258 



THE ILLmOIS FARMEK. 



Sept. 



potatoe fungus, like the smut in wheat, may be . 

 soon run out. — Rural New Yorker. 



-*•»- 



True Cause of the Potatoe Rot. 



After so much has been said and written, and 

 so many 'heories started, (only to be again explod- 

 ed by stubborn f\vcts,) as to the mysterious potatoe 

 diseas, it has at length become the good fortune of 

 certain pains-taking, patient German Botanists, to 

 discover that the true and only cause of the dis- 

 ease is the presence of a parasite fungus on the 

 leaf. Dr. De Bary, Kuhn, and others, have learned 

 by the closest attention to the potatoe plant, that 

 .there arc no diseased potatoes where this fungus 

 ■ does not first attach and destroy the leaves; and, 

 also, that this parasite, when located there, is very 

 rapidly develeped if the weather is wann and 

 showery ; then the fugus not only spreads and ma- 

 tures, but its spores are waslied down into the tu- 

 ber, always infecting those first which lie near the 

 surface of the hill, and in the end, if the warm, 

 wet weather continues, the others are also dis- 

 eased. 



Prof. Johnson, of Yale College, in a letter to 

 the Country Oentleman, fully indorses this fungus 

 theory, as promulgated by the German botanists. 

 He says: — "Beyond all reasonable doubt, it is 

 proved that the potatoe never rots without the 

 fungus, and that it always rots with it. Planting 

 the fungns on a sound potatoe, develops the dis- 

 ease. Shielding the potatoe from the fungus pre- 

 vents the disease. The rot starts where the fun- 

 gus begins to grow. Each microscopic cell of the 

 tuber becomes discolored and rotten, when, and 

 only when, the fungus issues its branches into it, 

 or into its immediate neighborhood. Constitution, 

 tuber, propagation, aphides, salt, manures, have 

 nothing to do with the disease, except as they fa- 

 vor or destroy the fungus." 



Aagain — " These investigators have not merely 

 looked at the blighted leaves and seen the fungus 

 there, but have watched the fungus, as it rapidly 

 sends^out its branches into the still healthy por- 

 tions of the leaf, which it literally devours — ap- 

 propriating the juices to its own nourishment, and 

 leaving behind a disorganized and decayed mass, 

 aa the track of its desolation. It is easy to see 

 with the naked eye that the fungus travels over 

 the potatoe leaf before the blight. If the ob- 

 gerver carefully regards one of the brown, bright 

 Sjpots, when the disease is spreading, he will see 

 that its borders are extending over the still green 

 leaf, in a forest of tiny mold plants, which cover 

 the leaf with a greenish down. This is the true 

 potatoe fungus, the Personopora infestans, as it is 

 now botanically designated." 



To avoid the potatoe disease, it is advised that 

 a piece of ground be selected for growing sound 

 Beed potatoes, and no seed should be planted 

 that has ever been mixed with diseased potatoes. 

 If fungus appears on the leaves, they must be im- 

 mediately removed, so that the zoospores cannot 

 be washed down to the tubers in the hills. By all 

 means, farmers should plant early, so as to have 

 the potatoe ripen, if possible, before the warm 

 September rains aid in ripening and developing 

 the fungus. By being careful to plant only the 

 healthiest tubers, and on land where no diseased 

 potatoes have been grown, it is supposed that the 



Illinois County Pairs. 



Vermilion Catlin Sept. 



McLean Bloomington, " 



LaSalla Ottawa " 



DeKalb DeKalb " 



Carroll Mt. Carroll. , " 



Kankakee Kankakee . •' 



Stark Toulon " 



Whiteside Sterling . . " 



Ogle Oregon. ... " 



Hancock Carthage . . " 



Mercer Millersburg. " 



Madison Edwardsville, Oct. 



McHenry Woodstock. '• 



Tazewell Tremont. . . " 



Lee Dixon " 



Kane Ganeva. 



Winnebago Rockford. 



Douglas Tuscola. 



Marion Salem 



1— 4 

 '7—11 

 8—11 

 15—17 

 17—19 

 16—18 

 22—24 

 22—25 

 22—24 

 22—25 

 22—24 



6— 9 



7— 9 

 7— 9 



14—16 



Stacking and Drying Beans. 



A correspondent of the Rural New Yorker gives 

 the following : 



I use two stakes instead of one, seven or eight 

 feet long, and from one and a half to two inches 

 through. Set them in the ground about two feet 

 apart ; put a withe on the stakes about a foot or 

 eightean inches from the ground ; take a small 

 handful of beans and lay the roots between the 

 stakes a foot or eighteen inches from the ground ; 

 take a small handful of beans and lay the roots be- 

 tween the stakes, so far through that the tops will 

 not reach the ground ; take a small handful of 

 beans and lay the roots between the stakes, so far 

 through that the tops will not reach the ground ; 

 then a bunch on the other side in the same way. 

 After this, the roots only should come between the 

 stakes, and the roots of each bunch should be laid 

 at right angles with those of the bunch preceding. 

 When within a foot of the top of the stakes, put 

 on another withe, drawing the stakes together to 

 hug the roots closely, then fill up with beans, as 

 before, to the top ; then take two bunches of beans 

 and tie the roots together astride the top, and it is 

 finished. 



Beans stacked in this way will never mould, as 

 they often will when stacked around one stake. 

 They should be stacked as soon as pulled, and al- 

 ways handled by the roots. When the stacks are 

 thoroughly dry, they may be taken to the ground 

 whole, pulling the stakes from the ground. 



We cut the above from the Country Gentleman. 

 The plan is a very good one, especially in a wet 

 season, as the beans are thus kept from the 

 ground. 



The plan that we have pursued for years, and 

 has given us good satisfaction, is to use only one 

 stake about five feet long, driven in the ground at 

 least a foot ; around this we place the pulled beans 

 with the reots towards the stake, placing them in 

 '■ a circle, the inside of which 13 not less than two 



