POTATO ROT. 627 



REPORT ON THE POTATO ROT. 



The Joint Standing Committee on Agriculture, to whom was 

 referred the various communications which have been re- 

 ceived by the Secretary of the Commonweahh, concerning 

 the Potato Rot, having attended to the communications, 



REPORT: 



That fifty-two different persons, from various parts of this 

 Commonwealth, and fifty-one others from other states and the 

 British Provinces, have communicated their views, or proposed 

 questions. Very many of them are of no value, and do no 

 credit to their authors. But others have been prepared with 

 great care, evince careful observation, sound reasoning, and 

 much good sense. As a whole, the treatises are believed to 

 embody nearly all that is known upon the subject to which 

 they relate, and to contain many valuable suggestions and 

 recommendations. These papers-have been called forth by the 

 reward offered by the Legislature, and common courtesy re- 

 quires, through us, an acknowledgment of their reception ; 

 while justice to both, the State which may be called upon to 

 pay for a valuable discovery, and to discover who is entitled to 

 the privilege of having the soundness of his theory and the 

 efficacy of his remedy put to the test by cultivators everywhere, 

 make it highly proper that the substance of each communica- 

 tion should be published. Your committee, therefore, recom- 

 mend that the Secretary of the Commonwealth cause a synopsis 

 to be made of the contents of the several communications 



