45—1846.] 
THE GARDENERS' 
ean perpetuate any favourite or partieular kind, and 
that, too, at any time of the year in which vegetation is 
carried on.— Wm. Wilson, gr. at Harraby, near Carlisle. 
Nature and Cause of the Potato Disease.—What 
with guesses and surmises the public have variety 
enough to select from as to the nature of the Potato 
disease, and whence it originally came. Some think 
they have discovered an insect unknown to entomo- 
logists, and operating as never insect was suspected to 
act before. Others see a malignance in morning mists, 
of which we have no parallel in past experience. The 
astrologers (for the race it seems is not extinct), have 
settled the point by putting all the blame on “ the 
leaden influence” of the planet Saturn, which from its 
position they say operates powerfully on our planet, &c. 
Now, would it not be better to take the advice of Bacon, 
and follow the example of his disciples, by collecting facts, 
and searching for a cause accounting for them, the 
operation of which we know and understand. Many of 
us during the present year have been on the look out 
for, and have watched the progress of the plague. We 
have also obtained information from others, and espe- 
cially through the medium of your journal. We have 
seen there that the disease broke out early in frames 
and hotbeds ; that during the prevalence of the dry 
winds in May and June it was noticed by none but 
careful observers. T, for one, discovered the black 
spot here and there ; whilst, from the general healthy 
appearance of the crops, few anticipated what was to 
occur, In both years numbers remarked the appear- 
ance and inerease of the malady after morning mists, 
and that after the rains of July and August the Potato 
tops were black and perishing. All agree also that 
gardens and fields abundantly manured suffered in the 
greatest degree. Now, 1 ask, does not allthis point out 
to an intestinal parasitical fungus? The disease has 
shown itseif in places during the whole period of the 
growth of the Potato; and are not the sporules of 
fungi often minute and numerous beyond calculation, 
and appearing to be present wherever they can grow ? 
Dryness checks the rot, and heat and moisture encourage 
its increase. Fungi again. A morning’s moisture and 
mist in July and August is followed by a general attack 
on the crops; and what Mushroom hunter does not 
rise with the light at such times in expectation of suc- 
eess in bis search? All this directs our attention to a 
parasitical fungus. But the plants of most vigorous 
and luxuriant growth are first destroyed. The parasite 
«then is intestinal ; for the superficial attack the weak 
and sickly plants in preference to others. Most fungi 
also revel in the nitrates and phosphates, and has not 
strong animal manure been for the last ten years poison 
to the Potato? If this then be true, we should ask the 
Mushroom grower how he succeeds, and adopt a 
directly contrary course. One of your correspondents 
having expelled the nauseous smell of a rotten Potato 
y pungent carbonate of ammonia jumps to the conclu- 
sion that ammonia is the specific, and that since the 
diseased leaf cannot absorb it, the roots must be sup- 
plied with a double dose. Let him go to the labourer 
possessed only of a small garden which has been 
enriched to satiety with the refuse of the cottage and 
the hog-stye. Here are nitrates and phosphates too in 
abundance, and material for the formation of as much 
ammonia as he could desire, and what will be the 
answer to his inquiry? That from the corrupted pro- 
duce scarcely the value of the seed planted can be 
saved, and that for the present Potato growing must be 
suspended in despair.—Sigma. 
Polmaise Heating —That plants require a supply of 
fresh air to preserve their health and full beauty, is 
indisputable,—why else do you in your “Calendar of 
Operations,” and elsewhere, so often reiterate the 
instruction to attend to “ thorough ventilation.” 
Now 
il 
CHRONICLE, 
741 
one, shall be rejoiced to hear that the ram has become | coloured gangrene, similar to that on the Potato tubers. 
attainable to men of moderate incomes, and if it can be | To appearance they seemed but slightly affected in the 
made as serviceable as Legg's engine, or more so, let | foliage, and that onlyin the centre or crown of the 
persons who want anything of the kind ehoose between | root, all the outer and less succulent leaves being unin- 
them, 
If the ram can be erected at so low a sum as is | jured. 
I may just observe that this crop was very 
now asserted, how comes it that tradesmen when| highly manured with stable-dung, in a rather fresh 
applied to have given in such exorbitant estimates, and | state. 
Now with the greatest possible deference, I 
thrown difficulties in the way, which have all vanished | respectfully submit that these facts go far to prove that 
since I have called attention to the engine in my | the failure of the Potato crop cannot be ascribed to any- 
orchard? I am exceedingly fond of scientific pursuits, | thing like constitutional debility, to which, in some of 
but my enthusiasm in the cause will not allow me to act | your recent remarks, you seem rather inclined, as welt 
unjustly to egg in divulging anything which 
might injure him, and which I must do, did I enter 
into any explanations relating to the secret by which 
Mr. Legg is enabled to work his engine with so diminu- 
tive a stream of water. I am ready at any time to 
prove to demonstration what my engine will perform. 
If the ram has been so much improved of late, that it 
can be made more powerful and cheaper in price than 
Legg’s engine, “let the ram flourish ;” but let us give 
each fair play. I shall certainly not desert my play- 
thing till 1 am convinced that something superior has 
been devised. My main or supply lead pipe is half- 
inch. The water is conducted to the machine in a 
wooden trough,—I merely mentioned the stream filling 
aitwo-inch pipe to give an idea of the small quantity of 
water required as a moving power. If your corres- 
pondent does not wish to take so long a journey to 
satisfy his curiosity, perhaps he could depute some 
friend in Cheltenham to inspect the engine for him. I 
have given all the information that any reasonable man 
can require, and shall only repeat the engine may be 
seen at work any day on calling upon Mr. Legg — 
Hydrangea. [Here this matter ends, 
agree with “ Hydrangea” that those who wish to know 
price, &c., should apply to Mr. Legg himself. Any 
further communications from |Mr. ;Henson, or persons 
interested in selling such machines, must be paid for as 
advertisements. ] 
Potatoes.—On the 16th January last I planted a bed 
of a very early kind of white round Potato, with manure 
from an old hotbed ; as they became fit for the table 
they were raised as wanted. A very few spots were 
seen on the foliage, and now and then a diseased tuber. 
As they were raised from day to day the fairest and 
most prolific were put out to green for seed; the 
greatest attention being paid to select none on which 
there was the least appearance of the disease. When 
they were sufficiently green they were placed in an 
open drawer, and have remained there till now ; but 
from time to time here and there, one showed the dis- 
ease, and I have this morning (Nov. 2), examined them 
minutely, and find out of 126 Potatoes there are 43 dis- 
eased (some quite throughout, and soft), and 83 at present 
seemingly sound. 
fectly sound when stored away, and the diseased ones 
3 
We quite | laws which have existed since the Creation.” 
as your able contemporary, the Dublin Eve: 
who, by the way, has recently given to the 
extraordinary clever papers on the Potato disease, all 
tending to tlie same erroneous conclusion, viz., the con- 
stitutional debility of the tuber, and its total disappear- 
ance from the earth. This, to say the least of it, is a very 
alarming doctrine, but the facts I have stated will, I 
trust, prove a complete antidote. One word to the ad- 
vocates of the fungal theory. How are they to recon- 
cile the above facts with their assertions—for it is mere 
assertion--that the blight is confined to the Solanaceous 
family only? And how are they to meet the interesting 
facts detailed by your intelligent correspondent “J.P.” 
(page 726). limagine they must give up the fungal 
theory as the cause, unless they are prepared to prove 
that the fumes of ammonia will necessarily produce their 
favourite parasite, which I guess, as Jonathan would 
say, they will find a rather difficult task. Let us all 
throw our preconceived notions overboard, and stick to 
facts, and in the words of your talented coadjutor :— 
* This disease, so mysterious at present, will one day, 
no doubt, be clear! d as the f 
ost, 
[ 
I cannot 
close this communication without recording my admira- 
tion of the excellent, sound, and sensible remarks of the 
Editor of the Agricultural Gazette, in answer to Mr. 
Russell (p. 730). They are really quite refreshing, and 
ought to be stereotyped.—J. Walker, Viceregal Gardens, 
Dublin, Nov. 4. 
; Foreign Correspondence. 
Odessa, Sept. 23, 1846. —1n my last letter from Kiev 
I believe I omitted to mention the Beet-root cultivation 
and sugar manufactories, which, I was there told, were 
carrying on with great success by some of the Polish land- 
holders in the government of Kiev, and increasing in 
number and extent. From Kiev here we passed at first 
through a sandy, wooded country, with intervals of cul- 
tivation, like the last stages on the other side of Kiev. 
After a stage or two, the woods gradually disappeared, 
and we came out into the open country, called steppes, 
which, from a vast barren waste, are now becoming in 
many places so highly productive. These steppes are, 
At what period did these receive j however, very different from what I had figured them 
the seeds of disease ? They were to all appearance per- | to myself. 
Instead of an interminable dead flat, the 
ground is much undulated and intersected by valleys of 
were separated as soon as they were dis d. nay 
add that about the end of May I saw some Potatoes 
from the same lot of seed, raised in Glamorganshire, 
which were very much diseased, although I did not ob- 
serve the spot on the leaf.— Lusor. 
French Bean a Substitute for the Potato.—l was 
sorry to see (p. 708), an article on the Haricot as a 
substitute for the Potato, without the necessary accom- 
paniment of stating that it does not ripen seeds in 
ordinary seasons in our northern summers ; and al- 
though it may do very well for Kent or Devon, and in 
such a season as the present actually has ripened seeds 
in Derbyshire, no practical man could place any de- 
pendance upon the ripe crop of Haricots in the northern 
counties, although the green crop is well worthy of ex- 
tensive cultivation, on account of the great bulk of food 
that it yields.— 4. F. 
although the Polmaise system does not n ly 
exclude external air, yet it does not appear to require 
its admission as essential. It does not seem to have 
occurred that little or no additional fuel will be requred 
to warm the air admitted from without, through the 
atove, than if the same air were supplied to the fire 
itself. It is well known to iron-masters that by using 
hot blast the temperature of the furnace is increased 
in a ratio of about nine-tenths of the difference between 
that of the heated blast, and that of the external air. 
Would it not then be more advantageous to the health 
of the plants, if the fire were supplied with the vitiated 
air from within the house, instead of the more pure 
external air, and admit the fresh air to pass over the 
stove, for the supply of the house? I think the princi- 
ple will hold good, whether the atmospheric temperature 
þe 10° or 50° ; and that very little more fuel would be 
consumed.—Lwusor. [How do you propose to provide 
against back draughts 1] 
Legg's Hydraulic Engine.—In answer to your cor- 
respondent (page 710), I must beg to inform him that 
T am not either a tradesman or engineer, and therefore 
incapable of giving him the estimate he requests ; if he 
really wishes to know the cost of Legg’s engine on a 
large scale, the most sensible and satisfactory plan will 
be, an application to the maker, e no sort of 
interest in the machine excepting having derived great 
benefit from its supplying me with water, which I could 
not obtain by any other means, and I trust others will 
not be deterred from reaping the same advantage, by 
any attempts to undervalue the hydraulie in question. 
if Mr. Legg has no other merit in offering a cheap and 
useful engine to the public, he is surely entitled to the 
credit of having lowered the price of rams, and ren- 
dered them more efficient in situations in which they 
did not pretend to be of use a short time ago. 1, for 
Tr of Corn.—A member of my family, 
less ineredulous than myself, was determined to try an 
experiment relative to the above subject. Accordingly, 
on the 22d of June last, T superintended the putting in 
of two rows of common Oats, taken from my stable- 
bin, and among whieh, I am confident, were grains of 
no other description of corn. The plants have already 
been cut twice since the above period, and at this.date 
(November 3), they stand about a foot high, in great 
luxuriance, many of them again showing for ear. On 
opening some of the cases I find Oats, but on two 
plants I discover that which appears to be Rye. I in- 
close one of these ears, Measuring, as you will perceive, 
11 inches from its base to the extremity of its beard. 
The only perceivable difference between the foliage of 
the two plants and the rest, seems to be the red circle 
at the aperture where the ear bursts out, as will be ob- 
served in the specimen sent. I have not seen it re- 
marked in any previous discussion on this subject, that 
the transmutation of corn has been observed in the 
first year. A friend to whom I showed my production 
doubted whether it was even Rye.— T. M. W., West- 
bury-upon-Severn Vicarage, Gloucester. [It is not Rye, 
but a long-eared, long-bearded Barley.] 
Cause of Potato Disease.—l have formerly drawn 
attention to the important fact, that the blight which has 
unfortunately destroyed such a breadth of the Potato 
crop, was, however, not confined to the Potato alone; 
but, judging from what happened under my own imme- 
diate observation, it seems to attack any vegetable that 
is more than usually luxuriant, and of course more suc- 
culent. My former list (p. 661) I presume pointed to 
some such conclusion, and I am sorry to inform you 
that the other day I began to take up my Parsnip crop, 
and out of many thousands there is not one sound root 
to be found, every one being affected with a cinnamon- 
depth, in the bottoms of which and along the 
streams the granite shows itself, or, nearer Odessa, the 
calcareous rock. On the hills, which are, it is true, flat- 
topped, and often of very great extent, so as at a dis- 
tance to show a level horizon, the soil is generally 
blackish, easily working up into a very fine dust, or, 
with the least wet, into a thick remarkably tenacious 
mud ; but when dry again, wears down in the roads 
almost as smooth as a boarded floor. At this season 
these steppes are so completely burnt up that the stub- 
bles and the uncultivated wild pastures are all of one 
brown colour, except where the quantity of Artemisia 
and Chenopodiaceze give them a grey tint, and driving 
across one of these long bare hills, without a tree or a 
house to be seen, and the monotonous outline only 
broken by the tumuli scattered over the higher grounds, 
the prospect is dreary enough ; and where in the val- 
leys you come upon the villages of the New Russian 
peasantry, the matter is not much mended. The 
wretched hovels they live in resemble those of our paupers 
in the west of England put upon commons, or on the 
roadside, in the hopes of gaining the right to the 
ground by prescription. Their fields, judging from the 
stubble, produce finer crops of Thistles and other weeds 
than of grain ; their agricultural operations of thresh- 
ing, winnowing, and conveying the grain to market, 
is carried on in as idle and unproductive a way as can be 
conceived ; the Thistles from their fields (chiefly Ono- 
pordons and Centaureas), together with dried dung, 
serves them for fuel, and everything shows the lowest 
stage of industry. So much the greater contrast when 
you go through any of the numerous and thriving mili- 
tary colonies—one of the happiest ideas of the Russian 
Government for rendering the steppes profitable, at the 
same time that the moral condition of the reserve 
forees is so very much improved, and the expense of 
maintaining them almost entirely saved. The organisa- 
tion and present condition of these colonies, has, I am 
told, been very accurately described by Marshal Mar- 
mont, in a pamphlet translated into the “ United Ser- 
vice Journal,” which I have not seen; and he had 
much better opportunities than myself of examining 
them; but it is impossible to drive through them 
without marking the effect of order and industry on the 
health and comfort of the inhabitants. The cottages, 
all of the same form, placed at set distances from each 
other (to diminish the danger of fire) with military pre- 
cision; the kind of discipline under which the inha- 
bitants are kept, and the forms and regulations to be 
observed, may by some be thought to savour too much 
of the arbitrary : but if the effect be the conversion of 
a dreary desert into richly productive corn-fields, and 
the substitution of large villages of a rich and healthy 
