1870. 



NEW ENGLAND FAEMER. 



281 



the plant itself, thereby causing it to wither 

 and die before it had arrived at maturity. 

 Before the circulation between the plant and 

 tuber ceases, the disease may be transmitted 

 from the former to the latter through the 

 pores, or the minute seeds may be washed 

 from the plant through the soil directly upon 

 the tubtr, where it soon germinates, causing 

 the tuber to turn black and decay. I am con- 

 firmed in these views by the following obser- 

 vations, which were noticed at the time : — 



The 10th of September was cloudy and 

 misty. There was moisture enough to render 

 the potato plant soft and flabby. Four or 

 five hot days followed. Up to this time the 

 tops of the Orono, Excelsior and Harrison 

 were flourishing. The Early Rose were ripe 

 and in the cellar. 



The 16th I noticed many of the leaves had 

 turned black, and gave off a rank and disa- 

 greeable smell. 



The 17th was also cloudy and misty, and 

 cleared off warm and muggy. I soon noticed 

 that the black leaves increased, and in some 

 localities the plants began to die. The at- 

 tack, however, was not very severe on my 

 field, for the reason that I used no rank, un- 

 fermented, nitrogenous manures to cause a 

 vigorous growth of tops ; and this, I believe, 

 is the whole secret. The ranker the tops, the 

 more capable they are of receiving the rust 

 plant, the cause of the disease. 



Sept. 2oth, dug twelve bushels of Oronos ; 

 tops green, with the exception of these black 

 leaves, and an occasional dead stalk. Not the 

 first sign of disease was observable on the tu- 

 bers. We selected one bushel from this lot 

 and exhibited them at our State Fair, and 

 they were awarded a premium. 



Sept. 28 had a hard frost, the first of the 

 season of any account, which killed the vines. 



My time being taken up at the fair, and by 

 the great freshet of Oct. 4, I had no oppor- 

 tunity to dig again until the 7th. Then I 

 found that the disease had commenced on the 

 tubers, some of them showing black spots 

 around the eyes. It seemed to increase up to 

 the 18th, when I finished digging. We were 

 very careful to throw out all that were in- 

 fected ; yet the disease prevails to some ex- 

 tent at the present time. In picking out some 

 for market, a few days since, we found about 

 one bushel in ten infected. 



Now, in my opinion, the potatoes that com- 

 menced to decay after they were put into the 

 cellar, were contaminated before the circula- 

 tion ceased between the top and the tuber. 

 These very minute rust seeds might have been 

 conducted through the pores by the circula- 

 tion of the sap, the same as the smut is con- 

 veyed to the newly-formed grains of wheat 

 when they grow and perfect themselves on the 

 tender, milky substance of the new kernel ; 

 or they might have been washed down by the 

 heavy rains between the 4th and 13th, and 



after the potatoes were carried into the cellar 

 the spores commenced growing. 



The only way to guard against this scourge 

 is for farmers to be more observing, — try 

 more experiments, by planting at different 

 times and with different varieties, and using 

 different fertilizers ; making a note of the re- 

 sult, and not trust to memory, and then com- 

 pare results with others. When a variety is 

 found that is hardy and of good quality, pro- 

 cure it. When a method of manuring, seed- 

 ing and cultivating is found that gives better 

 results than others, practice it. If you ap- 

 plied 10 or 12 cords of manure to your acre 

 last year and lost three-fourths of your crop 

 by rot, is it not sufficient reason for yeu to 

 adopt a different course this year ? 



My Early Rose were put into the cellar the 

 last of August and the first of September. I 

 have not seen a diseased tuber in the lot, and 

 the quality is unexcelled. The Excelsiors rot 

 the worst of any. The Harrisons are free, but 

 the quality is very poor. 



This year I shall discard all kinds but the 

 Early Rose and Orono. The last named is 

 the only one we can sell here for the Boston 

 market. S. C. Pattee. 



Warner, N. E., April 4, 1870. 



Remarks. — In connection with the publi- 

 cation of the foregoing interesting and valua- 

 ble article, we wish to ask our correspondent 

 and other potato raisers if they have ever ex- 

 perimented with lime as a destroyer of the 

 germs of the disease which may attach to ap- 

 parently sound tubers when put in the cellar. 

 A statement that a sprinkling of lime on the 

 potatoes as they are packed away will prevent 

 subsequent rotting has been copied into many 

 agricultural papers. 



For the New England Farmer, 



\yHAT SHALI. W^B DO WITH OUB 

 COBN? 



The advocates of a larger production of 

 corn in New Hampshire who met in mass 

 meeting in Manchester and Concord did not 

 tell us how to use corn. One correspondent 

 of the Farmer says "we need a large amount 

 of corn or some kind of grain to make beef." 



The foundation of our beef is milk. There 

 is nothing better in summer than good grass 

 to produce milk ; next to grass is corn fodder, 

 grown purposely for food. No corn meal is 

 needed. It cannot be fed profitably, even at 

 seventy-two cents per bushel, with grass or 

 green corn, plenty, when milk alone is the ob- 



For milk in winter, there is nothing better 

 or cheaper than early cut and well cured 

 grass. We have a cow seven years old, which 

 dropped her calf Jan. 17. Her milk of Fri- 



