No. 216.] 361 



of several varieties has been more successful for the last year or two, 

 and especially the last year than late. Numerous certificates with 

 signatures annexed, of respectable practical men, residing in different 

 p?rts of our country, can be procured if necessary, to authenticate 

 the facts here given with many others, these though, are deemed 

 among the most important. This year, from the best information we 

 have been able to obtain, it has been more violent here generally, 

 than the last. In Europe, from the latest and best accounts, the 

 disease is generally not so bad as last year, and in some places, 

 especially Germany and Ireland, worse, and when most other plants 

 have yielded a fair average crop, or equal to what they usually do, 

 in ordinary good seasons. The disease may disappear gradually or 

 suddenly as it commenced, or it may last years yet, and perhaps an 

 age Still, we hope for the best, and also hope our scientific and 

 practical men of every grade, both here and in Europe, will perse- 

 vere in their investigations and experiments, as long as the disease 

 continues, and give their results to the public, and not only expect, 

 but invite fair opposition to, and scrutiny of the same, to test their 

 correctness. In cases like the one before us, a friendly collision of 

 opinions often elicits truth, and much good is the result. Experi-- 

 ments are of little use in this singular disease, unless repeated in 

 different seasons and localities, as an escape when made once is no 

 test. The next time when used in the same place and under the 

 same circumstances, or in a different locality, the disease may show 

 itself in its worst aspect, as has often been the case. 



To corroborate further our views here given, we will insert verba- 

 tim, a letter which accidentally caught our eyes in a late English 

 periodical, viz: " Sir, the following fact about the potato plants 

 may not be unimportant about this time of the year. 



I last year received direct from the Brazils, two barrels of genuine 

 wild potatoes, small but very healthy, having been grown in a disitrict 

 where no blight had been known. They were planted about the 

 end of February, in land that had remained in pasture more than 

 twenty years. The situation and soil were favorable, the latter a 

 little stiffish, no dui;g was used in setting them but a few decayed 

 leaves and a little sand. Under the circumstances, then, it might be 

 well expected that if potatoes can escape disease, these would have 

 a fair chance. Wild Brazilian potatoes planted in England for the 

 first time, in a favorable situation and in virgin soil. .Yet in autumn 

 the disease failed not to appear, and even carried off a third of the 

 finest and most vigorous looking crop ever seen. 



