Agriculture is the most Healthy and Honorable, as it is the most Natural and Useful pursuit of Man. 



YOL. XII. 



ROCHESTER, N. Y. — JULY, 1851. 



NO. 7. 



POTATO CULTURE AND POTATO ROT. 



We are obliged to our friend and esteemed corres- 

 pondent, " S. W," for his critical remarks on the 

 " Potato Rot," as it gives us an opportunity to ex- 

 plain more fully than we yet have done, our views of 

 this malady, and the best means of prevention, by the 

 more skillt^ul culture of an important crop. First, let 

 us consider the origin of the disease. It consists 

 essentially in the premature decomposition of the 

 organized elements in the tubers, which artificial 

 agencies have developed, for the fact should not be 

 overlooked that wild plants growing indigenously, 

 produce but few, and they very small potatoes. Their 

 preternatural enlargement by cultivation, may give to 

 the tissues of the parts so affected, a degree of ten- 

 derness analogous to what is called " proud-flesh,'' 

 or the excessive accumulations of fat in the systems 

 of animals. A race of long pampered -sheep, horses, 

 or horned cattle, is vastly more susceptible to inju- 

 ries, and subject to diseases, than wild animals 

 belonging to the same species. The more artificial 

 the treatment, and the wider the departure from na- 

 ture's standard, the more feeble the vital force within, 

 and the more potent all adverse influences without. 

 In our humble judgment the causes of the potato rot 

 are as numerous as those that induce disease and 

 death in animals. Life and death, whether in a plant 

 or animal, are phenomena of the causes of which we 

 know nothing. Why they should die so soon, or live 

 so long, or live or die at all, is a secret not likely 

 to be revealed by science. Nevertheless, we know 

 that some substances operate as poisons, others as 

 aliments, and that all living beings maybe starved to 

 death from the lack of suitable food. We know also 

 that some diseases are constitutional, and extend from 

 parent to oifspring ; and that others are temporary, 

 and affect the individual alone. In testing the hered- 

 itary vital strength or constitutional power of differ- 

 ent seeds, it has been found unequal — feebleness 

 begetting feebleness, and .strength strength, to a 

 degree that enables 1000 seeds of corn, well-treated 

 for several generations, to produce a third larger har- 

 vest than a like nuniber of seeds long ill-treated — both 

 kinds having equal advantages of soil, culture and 

 climate. These remarks will apply to potatoes, wheat, 

 and other plants. To plant the seeds of potatoes 

 which have suffered from bad treatment through ten, 

 twenty, or thirty crops, or generations, by no means 

 secures the benefit of a sound constitution to start 

 with as the liead of a new family. Seedlings, how- 



ever, are preferable to buds or sets, and we advise all 

 potato-growers to save seeds washed clean from the 

 balls and dried in the shade soon after they are ripe. 

 We have undertaken to procure five pounds for Mr. 

 BoDisco, the Russian Minister at Washington, and 

 as many more for Baron Von Gkrolt, the Prussian 

 Minister, to be sent to their respective Governments. 

 These gentlemen take a deep interest in agriculture, 

 and if any reader can save a few pounds, or a pound, 

 of potato seeds, they may be franked to the Commis- 

 sioner of Patents, for the agricultural department, 

 and will be paid for, or other valuable seeds sent in 

 return or exchange. 



We do not suppose it possible always to prevent 

 the premature extinction of vitality in potatoes, and 

 their speedy dissolution thereatler, any more than it 

 is possible to avoid all untimely frosts, the attacks of 

 rust and mildew, or the death of children. Nor can 

 we appreciate any peculiar mystery in this fact, as 

 nature operates by general, not partial, laws. If 

 medical science shall ever approximate perfection, it 

 will be by preventing, not. curing, maladies. To pre- 

 vent the potato disease, all the conditions necessary to 

 a healthy growth of the stems, leaves, roots and tubers 

 of the plant must be complied with, from generation 

 to generation. We know a lad not twelve years of 

 age, and perfectly temperate, who suffers much from 

 the gout, a disease of which his father and grandfa- 

 ther died. Many noble families have become extinct 

 from the misconduct of progenitors ; and the same 

 law extends not only through all inferior animals, but 

 to the lowest plants endowed with life. That is, if the 

 living principle is mal-treated, the organized matter 

 which it pervades, returns more speedily to its origi- 

 nal elements. To apply a good deal of putrescent 

 manure to feeble potato plants, is like treating indi- 

 gestion with a double meal of pickled clams. 



In the way of a postscript, S. W. gives the follow- 

 ing information: "Since writing the foregoing, I 

 have seen Josp:ph Wright. He said that about one- 

 third of his crop rotted, and the other two-thirJs ave- 

 raged considerably more than 250 bu. per acre of 

 large, sound potatoes. Twenty-five two horse loads 

 of soap-boilers ashes were applied to the acre, with 

 as many loads of well-rotted stable manure. He is 

 decidedly of the opinion that the ashes alone saved 

 the crop, as ivhere tnosl aslics tvere found in the hill, 

 ihcpolaloes were the largest and best." 



Those who have read this journal during the last 

 six years, need not be told how " decidedly" the opin- 

 ion of Mr. Wright, founded on experience and obser- 



