1851. 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



189 



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bloods, they will be willing to give such certificates. 

 But those who buy without them, will no doubt find 

 themselves in the back-ground, by and by, when 

 they want to sell to those who wish to improve their 

 flocks, or want to establish a flock of pure bloods, as 

 those who understand what they are about will re- 

 quire certificates of the pedigree, that will satisfy 

 them that they are the simon pure. 



I will relate a circumstance that took place when 

 I was in Vermont, a few years since, in pursuit of 

 pure bred Merinos. I called on a man who had ad- 

 vertised his sheep in the Albany Cultivator, to be not 

 only full blood Merino, but ot the best quality. I 

 expected that I should deal with him. Some of his 

 sheep looked very well, but he could not give satis- 

 factory evidence that he had a full blood Meriijo in 

 his flock, or that he had ever owned one, and I bought 

 none of him, I found also that the credit of his 

 floc^ was low in the vicinity where he lived, and that 

 he was trying to raise it by buying some from a flock 

 which was acknowledged to be full blood. It was 

 in April, 1845, he oflered $500 for ten ewes, coming 

 two years old that spring, and were with lamb. The 

 owner refused to let him have them ; when a stran-* 

 ger, I presume, could have bought them, to take to 

 some other part of the country, for half that sum. 



Many sheep which are three-fourths or seven-eighths 

 Merino, will have all the external appearance of full 

 bloods, especially to those who are not good judges. 

 I have spared neither pains nor expence to get up 

 a flock of pure blood Spanish Merino, and I feel 

 confident that I have accomplished my design. I 

 have about two hundred and forty, besides lambs. My 

 main stock buck, that I have been improving from 

 for three years past, was four years old last spring, 

 and sheared tliirteen pounds, well washed on the 

 back, after siring, the fall and winter previous, one 

 hundred and thirty lambs. He had grass on y du- 

 ring the summer and fall, till near the time th ;t he 

 was placed with the ewes. He then had what oats 

 he would eat till January, and some after that, till the 

 pasture was good to keep him in good condition. His 

 fleece cam© to $6.50, as I sold my entire clip for 50 

 cts. a Dound, cash. Reed Burritt. — Burdett, JV. Y. 



POTATO HOT — Dr. LEES THEORY. 



I HAVE seen no thoery of this dreadful malady that 

 has not its difficulties. The objections of "S. W.," 

 to Dr. Leb's theory, in the June number of the Far- 

 mer, might be answered, perhaps, by saying, that in 

 all the examples that he has given, the soil is difier- 

 ent from what It is said to be west of the Rocky 

 Mountains ; viz., an "alkaline, volcanic soil." The 

 climate is certainly different ; and this, with the 

 probable difference in the soil, might account for the 

 prevalence of the rot here, and its absence there.^=- 

 But a difficulty presents itself in the shape of a query, 

 "Why should the potato be the only vegetable pro- 

 duct that deteriorates, since near^v all our grains, 

 and most of our garden and field vegetaoies are of for- 

 eign origin." Perhaps this query may be answered, 

 by saying, that all these are raised from the seed, 

 while the potato is raised from the tuber. The ans- 

 wer would be satisfactory, if potato s.ed would 

 always produce sound tubers. Dr. L.'s theory, how- 

 ever, explains this also. 



There is one way by which this theory can be 

 satisfactorily tested ; viz., by ascertaining whether 

 the disease prevails in those countries where the po- 



tato is intiigenous. Perhaps, however, it may have 

 degenerated even there, through " bad culture ;" 

 yet this would prove nothing without the prevalence, 

 or at least, the existence of the disease. If the dis- 

 ease be found not to exist there, it would be well for 

 somebody to import either some seed, or tubers, or 

 both, for use in this country. Will not some one try 

 it, and give the results to the public. 



In Com. Patents Rep., 1849-50, page 396, is given, 

 by Rev. Edward Sidney, A. M., of England, a the- 

 ory of the potato malady, which appears to me to 

 approximate nearer to the truth than anything I have 

 yet seen on this dark and difficult subject. When it 

 is considered, that every animal and every vegetable, 

 so far as is known, has some living appendage in the 

 shape of lice, parasites, or something else, it certainly 

 does not require any great degree of credulity to 

 admit the existence of a fungus, invisible to the na- 

 ked eye, yet competent to all the mischief ascribed 

 to it. We have numerous examples of the effect of 

 the smallest conceivable quantity of a substance pro- 

 ducing the most disasterous effects ; as in the sting 

 of a bee, (which sometimes causes death,) the bite 

 of a snake, &lc. The invisibility of the fungus, 

 therefore, suppose one to exist, is no objection to this 

 theory. H. — Down East, June, 1851. 



Messrs. Editors : — Three times I have seen the 

 experiment of planting potatoes on land partly cov- 

 ered with thick orchards, with the same results, i. e., 

 the potatoes on that part not shaded, were nearly 

 all rotten at time of digging, while those which grew 

 in the shade of the trees were nearly all good and 

 remained very sound. 



Another, where potatoes were planted on ground 

 lying in the shade of south, and west woods, potatoes 

 came out nearly all sound and good, and remained for 

 the season, while thousands of bushels which grew 

 on very similar land adjoining, without shade, rotted 

 and vanished like a frost in June. 



Another : Whitman Brown, of Warren County, 

 Pa., selected select ground for potatoes on the south- 

 west side of a hill, a virgin soil, except it had been pas- 

 tured a number of years. He carted a large quantity 

 of barn-yard manure upon it, and fitted in extra order, 

 and tended it the best he knew how. At digging time 

 there was a yield of near 500 bushels per acre. On the 

 first of January following they were all rotten, and 

 Brown was buying potatoes for his table use. At 

 this same time Francis Brown, living three-fourths 

 of a mile only from the former, planted on the northeast . 

 side-hill nearly opposite, and on buckwheat stubble. 

 He had a less yield, but the potatoes were all sound. 



Another : A Mr. Rice, of Sandusky County, Ohio, 

 fitted his potato ground without manure, planted and 

 covered well, then hauled the manure or straw and 

 covered the ground well all over. At harvest time he 

 took a very handsome yield of very fine potatoes that 

 were good and lasting,while on all the adjoining farms 

 there was nearly a total failure. A potato exposed to 

 too great a heat will in time decay, with the same ap- 

 pearance ; but frozen potatoes appear very different. 

 Try it, any one. If too great a degree of heat will 

 in time produce an epidemic in animated, why not 

 in inanimated nature ? If our species of potatoes 

 grow and do well in hot climates, I give it up : but 

 with my present views I keep all undecayed manures 

 out of the soil where I plant potatoes. If I apply it at 

 all, I put it on the top to keep the ground moist and 

 cool. S. M. N. — Shawnee, July, 1851. 



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