No. 133.] 317 



nmch excited my curiosity. I was assured tliat the cultivators of 

 a village called Ferrieres, in the Department of the Ain, at 12 

 kilometres from Geneva, having a friend in Mexico, had received 

 from him some original wild potatoes, which they had'novv culti- 

 vated for two years. That they appeared to be free from disease 

 iu the midst of the diseased ones in that commune, all of which 

 were attacked except these NeAv Mexicans. I went immediately to 

 FenierSj accompanied by my friend and colleague Charles Martin, 

 the eminent cultivator. They confirm the report w^hich we had 

 received. The proprietor who had received the potatoes from 

 Mexico, Mr. Javot, died some months ago. The crop of the pre- 

 ceding year had been divided among his heirs. Other farmers 

 had planted some of them in 1850 and 1851. The tubers had 

 been sent from Mexico, in the hope that they would not have the 

 malady. They had been obtained by Indians in the woods and 

 mountains. On cultivating them at Fenieres, they proved to be 

 small, but of a good taste, and absolutely free from disease, while 

 all other potatoes of Fenieres were lost. We were impatient to 

 see these new^ plants, I especially so, for I am engaged in writing 

 on the subject of the Solanum. We visited the field where they 

 were growing. This was from 2,000 to 2,500 feet above the level 

 of the sea. In this field were our common potatoes side by side 

 with the Mexican, in order that the comparison might be easy. 

 The common potatoes were chiefly diseased (Sept. 2d) while the 

 Mexicans were in full vegetation, their stalks vigorous, of an iii- 

 tense green, the stalks had distinct swellings at the foot of the 

 leaves, the flowers were much larger than those of our old pota- 

 toes, of a lively reddish violet color. We pulled up a stalk. It 

 had numerous egg-shaped, roundish tubers, as large as a walnut, 

 not yet ripe. I compared it attentively with an ordinary potato. 

 It was impossible for me to discover any difference in the leaves, 

 flowers, in the calyx j but other characteristics led me to regard 

 the plant of Mexico as belonging to a distinct botanical species. 

 The principal mark was the swelling of the stalks below the leaf, 

 and the plant grows taller and its leaf sharper at its point, flow- 

 ers larger and of a more lively red than our ordinary ones. 

 When I came home I examined my books, and I saw that it 

 might be referred to the Solanum Verrucosum (watery potato) of 



