154 Mr. G. Ord on the Natural Habitat of the Common Potato, 
XXIII.—Notes on the Natural Habitat of the Common Potato ; 
and on its Introduction into Europe. By Guoncx Orp, Esq., 
Philadelphia. Communicated by Sir W. Jardine, Bart. 
To Richard Taylor, Esq. 
Dear Sir, 
I wAve the pleasure to send you a paper on the “ Natural Habitat 
of the Potato,” from an esteemed and intelligent correspondent 
in Philadelphia, Mr. Ord; and while that communication will 
be interesting to all classes of your readers, whether they are 
botanists or agriculturists, or mere seekers after general infor- 
mation, it has been accompanied by’a private letter, which I 
consider of even more importance, as pointing out the state of the 
disease in that root in a cultivated part of the New World,—the 
opinions and feelings that are held regarding it there, as well as 
of our endeavours to account for it and to arrest its progress. I 
do not think that I shall be committing any breach of confidence 
to my correspondent in prefacing his paper by some extracts from 
the letter in question ; at all events, I trust he will only attribute 
my doing so to a wish to communicate as much information as 
“were upon a subject far more important to us than it can ever 
e to our brethren across the Atlantic. 
Believe me, Sir, very sincerely, yours 
W. J. 
My pear Sir, Philadelphia, 28th Dec, 1845, 
Your letter of the 21st of November was received by me on 
the 20th instant, together with the printed slips on the subject 
of the potato disease, which it appears has occasioned great alarm 
in various parts of Europe. 
The summer of this year has certainly been most unpropitious 
to the cultivation of the potato, not only in your country but 
also in this; for our later crop has proved to be of inferior qua- 
lity and the produce has been scant ; and in many places the dis- 
ease in question has affected the tubers in the manner described 
in the British publications on the subject. With us a wet and 
cold season is greatly injurious to this vegetable. Frequent 
showers when the plant is immature are beneficial, but when the 
tubers approach to maturity, temperate and dry weather is ne- 
cessary to bring them to perfection. Had the last summer with 
you not been extraordinary for the quantity of rain which fell, 
and the low temperature of the atmosphere, you would have had 
no reason to complain of the scantiness of your crops or of the 
destruction occasioned by the rot. In Pennsylvania we have two 
crops of potatos, those planted at the opening of the spring, in- 
