THE POTATO DISEASE. 331 



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With all the care possible exercised in cultivating the potato 

 the varieties seem to decline with age. None of the old stand- 

 ard varieties can now be relied upon with certainty. The Carter, 

 the Mercer, the Peach Blow, may in a favorable season and cir- 

 cumstances yield a remunerative crop ; but the chances in most 

 parts of New England are against them. On the sandy soil of 

 Cape Cod, where the climate is so much modified by the sea- 

 breeze, with tbe ocean in close proximity on either side, we 

 are told the potato disease is scarcely known. If so, the Cape 

 can be put to no better use than growing potatoes. With muck 

 or seaweed mixed with the sand, no better soil or climate can 

 be desired for the growth of this esculent. But those of us who 

 live in the interior, especially those who cultivate clay lands, 

 must look for new and healthy varieties. Would that the man- 

 tle of Rev. Chauncey E. Goodrich might fall on some worthy 

 successor, and that his investigations might be carried on with 

 all the nice accuracy and close observation which he exercised. 

 The loss from the potato disease in England has been estimated 

 some years as high as fifty million dollars. In this country it 

 has never been as great, but here it has caused serious alarm 

 lest this most valuable esculent should be entirely lost from 

 among our vegetable productions. This extreme anxiety has 

 abated with further knowledge of the disease, and we feel confi- 

 dent that the potato, by more skillful culture, and especially by 

 the introduction of more hardy varieties, is destined to continue 

 one of the leading crops of the country. In order to this, more 

 attention must be paid to originating new varieties from seed. 

 No tyro can do this successfully. There is no such thing as a 

 thorough-bred vegetable, as well as a thorough-bred animal, 

 and the principles of vegetable physiology are nearly as intri- 

 cate as those of the animal economy. The balls for seed must 

 be taken from vines whose tubers are known to be hardy, well 

 shaped, early ripened and largely productive, and with all care 

 taken in the selection of seed the cultivator will find that the 

 potato sports into many varieties, much like our common fruits. 

 The seed must be sown in the spring in a hot-bed, and when the 

 season is sufficiently advanced the plants can be transferred to 

 the garden or field. In the autumn, the most promising varie- 

 ties can be selected for further trial, and experience proves that 

 the most hopeful at the end of one season prove worthless in 



