No. 6. 



Remedy for the Potatoe Rot. 



173 



those few were two or three excellent flow- 

 ers, and one superlative, named Toison 

 d'Or, which was considered by every ama- 

 teur present to be one of the finest dahlias 

 ever raised, being- large, finely cupped, very 

 symmetrical, high in centre, and colour gold- 

 en orange or buiff; it unanimously obtained 

 the first prize, and I was informed it had 

 been exhibited at several dahlia shows du- 

 ring the season, and always gained the prin- 

 cipal prize ; among the continental varieties 

 for 1848, this will be the flower of the sea- 

 son. I must not forget some charming bou- 

 quets sent by Madame Vauriet, of Brussels; 

 these consisted of an elegant "Bouquet de 

 Noce," two beautiful "Bouquets de Bal," 

 and three splendid large " Bouquets de Ta- 

 ble," all arranged in exquisite taste. 



I now come to the fruit rooms; here there 

 were upwards of eighty exhibitors, among 

 whom were the Due de Brabante, Comte de 

 Flandres, and Princess Charlotte. I had 

 been led to expect a large collection of 

 fruit; Flanders has the reputation of being 

 par excellence the land of pears ; in it have 

 been raised more and better varieties than 

 in all the rest of Europe put together; I 

 was not disappointed, for certainly finer 

 specimens, as regarded size and form, it 

 would be difficult to produce. I have, it is 

 true, seen both in England and France as 

 fine single specimens, but here you meet 

 them in almost every collection. 



Among the vegetables were some very 

 large collections; that of M. Simonis, of 

 Liege, contained more than three hundred 

 and twenty different varieties; in it were 

 seven varieties of beet, fifteen of carrots, 

 nine of celery, eight of endive, forty-seven 

 of cabbages and broccoli, fifty-three of Hari- 

 cot beans, twenty-four of lettuce, thirteen of 

 turnips, nine of onions, thirty-two of peas, 

 eight of radish, eight of tomatoes, &lc. That 

 of M. Galoppin consisted of one hundred 

 different kinds of beans and peas. Mr. Van- 

 derschriek had some very large cabbages, 

 pumpkins, vegetable marrows, haricots, let- 

 tuces, and turnips; but in the collection of 

 M. Rampelbergh, were some most beautiful 

 specimens of broccoli, cabbages, carrots, en- 

 dive, beans, cucumbers, and pumpkins; bet- 

 ter it would have been difficult to meet with. 

 Potatoes occupied a considerable space in 

 the exhibition. The Society had ofl'ered 

 one gold, two silver gilt, and two silver 

 medals, for the best collections and for seed- 

 lings, and certainly there was no lack of 

 competitors. As might be expected among 

 so many collections, some were very even 

 and good, and others mediocre. There 

 might be seen varieties that had been culti- 

 vated in every kind of soil, and with all 



sorts of manure ; in one place was the pro- 

 duce of sets received from South America, 

 in another from the south of Europe, and in 

 another from the most northern climates. 

 In some collections it was indicated that 

 they had been raised from diseased tubers ; 

 in others that sound tubers had been planted 

 in land which had for the two previous sea- 

 sons entirely failed; in fact, it was evident 

 that a grand experiment had been tried to 

 avert the danger of a national calamity. 

 Several of the collections contained from 

 twenty to seventy varieties, among which 

 were numerous specimens of early white 

 and red Kidney, early white and red round, 

 Ash-leaved Kidney, early and late Irish 

 Shropshire red, Shaw's red Antwerp, blue 

 Saxony, Grosse Monstreuse de Mons, Rouge 

 de Landen, long blue Dutch, spotted red and 

 white Ghent, Rohan, Rose, Mousson, early 

 and late Champion, blue Saint Helena, 

 Rouge de Vosges, Corne de Vache, red 

 Scotch, white and red Havannah, Howard, 

 Nine Weeks, Ovale de Growland, Langue 

 de Boeuf, late American red, and many 

 others. — Hovey^s Magazine, 



Remedy for the Potatoe Rot. 



In 1846, one of the editors of this paper 

 planted potatoes on land manured with mo- 

 rocco tanner's manure, which contains a 

 good deal of lime. The crop was healthy and 

 good, while other fields in the vicinity were 

 diseased. In considering what it was in 

 the tanner's manure, that protected the po- 

 tatoes from disease, he came to the conclu- 

 sion that it was principally the lime. Ac- 

 cordingly, in the spring of 1847, after his 

 potatoes were up and ready for the first 

 hoeing, he put about a pint of shell lime — 

 slacked — on eacii hill, having, previous to 

 planting, ploughed in a moderate dressing 

 of stable manure. The result was 200 

 bushels of the finest potatoes to the acre, — 

 mealy and sound, on land naturally poor and 

 sandy. They continue sound and good. We 

 were about to state these facts for the bene- 

 fit of others, when we met with the follow- 

 ing in the American Agriculturist for Janu- 

 ary, 1848. 



•'When the seed is dropped, sprinkle 

 about a pint of slacked lime over it in each 

 hill, and then cover it. 



•'There is this value about the lime, if it 

 does not prevent the rot in the potatoe, it 

 will be worth its cost and the labour of ap- 

 plication in fertilizing the land." 



The mode of applying the lime, or rather 

 the ti?ne of doing it, recommended by the 

 Agriculturist, , is difl^erent from ours, and 

 may possibly be the best, though we are 



