No. 3. 



Remarks on the Potatoe Disease. 



89 



this sort, it is necessary to consider all that 

 is likely to affect the growth of the plant 

 under examination, and there is no one ele- 

 ment in the whole subject of more interest 

 or importance, than that of the atmospheric 

 changes which occurred at the particular 

 time when the disease first appeared. From 

 all the evidence that we can find in this 

 country and in Europe, it seems that every 

 thing connected with the growth of the po- 

 tatoe, had a remarkably flourishing appear- 

 ance up to a certain period. In England 

 and Ireland, this was in July; in this coun- 

 try, in August. That there then took place 

 a sudden change in the weather, from a na- 

 tural and genial state, to one damp and 

 foggy, which, no doubt, if it did not check 

 vegetation, produced a very strong predispo- 

 sition to disease. Whether this was the 

 case in every quarter where the disease has 

 appeared, we have no means of ascertain 

 ing, but it seems to have been the prevail- 

 ing state of the climate in those parts with 

 which we are the most familiar, and in which 

 we have the most interest. We are mucl 

 inclined to think, however, that although 

 this may have been a very active predis 

 posing cause to disease, yet that it was not the 

 only or the real source of the disease. What 

 the crop might have been, if this atmosphe- 

 ric change had not occurred, is a mere mat 

 ter of conjecture, but the alteration in the 

 character of the vegetation and in the growth 

 of the plant, was too sudden to be consistent 

 with a perfectly healthy condition. A strong 

 vegetable in an advanced period of its growth 

 would be able to resist these vicissitudes of 

 temperature, and would not, we think, so 

 readily and so universally give way to them. 

 It seems to us to argue a delicacy in the 

 seed, something feeble in that power which 

 causes the plant to germinate and continues 

 it in growth to its maturity. We observe 

 in some of the English agricultural periodi- 

 cals that the rot is ascribed solely to the seed 

 employed, being that of tubers which had al- 

 ready sprouted, either from too great a mild- 

 ness of the winter, or from having been badly 

 preserved through that season. Whether 

 this assertion could be true, so far as respects 

 nearly all Ireland, large parts of England, 

 and considerable portions of the continent 

 of Europe, we have no means of knowing; 

 but it seems, though a very plausible cause, 

 yet not sufficiently comprehensive to be uni- 

 versally applicable, and we are very sure 

 that few farmers in this country would allow 

 it to be any reason at all for the rot reach- 

 ing their fields. In collecting every fact and 

 circumstance, whether from earth or air, 

 that could bear at all on this mysterious sub- 

 ject, we have been struck in the progress of 



our investigation with one remarkable coin- 

 cidence as to the prevailing nature of the 

 seasons in this country and in Europe. From 

 the first appearance of this disease, the win- 

 ters are said to have been mild and open, 

 the springs cold and backward, portions of 

 the summer hot and dry, followed by a sud- 

 den change to wet and foggy weather. This 

 certainly must not be overlooked in making 

 up our judgments. There is no doubt that 

 such ungenial vicissitudes would produce a 

 very unhealthy vegetation, but we cannot 

 take it as the only operative cause, unless it 

 could be proved that the crop was destroyed 

 throughout the whole country, where this 

 weather prevailed, instead of being injured 

 in some q-uarters, while others escaped, 

 though the circumstances in each case were 

 the same. It should be borne in mind that 

 the potatoe has been always liable to disease. 

 The curl and the scab have in their day pre- 

 vailed so extensively as to create nearly as 

 much alarm as the rot of our times. They 

 have also occasioned nearly as much per- 

 plexity to the farmer, physiologist, philan- 

 thropist, and philosopher, though not as much 

 to the politician. All kinds of causes have 

 been brought forward to account for their 

 appearance, the same as now. Too little 

 heat, and too much moisture; fungi, invisi- 

 ble insects, the setting of too ripe tubers; 

 everything that could be suggested or con- 

 jectured, was at once thrown out as a cause, 

 but the whole remained as deep a mystery 

 as ever. In those parts of England and 

 Scotland where they most prevailed, a check 

 was put to their ravages by a change of 

 seed. The lowland farmer procured his 

 from the cold and sterile moors of the high- 

 lands. And the English farmer from some 

 district at a distance. This was the practi- 

 cal and sensible conduct of men who did not 

 feel the alarm of the present devastation, 

 who did not stop to speculate as to causes, 

 but who saw that tiie best remedy was to 

 rid themselves of a diseased vegetable, and 

 put in its place one that was healthy. In 

 France, where this rot has been very gene- 

 ral, the men of science appear as much at a 

 loss to assign a cause, as in England or in 

 this country. They have brought forward 

 in turn, the same series of causes that we 

 have heard of here, with one additional new 

 one, that of a strong wind. Though they 

 have failed so far in discovering any satis- 

 factory source of the malady, they have, 

 with great scientific skill and nicety ana- 

 lyzed all its effects. But it would be of no 

 interest to report those, as they have as yet 

 led to no uniform conclusion. Each of the 

 gentlemen engaged in these analyses has 

 thrown out his conjecture, but these seem 



