No. 5. 



Occasional failure of Seed Potatoes. 



155 



Occasional failure of Seed Potatoes. 



The following article from a late number of John- 

 ston's Lectures on Agricultural Chemistry and Geolo 

 gy, will be read just now, with particular interest by 

 our farmers. The potato crop has become an import- 

 ant one, both to the grower and consumer. The loss 

 sustained by its decay and worthlessness in this vi- 

 cinity, this season, is of very serious e.xtent. In some 

 neighbourhoods in this State, of easy access to our 

 Philadelphia market, where farmers have planted 

 from one or two, to ten or fifteen acres, they have lost 

 them almost bodily. Farmers have been named to us, 

 both in Pennsylvania and Jersey, who have lost by 

 rotting, after they were dug, 1,500 or 2,000 bushels. It 

 is stated also, that cases have occurred, where hogs 

 that had eaten of them, had died, as it was believed, 

 in consequence. So far as we are advised, this disease 

 of the potato is new, to our oldest farmers. It would 

 be gratifying and interesting, if some of our corres- 

 pondents would furnish for the Cabinet, such facts and 

 suggestions as bear upon the subject. 



The article below, has no reference to failures of 

 this character, but only to the quality of the seed. Po- 

 tatoes that are brought from the Eastward, are occa 

 sionally so heated in the vessel, as to become unfit for 

 planting. Some five or six years ago, the editor was 

 desirous to change his seed, and obtained some very 

 fine Mercer potatoes, from on board a vessel from 

 Maine. They were planted, but about one-fourth of 

 them only, ever vegetated.— Ed. 



"The seeds of all cultivated plants are 

 known at times to fail, and the necessity of 

 an occasional change of seed, is recognized 

 in almost every district. In the Lowlands 

 of Scotland, potatoes brought from the High- 

 lands, are generally preferred for seed, and 

 on the banks of the Tyne, Scottish potatoes 

 bring a higher price for seed, than those of 

 native growth. This superior quality is 

 supposed by some, to arise from the less 

 perfect ripening of the w^-land potatoes, and 

 in conformity with this view, the extensive 

 failures which have taken place during the 

 present summer, 1843, have been ascribed 

 to the unusual degree of ripeness attained 

 by the potatoes during the warm, dry autumn 

 of the past year. 



" This may, in part, be a true explanation 

 of the fact, if, as is said, the ripest potatoes 

 always contain the largest proportion of 

 starch — since some very interesting obser- 

 vations of Mr. Stirrat, of Paisly, would 

 seem to indicate that whatever increases the 

 per cenlage of starch, increases also the 

 risk of failure in potatoes that are to be 

 used for seed* This subject is highly de- 

 serving of further investigation. 



* " I insert Mr. Stirrat's letter upon this subject, not 

 only because his observations are interesting in them- 

 selves, but because they are really deserving of the 

 careful attention of practical men : — 



"Effect of saline top-dressings on the 

 quality of the seed. — It may be doubted, 

 however, whether the relative proportions 

 of starch are to be considered as the cause 

 of the relative values of different samples 

 of seed potatoes. This proportion may prove 

 a valuable test of the probable success of two 



" Sir, — The following experiment with potatoes, was 

 tried with the view of discovering the cause of so 

 many failures in the crops of late years, from the seed 

 not vegetating, and rotting in the ground. I had an 

 idea that the vegetative principle of the plant might 

 become weak, in consequence of being grown on land 

 that had been a long time subjected to cropping, and 

 not allowed any length of time to lie at rest. I, there- 

 fore, raised a few bolls on land that had lain lea for 

 TO years, — being part of my bleach green, — and found 

 that these on being planted again the following year, 

 were remarkably strong and healthy, and not a plant 

 gave way, and I have continued the same method for 

 the last six years, and the result has, in every instance, 

 been equally favourable. Four years ago, one boll of 

 my seed potatoes was planted along with some others 

 in a field of about an acre, the other seed was grown 

 on the farm, and the seed all gave way excepting that 

 got from me. They were all planted at the same time 

 and with the same manure. From these circumstances, 

 I am of opinion, that if farmers were careful in rais- 

 ing their own seed potatoes from land that has lain 

 long in a state of restf — or where that cannot be had, 

 the same object can be obtained by bringing new soil 

 to the surface by trenching as much as is necessary, or 

 by the use of the subsoil-plough — failures of the pota- 

 to crop from the seed not being good, would become 

 much less frequent. I am somewhat confirmed in this 

 opinion, by the fact, that it has been found for the last 

 dozen of years, that generally the best seed potatoes 

 have been got from farms in the moors or high lands 

 of the country. The reason of this may be, that these 

 high lands have been but of late brought under crops 

 of any kind, and many of them but newly brought 

 from a state of nature, and the superiority of seed po- 

 tatoes from these high lands may not at all arise, as is 

 generally supposed, from a change of soil or climate. 



"Potatoes raised on a new soil, or on ground that 

 has been long lying lea, are not so good for the table 

 as the others, being mostly very soft, and, by the fol- 

 lowing experiment, it would appear that they contain 

 a much less quantity of farina than those which are 

 raised from land that has been some time under crop, 

 and, perhaps, this is the reason why they are better 

 for seed. From one peck of potatoes, grown on land 



t "Mr. Finnie, of Swanstone, informs me, that the 

 growing of potatoes intended for seed, upon new land, 

 has long been practised by good farmers. Mr. Little, 

 of Carlesgill, near Langholm, writes me. that in Dum- 

 friesshire, they obtain the best change of potatoe seed 

 from mossy land — of oats and barley, from the warmer 

 and drier climate of Roxburgshire. The grains, he 

 adds, degenerate by once sowing, still looking plump 

 when dry, but having a thicker husk, and weighing 

 two or three pounds less per bushel. The deteriora- 

 tion of seeds, in general, is a ehemico physiological 

 subject of great interest and importance, and will 

 doubtless, soon be taken up and investigated. 



