NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



291 



sprouted lately, is of the opinion that man has had 

 some hand in building the country. 



Yours, JoTHAM Pottle, Jr. 



Remarks. — Let our correspondent extol the plea- 

 sures of the city; in the summer season, they bear no 

 morecomparison to those of the country, than the size 

 of the hillock on which the State House stands on 

 in Boston, to that of the splendid White Mountains 

 or the lofty Alleghanies. And why those streams 

 of water of which our correspondent speaksl Are 

 they not to lay the dust and filth in the streets'? 

 And what is this boasted Cochituate water? It is 

 from a pond with its broad expanse to the sun, 

 abounding with decayed vegetable matter, as indi- 

 cated by the dingy appearance and insipid taste of 

 the water; and finally received warm into the 

 dwellings through leaden pipes. What is this wa- 

 ter compared with the pure crystal fountain that 

 gushes from the hill and mountain side, or the em- 

 blem of truth drawn from a well with "a white- 

 pebbled bottom, in a moss-covered bucket." 



In the city you have the sea-breeze; but instead 

 of a delightful breeze, you often have an "east 

 wind," which, if it does not bring a pestilence, 

 like the east wind of olden time, it brings disease 

 and death to thousands, and terrible sufferings to 

 the poor invalid. What is the shade of a little 

 public garden, which is to be shared by a hundred 

 thousand inhabitants ? Is it a place of retirement 

 or enjoyment amidst a constant stir and bustle? 

 And what is the atmosphere of the city, with its 

 hundreds of stables sending forth their emanations 

 in the air; and thousands and thousands of privies, 

 with their foul odor through the atmosphere. 

 How soon all the inhabitants would go to destruc- 

 tion were it not for the breezes from the country, 

 rendered pure by the operation of vegetable life, 

 evolving vital air to support the animal kingdom. 



isfied that there is no other vegetable that needs 

 seeding every year that would have stood the same 

 test as long as the potato has. 



I am aware there are many seeming objections 

 that can be brought against this theory, and I also 

 feel sure that they cannot be successfully refuted. 



If you should take any interest in this idea, I 

 shall be pleased to write more particularly on the 

 subject at some future time. 



Yours truly, B. u. 



Clinton, Aug. 11, 1851. 



Remarks. — We give our friend a hearing, though 

 we have no confidence in his hypotheses. We have 

 found that unripe potatoes, beets and carrots grow 

 with more vigor, on being planted the next season, 

 than those that are well ripened. We have planted 

 potatoes as late as July 22nd, that produced a su- 

 perior crop for seed; as they grew with greater vi- 

 gor than those that were well ripened. And as long 

 ago as we can remember, fine potatoes were raised 

 from small ones, good crops of a good quality and 

 free from disease. As to cutting potatoes, it has 

 been practised more than fifty years with success; 

 and potatoes now are no more liable to rot from be- 

 ing cut, according to our experience and that of ma- 

 ny others. The English, who have examined very 

 nicely into this subject, dig their potatoes for seed 

 before they are ripe. 



The potato disease has come too suddenly and 

 too extensively upon us to be attributed to any cause 

 which produces a gradual decline in the species, 

 and if these things here named have produced a de- 

 cline in the potato, that decline must have operated 

 very slowly, for some of these things were in oper- 

 ation a hundred years ago. 



For the Neiv England Farmer. 

 THE POTATO DISEASE. 



Mr. Cole : — I have read with much interest the 

 various communications which have appeared in 

 your excellent paper concerning the cause of the 

 potato rot. And as the bug theory seems to be ve- 

 ry essentially used up by the remarks of Dr. Har- 

 ris, I thought I would offer my opinion on the sub- 

 ject ; feeling confident, that whether I can claim 

 the reward offered by government or not, it will be 

 a great benefit to the whole country, if people will 

 investigate the subject and act prudently. 



I think it is a common practice among good man- 

 agers, who wish to propagate either animals or veg- 

 etables, to select good seed; buti am confident that 

 many who are good managers in this respect with 

 regard to other vegetables, have sadly neglected 

 this important point in the culture of the potato. I 

 have thought for some time that the great trouble 

 may be safely attributed to planting unripe pota- 

 toes, and those that are too small, and cutting off 

 what is commonly called the seed end for planting; 

 also planting too late in the season, with a few other 

 things of nearly the same character. And I am sat- 



For the Nezu England Farmer. 

 POTATO DISEASE. 



Mr. Cole:— Allow me to say that I did not 

 represent a black bug in my remarks at the Far- 

 mers' meeting last March. I distinctly stated that 

 it was a green insect, such as is found on the house 

 plants. It will be perceived by reference to the 

 Boston Cultivator of Dec. 12lh, 1846, that I at 

 first supposed it was the black bug, but soon ob- 

 served that the green insect was quite as destruc- 

 tive or more so than the black bug, as will ap- 

 pear by a communication made to Gov. Hill, and 

 published in the Monthly Visitor of October, 1848. 



Since my communication to Mr. Proctor as pub- 

 lished in the Salem Observer July 26, I have dis- 

 covered, through the aid of my gardener, that the 

 insects not only feed upon the leaves but upon the 

 small fibre of the root as well as u\m\ the potato 

 itself, as will appear by a copy of the enclosed 

 letter addressed to John W. Proctor, Esq., of Dan- 

 vers, extracts of which also appeared in the Sa- 

 lem Observer of the 9th inst. 

 Yours very respectively, 



Oliver M. Whipple. 



Lowell, Aug. 20, 1851. 



Lowell, Aug. 2, 1851. 

 Dear Sir:— I hasten to inform you of a new dis- 

 covery which has been made this morning by my 



