^0.8. 



The Potatoe Disease. 



255 



n agriculture, by means of manure, which 

 he immortal Buel had lit up in a land where 

 he people were more easily persuaded to 

 ook well to their own interests, than our 

 )eople are, who had been already for years 

 inlightened by the " American Farmer," 

 hough they but seldom practised its pre- 

 septs. Of late years, our people have ma- 

 jured heavily, and lo! the rot affects our 

 wtatoes, for we bought " Mercers" from the 

 lorth, and practised northern cultivation 

 vith them. 



Another fact — all scientific writers pro- 

 rose the use of plaster, lime, salt and other 

 nineral manures; but there they stop — it 

 »ot occurring to them that unfermented, or 

 >ther vegetable and animal manures are 

 lurtful. They say, that where plaster, salt, 

 >r lime, &c. have been used, the potatoes are 

 ess, and in some cases not at all diseased, 

 rhey then account for it by going into the 

 iffects of these substances upon the air, the 

 lews and a thousand other chimerical causes, 

 lut all conclude at last that nothing can be 

 rrived at with certainty. Now for my other 

 acts ; — I had last year several rows of pota- 

 oes, (Mercer) manured with tobacco stalks 

 lone; there was hardly one diseased pota- 

 oe, — the rest were alongside manured with 

 I'ell rotted stable and hog pen manure, many 

 f the potatoes were rotten, others unsound, 

 '^ow it is well known that there is a great 

 eal of nitre in the tobacco stalk, and the 

 ■egetable parts are so woody, that they did 

 lot fully decay while the potatoe was matur- 

 ng, consequently the only benefit the potatoe 

 erived was from the nitre in the stalk. 



I sold to a neighbour some from my seed- 

 leap. He planted them in April, upon a dry, 

 andy or gravelly soil, that was poor, but no 

 [lanure but a light sprinkle of ashes unslack- 

 d, over them. He had splendid, sound po- 

 atoes, and they were from time of planting, 

 n eight weeks, as large as hen eggs, with, 

 s he says, not one diseased. 



In 1845 I raised some of the soundest and 

 inest potatoes in my neighbourhood. My 

 leighbours bought this spring most of them 

 ar seed, although some were touched by the 

 ot, I made about 160 bushels, and 1 lost of 

 hem 8 or 10 bushels. Half of these potatoes 

 cere manured in the drill with stable ma- 

 ure, and other drills with tobacco stalks, 

 chile some had nothing but a good sprinkle 

 f plaster. Where the plaster was, none 

 cere rotted, were the fewest but largest; 

 hose least injured by rot were where the to- 

 acco stalks were; and where a heavy coat 

 f manure was placed, there was a large 

 rop, but much disease. 



One of our most successful potatoe grow- 

 rs, and excellent managers, Mr. B. D. M. 



never had the rot in his potatoes, until he 

 had used the same seed, or his own kind, for 

 many years, and had resorted to heavy ma- 

 nuring, with long manure, and other barn 

 yard and stable manure. Then he, as was 

 formerly his practice, selected his poor knolls 

 and barren spots for his potatoes, and used no 

 other manure than tobacco stalks; he made 

 great crops, and the most splendid, mealy, 

 delicious potatoes, — outselling every body; 

 and he made large crops. One year from 

 seven pecks planting, he gathered 170 bu- 

 shels of fine potatoes. This is a strong fact. 



The soundest and best potatoes raised in 

 our county, are made upon our poorest lands. 

 In what we call " Chinquepin Hundred," we 

 hear but little or no talk of " the rot;" but 

 while they boast not of large crops per acre, 

 they always can give you fine, large, sound 

 potatoes to eat. And they do not use much 

 manure. This is another strong circum- 

 stance. 



An old writer, as far back as 178.5, when 

 no rot was heard of, says, " to make good 

 potatoes, take old worn out stubble land and 

 plow it up in the fall, in two furrows back to 

 back, so as to leave drains about two feet 

 apart, by this means it becomes thoroughly 

 dry." * * * " When you plant, put a piece of 

 dung as big as your fist upon each potatoe set, 

 and let them be the length of a man's foot 

 apart in the drill." This you see is not hea- 

 vy manuring. 



From all these facts and circumstances, I 

 have come to the following conclusions, with- 

 out, I candidly confess, being able to assign 

 a scientific reason why it is so, and why it 

 should be so; but I know it is so, and seeing 

 and feeling make us have faith, although we 

 may not be able to explain the mysteries of 

 that we feel to be true. 



1st. Conclusion — We do not often enough^ 

 with sufficient care, propagate new species 

 of potatoes from the seed. 



2ndly. We use too extensively vegetable 

 and animal manure upon our potatoe crop, 

 especially upon our rich lands. 



3rdly. We should be careful to select dry 

 ground for this crop. Not high, hilly land, 

 but dry soil, one which retains not water 

 long, but is deep and dry, because the water 

 can easily penetrate it below the roots, and 

 pass off" without injury to them. 



If I am right in my conclusion, the remedy 

 for the disease I would suggest is, to wit: 



1st. Let every farmer select a ^ew fine 

 potatoes free of rot, and plant them in only 

 thin soil, without any manure, and save the 

 seed ; from this, let him propagate a new 

 variety for himself, saving and planting from 

 the product of this seed the handsomest and 

 best specimens annually, for four or five 



