No. 11. 



Tlie Mule versus the Horse. — The Potatoe. 



347 



The Mule versus the Horse. 



C. P. HoLcoMB, an energetic farmer near 

 New Castle, Delaware, said lately to an Ag- 

 ricultural Club, which met at his house, " I 

 mean never to buy a horse again, except 

 for driving, and shall use oxen less than 

 formerly. Four years experience with mules 

 induces me to give them decidedly the pre- 

 ference. The late Nicholas Biddle once made 

 a calculation of the expense to the farmers 

 of the United States of keeping up fences; 

 a sum that would almost exhaust the British 

 Exchequer, but the capital sunk in horses 

 must nearly equal it — and much of this pre- 

 carious and expensive instrument, I am sat- 

 isfied may be saved by substituting mules." 



Samuel Canby said, "We shall require 

 the largest sized Western mules for our soil, 

 and besides, in many instances, on small 

 farms for instance, where the same team is 

 useful for the farm and road — for going to 

 market or church, the mule will hardly do 

 as a substitute, though I think well of them, 

 and the use of them is certainly greatly in- 

 creasing." 



The Potatoe— American Institute — Farm- 

 ers' Club. 



May 4th, 1847. 



CoL. Edward Clark in the Chair. 



Mr. Meigs, Secretary, read the following 

 paper: 



Agricultural Society of Inverness, Scot- 

 land — Report. 



"Whatever may be the nature of the af- 

 fection which has overtaken the potatoe, it 

 does not seem to be confined this season to 

 that crop. The beans have had their leaves 

 blackened, and their stems shrivelled by ap- 

 parently the same cause; and the rottenness 

 in the turnip may safely be ascribed to the 

 same influence. The products of the flower 

 garden have not escaped the affection, for 

 the leaves of the Peony seem to us to have 

 suffered from the same cause. Even forest 

 trees are affected, as the appearance of the 

 Balsam Poplar sufficiently indicates. And 

 wild plants have been observed to sufl'er in 

 a similar manner — as in the common Fern. 

 So far as we can discern, the mysterious 

 cause of the universal affection is very much 

 "like the pestilence that walketh in dark- 

 ness, and that wasteth at noon-day." 



Little information is communicated re- 

 garding the flowers, which had generally 

 decayed in the natural course before the dis- 

 ease had extended itself With respect to 

 the appearance of the stem and foliage, — 

 the reporters all concur, though expressing 

 themselves differently, in describing the 

 leaves as presenting the appearance which 



they generally do, after having been injured 

 by severe frost. In many cases the disease 

 was observed in the tubers, while the growth 

 of the foliage was unchecked, and its ap- 

 pearance unchanged — and in many it was 

 virulent where the stem and leaves appeared 

 the healthiest and most luxuriant! State- 

 ments to this effect were made by sixteen 

 observers. 



Repeated statements are made of good 

 and healthy tubers being found in a mass of 

 rotten ones ! 



It is an almost universal opinion that the 

 disease first appears in the stems and foliage 

 of the potatoe, where it is indicated by the 

 growth of certam fungi; but the experience 

 of the present year will perhaps lead us ra- 

 ther to the conclusion, that the disease is 

 deeper seated, and first appears in the root ! 



On examining the growing plants, the 

 principal or tap root, it is believed, will al- 

 ways be seen to be affected, and this, often 

 before any symptoms indicative of it, have 

 appeared in the stems and foliage ! 



The taint will be seen extending along 

 the connecting rootlets to the tubers — and 

 this, while the stems and leaves are growing 

 luxuriantly and are free from any percepti- 

 ble taint, when all at once, the disease reach- 

 ing the part of the plant above ground, the 

 leaves exhibit the symptoms now so well 

 known. If it should turn out that the dis- 

 ease first appears in the root, we can hardly 

 expect that many of the remedies proposed, 

 as sprinkling the growing plants with lime 

 or other substances will be of use — and it 

 will then also be probable that the cutting 

 over of the stems acts only as a palliative 

 by arresting the progress of vegetation. 



Argylshire. — We are an exporting dis- 

 trict, and on inquiry I find that about 9000 

 tons of potatoes are annually shipped to 

 Liverpool, Glasgow, and occasionally to Ire- 

 land — from five parishes. Those potatoes 

 which have escaped the disease are of ex- 

 cellent quality! 



The seed heads of the potatoe are now 

 rarely formed. 



The disease is to be ranked with cholera 

 among men, and murrain among cattle. The 

 chief lineament of its character is independ- 

 ence of action : and that action of the most 

 erratic description. If it seized this neigh- 

 bourhood, it passed over that! only however 

 to attack another — for another year's crop 

 we must look for healthy seeds, good manure, 

 and a careful separation of the tubers to be 

 planted. 



Generally, the newest and freshest varie- 

 ties have been least affected — and the old 

 cultivated varieties the most. 



For ten or twelve years past it has been 



