238 



THE GEiVESEE FARMER. 



tance and conclusiveness of Mr. Bebkkley's testi- 

 mony, I said : 



" 'One might suppose, from the nature of those 

 objections, that lungi were some imaginary or un- 

 seen inrtiit-nce-i, wliose presiMice ami action coultl 

 only be proved by a [irocoss of abstract reasoning, 

 not by t'irfct observation. Parasitical lungi are 

 living bodies, visilije to tiie siglit. They weieseen 

 by Mr. Bkkkkley, attacdving tlie potato i>hints 

 while the foliage was yet green, speedily effecting 

 the destruction of the part attacked, and, in every 

 case preceding the work of destruction. 



"' On reading evidence so iinportant as this, the 

 first questions which occur to an iinpartial in(|uirer, 

 are, — who is the author of tliis evidence? Was he 

 qualified l)y his previous knowledge, and by his 

 opportunities, to be a corn])etent observer? And 

 can we place implicir confidence in him as a faithful 

 recorder of facts? The Ooiinnissioners themselves 

 supplied the answer. ' They admitted that ' Mr. 

 Bekkki.ky is a gentleman eminent above all other 

 naturalists of the United Kingdom, in his know- 

 ledge of the habits of fungi.' '"VVhy then these 

 frivolous objecaioiis to the conclusion at which Mr. 

 Berkeley had arrived? "Why these 'ifsand doubts' 

 on a point which is capable of being decided by di- 

 rect observation ? If the fungus be a true parasite, 

 and not a species which preys on decaying matter 

 only, what does it matter whetlier we can under- 

 stand or not wliy different fields or varieties of po- 

 tatoes should he differently affected, or why the 

 disease had not before been developed ? If the 

 foundation be secure, if the main fact be placed be- 

 yond dispute, which fe the first thing to be consid- 

 ered, we may then be assured that all our doubts 

 admit of being satisfactorily explained, and our 

 next endeavors should be to find these explana- 

 tions; to discover, if possible, what are the causes 

 which liave recently come into operation, favoralile 

 to the increase of tlie parasite to the present alarm- 

 ing degree, and not to doubt tlie habits and power 

 •of the parasite, simply because wo cannot imme- 

 diately fiml these explanations. 



" 'As if, however, no longer to leave any room 

 for«loulit or cavil on this point, Mr. Dkhkeley, in 

 his elalH)rate treatise published in the llort. Soc. 

 Trans. f(u- Jan. 1846, said, in language as plain and 

 decisive as it is possible for langna^^c to be, 'the 

 decay is tlje C(Uisequence of the presence of the 

 mould, ajid not the moidd of the decay. It i^ not 

 .tlie habit of the allied species tf) i)rey upon decay- 

 •ed .or decaying matter, but to produce decay; a 

 fiict.wliich is of the first importance. Though so 

 ■many other pj)ecie8 have thi.i iiabit, tiiese have not.' 

 Again, 'I do not know of any single instance in 

 wliich any >(Tf the nearly allied species liave l)een 

 found in any other situation than growing from the 

 tissues of plakts. Tlie species are. in fact, as 

 jjeculiar to the living tissues of plant.'*, f.s are 

 the several species of Puccinia and Oredo, which 

 couild not exist, or, at any rate, be perfected else- 

 wliere.' 



'"Even this did not suffice to silence objections 

 to tlie fungal theory. In the brilliant summer of 

 1840, brown idotches were again observed on the 

 lower parts of the stems of tlie plant,", previously 

 to the (destruction of the foliage; and on this basis 

 Dr. LtsuLKT again raised an explanatioa of the 



disease, similar to that which he advanced in the 

 preceding year, and with the same object in view, 

 viz., to show the relation of fungi to the disease; 

 thattliey are a consequence ami not the cause of it. 

 Plants were, however, forwarded to Dr. Lindlet, 

 having the parent tuber or set, .as well as the lower 

 part of the stem sound, yet the jiarts above ground 

 wevp) affected by the disease, and he was conse- 

 quently led to acknowledge that this, like the ex- 

 planation of the preceding year, was untenable. 



" • He, nevertheless, still seemed to entertain 

 doubts about Botryth in/entans being the cause of 

 the disease : for, said he, ' the discovery of the 

 mischief Avith any certainty seems ho[ieless, all en- 

 quiries as to that sul>ject ending in a negative, and 

 the world has wisely resigned it elt to its fate. 

 ' What can't be cured, mu.st be endnred,' and the 

 potato disea-e belongs to that class of evils.' " 



"In conclusion, I remarked, 'The question as to 

 the immediate cause of the i>otato bliglit is obvi- 

 ously settled. Since the publication of the obser- 

 vations of Professor Moreen, in Belgium, M. Pay- 

 en in France, Mr. Beukki.ky in England, and Pro- 

 fessor LiEBMANN in Denmark, I never have, indeed, 

 seen any just or reasonable grounds for doubting 

 that a parasitical fungus was the immediate cause 

 of destruction. Some allowance may be made for 

 the crude notions of these objectors who had not 

 made the economy of jilants their peculiar study, 

 but none know so well as our leading botanists, 

 that Mr. Berkeley' possessed n(r ordinary qualifi- 

 cations for an investigation of this nature. He is 

 confessedly one of the most distinguished mycolo- 

 gists of Europe; and being, moreover, a man of 

 leisure, residing in the country, he had ample means 

 for making observations; the greatest deference 

 was therefore due to his opinions. The two rival 

 theories, (t!ie atmosplieric and the fungal) it may 

 also be observed, had been broached previously to 

 the appearance of the disease in the district where 

 Mr. Berkeley resided, so that he had the great 

 advantage of making observations on the potato 

 crops previous to, and on the first development of 

 the malady. 



"'On the 23d of August, 1845, Dr. Linplet 

 published an article in which he ascribed the rot 

 to atmospheric infiuences, to the cold, clondy, and 

 wet nature of the season. On the 2t;th cf August, 

 Mr. Berkeley received from his friend, Dr. MoN- 

 TAGNE of Paris, some potato leaves infested with 

 the parasite, and at that (bite, Mr. Berkeley wrote 

 to Dr. Lindley ap|)rising him of this, saying that 

 h(j had inquired in every direction, and could hear 

 no tidings of the disease in his neighborhood, and 

 that his crops were never more nbundant or finer. 

 Mr. Bki'.kei.ey was evidently on the watch fur the 

 destroyer, and if the plants at that ti:iie were par- 

 tially decaying in the leaves, can it be considered 

 proliable that such nn unusual state of things should 

 liave escaped ^Ir. Berkeley's observation, more 

 especially us his attention was now directed- to that 

 point by "Dr. Lindley's remarks? A few days 

 afterward-* the disea.se reacheil Northamptonshire, 

 and Mr. Hekkkley, like Professor MoitREW, follow- 

 ed its progress in various fields. The result of his 

 ob.servaiions at that time and afterwards may be 

 briefly summed np. He found that the same fun- 

 gus that had been forwarded to him by Dr. MoN- 

 TAONB, from France, which Professor Morrsn 



