the largest exhibition 

 of its effects. 



The practical use of the sulphurous acid gas is 

 very simple, and not expensive. Crude sulphur in- 

 flamed in a sliallow cast-iron vessel, or an earthen 

 pot, furnishes tlie fumes, which may be led, by wooden 

 pipes, to the lower part of bins filled with the roots, 

 until the unoccupied space is filled with them. As 

 the fumes cool, they become heavier than air, and 

 ■will then enter every interstice. By placing the pot 

 of burning sulphur in an empty barrel, and inverting 

 over it a barrel filled with potatoes, having a light 

 rack in place of a head, the fumes will slowlj' rise 

 within and impregnate the mass ; the barrel and con- 

 tents being the;i removed, and the head replaced, the 



exposure may be considered as ample. Where the 

 quantity is large, it would be more economical to 

 leave a space vacant, below the loose floor on which 

 they repose, and introduce these fumes until every 

 part of the heap of potatoes has received a share. 



It should be remembered, that this application will 

 injure, if not destroy, the vegetating power of the 

 tubers, and that although this result may be highly 

 desirable, for all that are preserved for food, those 

 intended for seed should not be so treated. 

 KespectfuUy, 

 (Signed) A. A. HAYES, M. D., 



State Assayer. 

 No. 1 Pine St., Boston, Jan. 18, 1850. 



INVERTING FENCE POSTS. 



Articles have be«n published occasionally, showing 

 the advantage of inverting fence posts, in order to 

 prevent their decaying so readily as they do in their 

 natural position. Many plain and strong facts have 

 been brought forward in favor of this improvement, 

 and yet most farmers go on in the old way, unmind- 

 ful of these facts, and still complaining of the scarcity 

 of timber, the great expense and transient nature off 

 fences. Verily, we need line upon line. With this 

 view of tlie subject, we copy the following article 

 from the Germantown Telegraph, a paper, by the 

 way, that has a most excellent agricultural depart- 

 ment, and from which we frequently copy very in- 

 structive articles : — 



Mr. Fkeas : I have frequently seen it asserted in 

 the agricultural journals and other papers, that fence 

 posts, by being inverted, last much longer, and are 

 more durable in every description of soil, than when 

 set in the ordinary way. The experiments and facts 

 adduced in support of this position, have accumulated 

 so fast of late, that it appears to me the most scepti- 

 cal must waver under so vast a weight of unimpeach- 

 able testimony. In my own experience, nothing cal- 

 culated cither to confirm or confute this theory has 

 yet occurred ; but I have the written testimony of 

 several enlightened friends to corroborate its correct- 

 ness. A neighbor of mine, who, some years since, 

 resided in one of the New England States, informed 

 me recently that he had occasion, while there, to 

 build a line of fence, on a cross road, dividing his 

 estate, and that, having heard of the superior dura- 

 bility of posts when inserted in this way, he under- 

 took to test the theory, and for this purpose set every 

 other post (they were of white oak) Avith top down. 

 This he thinks was in 1830 or 1831. In visiting his 

 old homestead last autumn, he had the curiosity to 

 inspect this fence, and to his surprise found that 

 those posts which had been set in an inverted order, 

 were, to all appearance, sound and good, while those 

 which had been set with the butts down were, in almost 

 every instance, decayed. In some few instances it 

 had been necessary to replace the latter, and those 

 which had not been replaced were so rotten that a 

 sUght concussion would have been sufficient to break 

 them at the surface. Another friend, twenty-one 

 years since, in the same state, set two chestnut posts 

 for the purpose of hanging a gate. Three years since, 

 one of these posts, which had been placed in the soil 

 with the butt end down, was examined, and found to 

 be too much decayed to subserve any longer the end 

 for which it was designed ; while the other, set with 

 the top end in the soil, scarcely exhibited any appear- 

 ance of rot. On the same farm he also built a line of 

 stake and board fence, one half of which he built 

 with the stakes inverted. This half of the line re- 

 mained perfectly erect and the stakes sound for a 



