260 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



prevailed there to an alarming extent before it 

 reached America, and as the disease found here 

 occurs with precisely the same symptoms and re- 

 sults as in Europe, it must, wherever and when- 

 ever it appears, have one common specific cause. If 

 occasioned by insects, then the insects causing it 

 must be of the same hind or species in all regions 

 where the disease has extended. It would be en- 

 tirely unphilosophical, and contrary to all analogy 

 and all experience, to attribute the disease to one 

 kind of insect in one country, and to an entirely 

 different kind of insect in another country, — to ap- 

 hides in England, to "black bugs" in America, to 

 lady-hirds in Massachusetts, and to the Baridius 

 trinotatus in Pennsylvania. It is a well-established 

 fact that the insects of America and of Europe are 

 not identical, excepting only in those few cases 

 where some one species of one country has been 

 introduced by the intervention of man into the other 

 country. It has never been shown, and I think 

 will never be proved, that any one species of insect, 

 of sufficiently destructive powers to prove exten- 

 sively injurious to the potato crop, is to be found 

 alike on the potatoes of Europe and America; and 

 until such proof is produced I shall continue to 

 maintain the opinion that I have ever held, that in- 

 sects have no concern or connection with the pota- 

 to disease. 



I have written out my views hastily, but some- 

 what at length, on this important subject, — as your 

 inquiries and observations seem designed to call for 

 my opinion. But though perfectly willing, as in 

 the present case, to express an opinion, when asked, 

 I have no wish to sit in judgment upon others, and 

 might have maintained a reserve upon the latest 

 humbug concerning the potato pestilence, if your 

 own sagacity had not led you to suspect the small- 

 ness of its pretensions. 



With respect, yours, T. W. Harris. 



THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 



Sir Charles Lyell, in his Princi[)les of Geology, 

 offers some excellent observations in points in ref- 

 erence to the animal kingdom, which apply with 

 equal force to the cause of vegetables. He says: 



"The modifications in the systems of which man 

 is the instrument do not, in all probability, consti- 

 tute so great a deviation from analogy as we usu- 

 ally imagine; we often, for example, form an ex- 

 aggerated estimate of the extent of the power dis- 

 played by man in extirpating some of the inferior 

 animals, and causing others to multiply; a power 

 which is circumscribed within certain limits, and 

 which, in all likelihood, is by no lueans exclusive- 

 ly exerted by our species. The growth of human 

 population cannot take place without diminishing 

 the numbers, or causing the entire destruction of 

 many animals. The larger carniverous species give 

 way before us, but other quadrupeds of smaller 

 size, and innumerable birds, insects and plants, 

 which are inimical to our interests, increase in 

 spite of us, some attacking our food, others our 

 raiment and persons, and others interfering with 

 our agricultural and horticultural labors. We 

 force the ox and the horse to labor for our advan- 

 tage, and we deprive the bee of his store; but, on 

 the other hand, we raise the rich harvest with the 

 sweat of our brow, and behold it devoured by myr- 

 iads of insects, and we are often as incapable of ar- 

 resting their depredations, as of staying the shock 



of an earthquake, or the course of a stream of burn- 

 ing lava. The changes caused by other species, 

 as they gradually diffuse themselves over the globe, 

 are inferior probably in magnitude, but are yet ex- 

 tremely analogous to those which we occasion. 

 The lion, for example, and the migratory locust, 

 must necessarily, when they first made their way 

 into districts now occupied by them, have commit- 

 ted immense havoc amongst the animals and plants 

 which became their prey. They may have caused 

 many species to diminish, perhaps wholly to dis- 

 appear; but they must also have enabled some oth- 

 ers greatly to augment in number, by removing the 

 natural enemies by which tliey had previously 

 been kept down. It is probable, from these and 

 many other considerations, that as we enlaio-e our 

 knowledge of the system, we shall become more 

 and more convinced, that the alterations caused by 

 the interference of man, deviate fiir less from the 

 analogy of those affected by other animals than we 

 usually suppose. We are often misled when we 

 insinuate such comparisons, by our knowledge of 

 wide distinction between the instincts of animals, 

 and the reasoning power of man; and we are apt 

 hastily to infer, that the effects of a rational and an 

 irrational species, considered merely physical 

 agents, will differ almost as much as the faculties 

 by which their actions are directed. A great phil- 

 osopher has observed, that we can only command 

 nature by obeying her laws, and this principle is 

 true, even in regard to the astonishing changes 

 which are superinduced in the qualities of certain 

 animals and plants by domestication and garden 

 culture. We can only effect such surprising alter- 

 ations by assisting the development of certain in- 

 stincts, or by availing ourselves of that mysterious 

 law of their organization, by which individual pe- 

 culiarities are transmissible from one generation 

 to another. * * * * The distinctness, how- 

 ever, of the human from all other species, consid- 

 ered merely as an efficient cause in the physical 

 world, is real, for we stand in a relation to con- 

 temporary species of animals, and plants, widely 

 different from that which other irrational animals 

 can ever be supposed to have held to each other. 

 We modify their instincts, relative numbers and 

 geographical distribution in a manner superior in 

 degree, and in some respects very different in kind, 

 from that in which any other species can affect the 

 rest." 



CORN PliOUR. 



A new article has just appeared in our market, 

 called "Extra Superfine Corn Flour." It is a pre- 

 paration from yellow Indian corn, by Stafford's 

 patent process, at the Atlantic Dock Mills, New 

 York, and is warranted to keep fresh and sweet in 

 any climate. This is a great desideratum, for hith- 

 erto no grain or meal has been more difficult to 

 keep pure and sweet any length of time when ex- 

 posed to the common vicissitudes of moisture or 

 dryness, heat and cold It is on this account that 

 it has been so generally rejected in Europe as an 

 article of food, — it could seldom be obtained there 

 in its pure and untainted state. By mixing this 

 prepared corn flour with wheat, rye or buckwheat 

 flour, a very superior article of food is obtained, 

 and which may be eaten by persons troubled with 

 weak digestion. Those who have tried it in this 

 vicinity, speak highly of it. It can be obtained of 

 Davis & Mulliken, in this city. — Maine Farmer- 



