THE POTATO. 177 



of Mr. Rhodes, of Skaneateles. Last summer was 

 the first time we ever saw a plant so diseased ; farm- 

 ers in the United States can consequently have had 

 little, if any, experience in relation to the complaint, 

 and few opportunities of judging as to the cause. If 

 we may be permitted to hazard an opinion in the 

 matter, we should say the first cause assigned by 

 Mr. Shirreff, viz., producing large quantities of ap- 

 ples, was as probable a one as any. All plants are 

 weakened by the production of seed, and this ef- 

 fect is in proportion to their abundance. With many 

 plants, when the seed is formed and ripened, the 

 functions of vitality are ended, the purpose of their 

 existence is accomplished, and, thougli some may 

 not perish in the effort of ripening the seed, still, in 

 ail, this process must have a tendency to cause the 

 decay and death of the vegetable. Where this ten- 

 dency exists to any extent, the constitution of the 

 plant is destroyed, and, though it may make some 

 attempt to carrying on its accustomed functions, 

 they must become more and more feeble ; the plant 

 will indicate this deep-seated weakness, and disease 

 and- death is the result. Men and brutes furnish 

 analogous instances of this constitutional decay in 

 races, families, and breeds ; and exhibit the necessi- 

 ty of resorting to " first principles" to restore pris- 

 tine soundness and vigour. Plants, like animals, 

 are destined to decay ; but, like them, the degener- 

 ated races can be renewed and improved indefinite- 

 ly. New varieties of the potato must be propagated 

 from the seed ; and perhaps it would be well, where 

 there seems a great disposition to produce apples, to 

 adopt the plan so strongly recommended by some 

 European writers (as adding to the crop from 30 to 

 50 bushels of potatoes per acre), of carefully picking 

 off" all the blessoms on their first appearance. 



It appears from the foreign agricultural periodi- 

 cals, that great loss is annually suffered by farmers 

 from a failure of their potato sets, and that the evil 



