50 



®t)e farmer's #tcmtl)lt) bisitor. 



with the cultivator, is certainly a very cheap and 

 easy vvav to raise them, and if the success winch 

 attended his experiment shall he found to at- 

 tend this mode of cultivation in any reasonable 

 decree, it is well worth the ailenlion ot farmers, 

 especially of those where labor is high and where 

 high cultivation is not desired. . 



Another mode of cultivation, somewhat simi- 

 lar to the ahove and equally successful in lis re- 

 sults, was mentioned hy some members ot the 

 Club The committee had also heard ol it from 

 other sources. In this case ihe ground was hack 

 furrowed, one furrow only being turned each to- 

 ward the other, then another set ot hack-furrows, 

 and so on throughout the held. The potatoes 

 were dropped on the ground in the interstices 

 between the back-furrows, that is, in the line 

 where the two furrows meet. The mode ot al- 

 ter cultivation was not particularly described, but 

 the crops were represented as being good. 



The mode of planting in drills has been re- 

 commended by some as giving a greater yie Id on 

 the same quantity of land. For garden cultiva- 

 tion, or on land richly manured and highly culti- 

 vated, it might do well. For common held cul- 

 tivation we should doubt its expediency. 



Various methods have been adopted to hasten 

 the growth of the potato, and obtain them for 

 the table as early in the year as possible, 1 he 

 mode described by the chairman was to spread 

 out on the south side of a building or high lence, 

 n small cart-load of horse manure about ten or 

 twelve inches deep. The p.otatoes were spread 

 over the surface of the manure very close to- 

 gether, and covered an inch or two deep with 

 loam. They remained there until they had 

 sprouted up through the loam, some of them 

 three or four inches high and others higher. 

 They were then transplanted to the ground 

 prepared for them as early in the season as the 

 state of the ground would permit, and cultivated 

 in the usual manner. Potatoes fit for the table 

 Were obtained in this way by the twentieth ol 

 June. The chairman thinks their growth may 

 he forwarded in this way, at least two weeks. 



There are many other important considera- 

 tions connected with the cultivation of the pota- 

 to, which, if the committee had time, might pro- 

 fitably be adverted to, but which we must lor the 

 present omit'; and wilh an apology for the im- 

 perfect manner in which the subject has been 

 presented, we respectfully submit this report. 

 DAVID CURRIER, for the Com. 



Potato Rot. 



dropsy, caused by an excessive accumulation of 



unelaborated juices in ihe tuber. The truth ot 

 this proposition will appear evident from several 

 considerations. The commencement of the rot 

 in the tuber is always subsequent lo the blight 

 of the leaves. This tact indicates with sufficient 

 plainness, that the disease has its origin in the 

 lops. It becomes, therefore, important to know 

 the part which these tops perform in the econo- 

 my of vegetation. The leaves of the plant sus- 

 tain towards the luher the same relation which 

 the lungs of a man sustain to the human body. 

 They discharge two important functions: the 

 one of respiration, the other of perspiration. In 

 the first place, then, ihe leaves are ihe respirato- 

 ry organs of the plant. The sap or blood of the 

 potato plant is not fit for the growth of ihe tuber 

 until it has undergone a certain chemical change 

 in the leaf, when it comes in contact with ihe 

 air. The fact that the peculiar mechanism ol 

 the leaf does work a decided and important 

 change in the sap of a plant, is strikingly illus- 

 trated ill the process of grafting. The scion, 

 and not the root or trunk of the tree in which it 

 is inserted, determines the character of the fruit. 

 Animals in respiration give off carbonic acid 

 and absorb oxygen : plants, reversing this pro- 

 cess during the day, absorb carbonic acid, which 



Amid the heterogeneous mass of testimony 

 presented on ihe subject of the potato rot, it is 

 extremely difficult to ascertain the truth. The 

 witnesses on the stand, embracing the most ex- 

 perienced agriculturists as well as men eminent 

 in science, contradict each other on some of the 

 most important points in the case. Experiments, 

 conducted apparently with equal care and skill, 

 have lead to totally different results. There was 

 method in Hamlei's madness, but there seems to 

 be no method in the potato rot. Every sort of 

 seed, prepared in every imaginable way, has 

 been planted at every period in the season, in 

 every variety of climate and temperature, on 

 every kind of soil, cultivated in every conceiva- 

 ble method, dressed with every species of ma- 

 nure, applied in every practicable degree and 

 manner, and yet the rot, without any apparent 

 discrimination or regard to any regular system 

 of procedure, has committed its ravages alike 

 under all circumstances and in all places. 

 Countless, as well as unaccountable theories in 

 relation to the mailer have been advanced and 

 defended, each in its lurn, with commendable 

 zeal and ability. But if nature, as Pope says 

 with more truth than poetry, 



" Acts not by partial but by general laws " — 

 laws simple and immutable, then every theory, 

 lo deserve our notice, must be founded on the 

 laws of nature. The theory, which seems to 

 your committee lo harmonize best with the es- 

 tablished and well known laws of vegetable 

 growth and decay, and at the same time to re- 

 concile to the greatest extent the discordant 

 facts in the case, we will endeavor briefly to 

 state and explain. 



THEORY. 



The rot is not the result of accidental causes, 

 but is a disease ; and ihe disease is a ground 



in the laboratory of the leaf is analyzed, the ox- 

 ygen thrown off and ihe carbon appropriated to 

 the growth of the plant. This carbon not only 

 furnishes the elements for the woody matter in 

 plants, hut in the case of ihe potato, contributes 

 three-eighths of ihe starch or nutritive substance 

 of the tuber. The moment, therefore, the leaves 

 of the potato are from any cause destroyed or 

 rendered incapable of performing their duties, 

 the sap ceases to be carbonated, and becomes, 

 as a necessary consequence, unhealthy and stag- 

 nant in the stalk, until at length by mere force 

 of gravity it settles down through the cellular 

 tissue into the tuber. 



In the second place, the leaves are the perspi- 

 ratory organs of the plant. The watery parts of 

 the sap are thrown off by the leaves, just as the 

 watery parts of the blood are thrown off by the 

 lungs. This is seen in the excessive perspira- 

 tion which constitutes mildew, as plainly as pul- 

 monary vapor is seen in a frosty morning. Now 

 if the leaf is unseasonably destroyed or blight- 

 ed, ihe insensible perspiration is checked, and 

 all the vessels of ihe plant become distended 

 with a superabundance of aqueous moisture. 

 If the tops should be light and the weather at 

 the time dry and hot, evaporation from the stalk 

 might carry off the excessive sap before it should 

 become diseased and settle down into ihe tuber; 

 but if the tops should he rank and the weather 

 wet, Ihe sap would stagnate in the stalks and 

 result eventually in the rot. 



The whole process of the potato rot, then, 

 would seem lo he this: First, the leaves are 

 from some cause blighted. Secondly, the sap, 

 excessive from want of transpiration through the 

 leaf and uncarbonated from want of contact 

 with the air, becomes diseased, and finally settles 

 down by its own weight into the tuber. Under 

 this pressure of circumstances, the luher, sur- 

 charged and bloated with the corrupt and fetid 

 juices of the decaying plant, rots, as in duty 

 hound. 



The inquiry now arises, what is the cause of 

 the blight in the leaves of the potato? Your 

 committee do not feel prepared to answer this 

 question. It probably results from one of two 

 causes— either from the ravages of minute in- 

 sects, or from some peculiar atmospheric influ- 

 ence. The fact that the blight occurs every year 

 at about the same time, would he equally liivora- 

 ble to either of lliese suppositions. Every spe- 

 cies of insect has a distinct period assigned lo it, 

 in which to commit its depredations. The rose- 

 bugs arc a familiar illustration of I his truth. So 

 too in the atmosphere, those subtle agencies, 

 which are fatal to life in the animal as well as 

 the vegetable world, exercise their power only 

 in fixed periods and at regular intervals. Fevers 

 are a familiar illustration of ibis truth. An ex 

 animation of a diseased potato vine with a solar 

 microscope, would settle the question at once, 

 whether the blight is the result of insects. Cer- 

 tain well-attested facts, however, would seem to 

 indicate, that some hidden agency in the atmos- 

 phere causes the blight. Of two contiguous 



fields, of precisely similar soil, dressed alike and 

 planted with the same kind of seed and at the 

 same time, but of different aspects or exposures, 

 the one, open to ihe wind, is blighted; while 

 ihe other, protected from the wind, escapes. In 

 the same field, rows sheltered hy the fence or 

 in some other way, continue green and flourish- 

 ing when all the rest have withered. A few 

 hills covered with glass in the midst of a field, 

 yield sound potatoes, while all the others are 

 rotten. Without attempting any philosophical 

 investigation of this branch of our subject, we 

 simply submit these few considerations, and wait 

 for further light. 



In view of all the facts in the case, which 

 have come to our notice or knowledge, your 

 committee feel assured that the potato-grower 

 need not yet say in the language of despair: 

 "Othello's occupation's gone." The Asiatic 

 cholera may not he entirely prevented, yet by 

 scientific treatment it may be made to assume a 

 milder and less fatal form. So this vegetable 

 cholera, the potato rot, may be under the control 

 of laws not yet fully discovered ; yet the experi- 

 ence of practical agriculturists and the experi- 

 ments of men of science, warrant us in the 

 belief, that ihe disease may he alleviated and 

 counteracted to a great extent. As a means of 

 prevention, or at least alleviation of the rot, we 

 venture to make, with some confidence, the fol- 

 lowing brief 



RECOMMENDATIONS. 



First. — Plant early. The blight, as a general 

 if not universal rule, strikes the lops in the 

 month of August: at any rate, not before that 

 time. If planted early, therefore, the sap of the 

 plant may all be assimilated and the potatoes be 

 ripe, before the plague co:i es. Counl Gasparin, 

 an eminent French scientific agriculturist, men- 

 lions, as recently reported hy ihe Commissioner 

 of Patents, that "in the south of Europe two 

 crops of potatoes are obtained in one year. The 

 first crop is planted in March and harvested in 

 June; the second is plained in July, after the 

 wheat is cut, and taken up in October. The 

 first of these crops was absolutely sound ; ihe ; 

 second was diseased." 



Second. — Plant on lighl soils, with light dress- 

 ing and this never put in ihe hill. The richer 

 the soil and the more abundant and concentrated 

 the manure, the ranker and more luxuriant will 

 he the vines. Let ihe blight strike the leaves of 

 such vines, when in full sap, and the heat of the 

 weather, however intense, will hardly he able to 

 carry off by evaporation ihe raw and unrarbona- 

 tcd juices ; and if not thus carried off ihey will 

 as a matter of course become putrescent and 

 eventually corrupt iheir way down to ihe tuber. 

 On the other hand, the lighter and feebler the 

 soil, the smaller will be the vines. The proba- 

 bility, therefore, is, that should the blight strike 

 them, the evaporation, especially if the weather 

 should fortunately he dry and hot at the time, 

 would carry off the sap without endangering the 

 tuber. Il is worthy of remark, too, that if the 

 soil should be light-colored, the reflection of the 

 heat from it would greatly facilitate the process 

 of evaporation. 



Third. — If, as some have supposed, the blight 

 is caused by an excess of ammonia in the at- 

 mosphere, sprinkling the tops at just the right 

 time with gypsum or piaster, would remedy ihe 

 difficulty. The sulphuric acid of ihe gypsum 

 would immediately combine with ihe ammonia, 

 which would thus he converted into a neutral 

 salt, perfectly harmless. !u relation to this point, 

 some interesting experiments are detailed in ihe 

 last report of the Commissioner of Patents, oil 

 page 145. 



Fourth. — If the blight results from any active 

 and malignant agency in the atmosphere, any 

 thing which would shelter the tops in some 

 measure from the direct action of the air, would 

 he of service. It might he well, therefore, to in- 

 tersperse rows of corn occasionally among the 

 potatoes, especially on the windward side of the 

 field. 



Fifth. — Select the seed from a field which has 

 not been attacked by the rot, and plant the pota- 

 to whole. Tubers, apparently sound, if taken 

 from a blighted field, must sympathize more or 

 less with the general disease. Though they may 

 not he absolutely putrescent, yet their tendencies 

 are all that way. Under such circumstances 



