178 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. 



within three or four years has rapidly increased. 

 Many who plant from" ten to fifteen acres have ex- 

 perienced a total failure from this source. As in the 

 case of the curl, the reasons assigned for the sets 

 not. vegetating are very numerous and somewhat 

 contradictory ; thus proving that, though it is a mat- 

 ter of great interest, httle has yel been discovered 

 that throws light on its cause. Some attribute the 

 failure to the modern system of cultivijtion, in de- 

 ferring planting to a later period, and taking up the 

 crop in an immature state. Others, and of these 

 Messrs. Macdonald, to whom the premium of the 

 Highland Society on this subject was awarded, as- 

 cribe it to the heating of the seed, and to that cause 

 alone. Others, to the crops of late years being suf- 

 fered to stand so long before gathering, that the ten- 

 der buds and surface of the tubers are often affected 

 by the frost after being dug, and before they are 

 pitted. Others, to the mildness of the winters, in 

 conjunction with improper management in pitting 

 and storing. Others conceive it to arise from the 

 mod'ern practice of cutting the sets, and placing the 

 cut surface on the fresh manure of the drills. In. ex- 

 amining patches that had failed, it was found that all 

 the sets that had been laid with their skins upon the 

 manure were sound, and putting forth vigorous 

 shoots ; while those in which the cut surfaces came 

 in contact with the dung were uniformly rotten. 

 Others have attributed the failure to insects gener- 

 ated in the cuttings, of which an instance is given, 

 page 213, vol. v., Genesee Farmer. We think, how- 

 ever, that in most cases, the decay of the cuttings, 

 or their indisposition to vegetate, may be tracfed to 

 the fact of their being cut for several weeks before 

 using, as it seems is the custom, and the cut surface, 

 thus exposed to the action of the atmosphere, begins 

 to decay before it is put into the ground. From the 

 general testimony of foreign agriculturists, however, 

 it appears evident, whatever the cause of decaj' in 



