12 



NEW ENGLAND FARMEIl. 



Jan. 



For the New Unsland Farmer. 



THE POTATO ROT NOT CAUSED BY 

 INSECTS. 



Mr. Editor : — In your paper of the 3d of No- 

 vember, we have another communication from Mr. 

 Lvman Reed, of Baltimore, on the subject of the 

 potato rot, which seems to require some brief no- 

 tice by me, not on account of any new fact or ar- 

 gument adduced, but for the persistency with 

 which he asserts and re-asserts the old one. 



We arc told by the wise man, that "He that is 

 first in his own cause, seemeth just: but his 

 neighbor cometh and searcheth him." I have no 

 doubt but Mr. Reed thinks his cause is just, that 

 he really believes he has discovered the true cause 

 of the potato rot, and that all who do not believe 

 his assertions on this subject, and draw the same 

 inference that he does, are not only opposing the 

 truth, but opposing his interests and his rightful 

 claims upon the public. Now, as I profess to be 

 a neighbor to Mr. Reed, notwithstanding the dif- 

 ference in our localities, and as I wish to act a 

 neighborly part towards him and his interests, he 

 will not think it strange that I should put him 

 to the proof and give him an opportunity to prove 

 his claims upon the public, or, on the other hand, 

 that I should come forward, with the full convic- 

 tion that the truth is mighty and will prevail, and 

 endeavor to search out his boasted facts and in- 

 ferences, and ocular demonstrations. 



Let us, then, attend to the facts in the case, if 

 there be any, and see what bearing they have 

 upon the subject now under consideration. The 

 only fact, so far as I know, which has been adduced 

 to prove that insects are the cause of the potato 

 rot, is the fact, so often repeated, that, by the use 

 of the microscope, Mr. Reed has discovered in- 

 sects on the diseased potatoes which he examined 

 and exhibited to others. This isolated fact has 

 been testified to by seventeen members of Con- 

 gress, by Charles L. Flint, Esq., Secretary of Mass. 

 Board of Agriculture, and by one of the Profes- 

 sors in the Smithsonian Institute. And what in- 

 ference is attempted to be drawn from this one 

 solitary fact, and by these nineteen certificates ? 

 Why, what every knowing farmer and skillful till- 

 er of the soil, from his own observation and ex- 

 perience, knows to be false, that insects are the 

 cause of the potato rot. The fact of the presence 

 of insects is cheerfully admitted ; but the infer- 

 ence attempted to be drawn is denied ; because 

 the insects are regarded as the consequent or 

 concomitant of the rot, and not the cause of it. 



There are other facts in the case, and a large 

 number of them, too, to which I have had my at- 

 tention directed for several years past, and some 

 of which I pointed out in my seven reasons, which 

 are wholly inconsistent with the idea that insects 

 are the cause of the potato rot. A few examples 

 must suffice : 



First Fact. — Take any of the most delicate and 

 early kinds of potatoes, such as are most liable to 

 rot, and having put them a sprouting early in 

 March, and planted them as early in April as 

 the season will admit, and in a favorable soil, 

 they will entirely escape the rot, because they will 

 be dead ripe before the season of the rot com- 

 mences. 



Second Fact. — Take from the same bin some of 

 the same kinds of potatoes, and plant in the same 



field, at the usual time of planting, and they will 

 blast and rot, if it be a season in which the rot 

 prevails generally. 



Third Fact. — The potato rot does not take place 

 every year, and hence cannot be caused by in- 

 sects, who would necessarily work every year in 

 order to propagate their species, otherwise they 

 would become extinct. 



Fourth Fact. — The potato rot does not mani- 

 fest itself in all places equally, but is confined to 

 certain localities in the same field, which would 

 not be the case, if caused by insects. 



Fifth Fact. — Soils highly enriched by active, 

 concentrated and stimulating toanures, are more 

 affected by the rot than other soils. 



Sixth Fact. — It frequently happens the blast 

 turns out to be nothing but a mere blast which 

 kills the tops and checks the growth of the tubers, 

 but leaves them all smooth and bright, and, to all 

 appearance, entirely unaff'ected by disease, which 

 would not be the case, if the blast were caused by 

 insects on the tubers. 



Seventh Fact. — All kinds of potatoes are not 

 alike affected by the disease ; but, on the con- 

 trary, some kinds are entirely exempted from it. 

 Such is the fact with regard to the black potato, 

 and some others. 



Fighth Fact. — The potato rot always manifests 

 itself, if at all, at a particular time or season of 

 the year, within the limits of a very few days, 

 which time is always preceded by the most re- 

 markable thermal changes in the state of the at- 

 mosphere — by a few days of extremely hot and 

 dry weather, succeeded by copious, warm rains, 

 and accompanied by an oppressive, sultry and 

 muggy atmosphere. 



These eight facts are respectfully commended 

 to the careful examination of Mr. Reed, and of 

 those other nineteen gentlemen of distinction, 

 whom ho has led to adopt his insect theory, and 

 whose certificates he has printed in the papers 

 and trumpeted forth to the world. It will not do 

 to deny these facts, or to ignor# them, for they 

 are known to exist. They are facts, and not in- 

 ferences, or reasonings, or logical deductions ; and 

 they must be met, and fairly met ; and they must 

 be answered, and fairly and fully answered, each 

 fact by itself, before any credit can be given to 

 the insect theory. There must be no sophistry in 

 the case, no dodging, no quibbling, no arguing in 

 a circle, no resorting to the old assertion of "oc- 

 ular demonstration ;" no, but it must be shown, 

 that all these facts are perfectly consistent with 

 the insect theory. John Goldsburt. 



Wanoick, Nov., 1860. 



Cereal Grains. — The Manchester American 

 says that Mr. Killam, an enterprising farmer of 

 Temple, N. H., has for some years been collecting 

 all the varieties of grain in this country, and such 

 as he could obtain from Europe. This season he 

 sowed a small parcel of each, seventy in number, 

 of which over forty were wheat — the rest rye, oats 

 and barley. The most of these species have a 

 very slight difference in their general appearance. 

 The Egyptian wheat is the most marked, having 

 a cluster of heads, instead of a single one, on each 

 stalk. Mr. K. will keep a sample of the kernels 

 and heads of each in his cabinet, as an agricultu- 

 ral curiosity. 



