No. XV.B.] APPENDIX. 241 



present time; and, whilst we are ignorant of this ultimate cause, it is 

 manifest that no person can state whether the disease will recur. 



During the last month I have ascertained that tubers from former 

 healthy plants grow without showing the least signs of disease, even under 

 the unfavourable conditions of the vitiated atmosphere in the forcing house, 

 proving this year, as last, that there is no other cause for the potato disease 

 but the vastator, and that, if the vastator does not recur, tubers from 

 former healthy plants will produce crops free from disease. As an article 

 of food, no root can compete with the potato ; but as an article of luxury, 

 numerous vegetables can be substituted where we only desire an adjunct to 

 animal food ; but these latter would not be expected to nourish the body 

 by themselves. "Wheat, oats, and perhaps rye, can alone, in this country, 

 successfully compete with the potato, and therefore, where food is required, 

 one of them must be selected. Of vegetables, to be used with animal food, 

 the following may be employed : Scarlet beans, French beans, turnip v., 

 carrot v., parsnip v.a., Jerusalem artichokes a.v., leeks a., onions a., 

 cabbages v., savoy v., greens v., cauliflower v., broccoli v., spinach v., 

 mustard v., lettuce a., beet v. Those marked with v. are liable to be 

 destroyed with the vastator ; those marked a. by other aphides. The 

 poor man would perhaps do well to make the following selection: 

 Scarlet beans, parsnips, carrots, Jerusalem artichokes, onions, cabbages, 

 savoys. 



Those who have not already planted their potatoes should do so forth- 

 with ; there is not a day to spare, for the sooner they are in the ground the 

 greater chance of success will be afforded. Should the vastator again 

 appear in our fields, and threaten to produce a continuance of the famine, 

 I have great pleasure in being enabled to announce, that from experiments 

 which I have lately conducted, there is strong reason for believing that a 

 cheap and effectual plan may be employed for their total eradication, even 

 for the most extensive potato-grounds. 



FOOD OR FAMINE. 

 To the Editor of the ' Morning Herald.' 



SIR, We have throughout these realms met this day to acknowledge 

 that the famine of the past year is beyond human control ; and the deep 

 reverence with which it has been kept indicates the universal belief that 

 in Providence lies our only hope for its alleviation. 



Insect plagues have formed, from the earliest times, the immediate 

 cause of the destruction of vegetable food, and the consequent production 

 of famine. In this respect our present failure differs not from antecedent 

 periods of scarcity ; and that which has been due to the locust, cockchafer, 

 and caterpillar, is now to be attributed to the vastator and other species 

 of aphides. 



As far as my observations extend, no vastator is now living out of 

 doors, and no mortal can tell whether this plague has passed away, or is 

 again about to recur. Fear of the disease must not, then, make us 

 abandon ourselves to despair, and leave our land uncultivated ; as that 



B 



