204 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



F(yr the Neio England Farmer. 

 INSECTS ON POTATOES. 



Mr. Coi.e : I am reminded by the article on the 

 " Potato Rot," in the February mimber of the IS". E. 

 Farmer, and by other notices of the disease, of some 

 facts that have been communicated to me concerning 

 the presence of insects -within the stalks of the po- 

 tato. The discovery of the insects was made by Sir. 

 Wilkinson, the principal of the Agricultural School at 

 Mount Airy, in Germantown, I'ennsylvania. From 

 a correspondent, Avho had been engaged in making 

 observations -with him, I received specimens of these 

 same insects last August, with the following account 

 of them : — 



" The eggs are deposited on the leaf-buds, about a 

 foot above the ground. When hatched, the grubs 

 enter the tender buds, and proceed down the stalk, 

 and frequently reach the root before they change. 

 They remain in the pupa state about eight or ten 

 days, when they assume the perfect form, and creep 

 out of the stalk by perforating the thin bark. The 

 eggs are oval, and of a bright orange-red color. The 

 very young grubs are of the same color, but soon 

 change to a pale yellow. The potato-fields " (where 

 these insects prevail) " look as if they had been 

 scalded ; and on examining the plants, from one to 

 three weevils were found in each stalk. The pota- 

 toes have not yet begun to rot, but on cutting them 

 oi:>en, a watery spot is found in the middle, and a 

 well-defined streak of disease is marked from thence 

 to the root on which it grew. The injury appears 

 to have been confined to the late potatoes. Whether 

 this i:)rove the origin of the potato rot or not, it is an 

 evil of great magnitude, and demands the attention 

 of entomologists and farmers." 



The writer hero very prudently refrains from ex- 

 pressing a decided opinion that these weevils are the 

 exciting cause of the potato rot ; and there is suffi- 

 cient reason for this caution. 



The insect referred to is, in its mature state, a little 

 beetle, about three twentieths of an inch long, be- 

 longing, as my correspondent rightly judged, to the 

 weevil tribe. It was first described by Mr. Saj-, in 

 July, 1831, under the significant name of Baridius 

 trhiotatus — the three-dotted Baridius. The Chevalier 

 Schocnherr, in a large work, extending to several 

 volumes, and exclusively devoted to the description 

 of all the known insects of this tribe, redescribcd 

 this species imder the name of Baridius vestitus, so 

 called in allusion to the vesture of short gray nap 

 that covers its body. In fact, its gray coat and the 

 throe black dots on its back, (one on each side of the 

 base of the thorax, and the third on the scutcl or 

 escutcheon,) as Mr. Say remarked, distinguish this 

 species sufficiently from all others. Mr. Say found 

 it in Pennsylvania and in Indiana, and I have speci- 

 mens from the. former state, and from North Caro- 

 lina. It has never fallen under my notice in Massa- 

 chusetts, nor am I aware that it has ever occurred in 

 New England. 



Now, before we attempt to charge this or any other 

 insect with being the cause of the potato rot, we 

 must prove that the insect is coextensive with the 

 disease ; for there can be no doubt that the disease 

 in all parts of Europe and of America, wherever it 

 has appeared, is specific and identical in its charac- 

 ter. It is a-s much a disease unique in its kind as is 

 tlie Asiatic cholera, and almost as extensive in its 

 range. This being true, the same cause that origi- 

 nated and propagated the disease in Europe, must 

 have extended and continued it in America ; and 

 whenever this cause shall cease to act in one jjlacc, 

 v/c may reasonably hope that its infiuence will begin 

 to subside in other and more distant places. It 

 would be. not only unphilosopliical, but contrary to 



all analog)-, to attribute the disease to one cause, or 

 to one kind of insect, in Europe, and to another 

 cause, or to another kind of insect, in America. 



Let us, then, inquire what arc the facts in regard 

 to the insects in question, and in regard to other 

 insects that have been supposed to be the cause of 

 the potato rot. Are they as universal as the disease ? 

 Naturalists, being those who are most conversant 

 with the subject, will tell us that Baridius trinotatus 

 is wholly unknown in Eurojic, and that it is exclu- 

 sively confined to America, where also its range is 

 limited to a part of the country only. On the other 

 hand, the A2Jhis dct-asfa/or, which Mr. Smcc has 

 described as the cause of the potato rot, is confined 

 to Europe, and perhaps also to a comparatively small 

 part thereof. 



If due weight be given to siich considerations as 

 these, shall we not be brought to the conclusion that 

 potato rot is independent of any such causes as the 

 attacks of insects ? 



It has long been my opinion that the potato rot is 

 a disease of an epidemical character, propagated by 

 a kind of malaria, or atmospheric poison, capable of 

 extensive difi'usion, and though of uncertain dura- 

 tion, destined to come to an end in the course of 

 time. How far the change in the constitution of the 

 potato produced by cultivation, may have had any in- 

 fluence in the production and propagation of the 

 disease, will be an interesting subject for investiga- 

 tion. We may find that some varieties, like the St. 

 Helena potato, either from original hardiness of con- 

 stitution or from some other cause, have hitherto been 

 exempt from the disease ; and that new and vigorous 

 varieties raised from the seed, may have power to 

 withstand its attacks. And perhaps we may find 

 that new soil, like the virgin loam of the forests, vm- 

 changcd by tillage and manure, and uncontaminated 

 by the exudations of agricultural crops, may prove 

 most favorable to the free growth, healthy condition, 

 and early ripening of the potato, and thereby enable 

 it to pass unhurt through a visitation of the epi- 

 demic. T. W. HARllIS. 



C.VMHRIDOE, Mass., May 28, 1850. 



For the Neio England Farmer. 

 WHITE SHANGHAE FOWLS. 



Mil. Editok, : In the last number of your paper, a 

 correspondent, " Stonington," saj'S, "In a recent 

 communication to your pajier on the ' White Shang- 

 haes,' it is stated they are a separate breed of fowls. 

 Will your correspondent, or some other gentleman 

 versed in feathered genealogy, give us his authority r" 



" If there is a distinct species of Wliite Shanghae, 

 it is not known to Capt. Palmer." 



That there is a breed of fowls at Shanghae with 

 white plumage, is shown by those imported in March 

 last, now in the possession of ^Ir. Wight, at Dcd- 

 ham, Mass. These fowls were obtained at Shang- 

 hae, and were shipped by the Vancouver, and pur- 

 chased at a much greater price than is paid for the 

 ordinary store fowls, with Avhich the foreign ships 

 arc supplied. The progeny of those White Shang- 

 haes has been, so far, without the slightest deviation 

 as to color, (as I am informed by Mr. Wight,) show- 

 ing that they are a distinct breed. 



The Shanghae fowls imported by Capt. Palmer, 

 and presented by him to Mr. Dixon, and of which 

 " Stonington " speaks so highly, Avere undoubtedly 

 the remainder of the store fowls put on board of 

 Capt. Palmer's ship, and were of mixed blood, hav- 

 ing the same character that fowls purchased, under 

 similar circumstances, for ships leaving any of the 

 ports of this country, would possess, and it requires 



