322 



Experiments 

 made with a 

 •view to its 

 proof. 



Propagation of 

 particular vari- 

 eties by cuts. 



ON THE CURL IN POTATOES. 



the most successful and intelligent agriculturists of this 

 country, started a new theory on the subject; which, from 

 its singularity, and seeming inconsistence with our expe- 

 rience in matters of a similar nature, did not at the time 

 meet with that attention, to which it undoubtedly was en- 

 titled. The Baron thought, that the curl was probably 

 caused by the tubers used for seed-stock having been allowed 

 to become too ripe the preceding year ; and that this prac- 

 tice of overripening, being repeated year after year, was 

 the real cause of the disease, the vegetative power in the 

 tubers being thus exhausted. 



I candidly confess myself to have been rather at first a 

 sceptic on the subject; but, after considering the thing a 

 little, my doubts began to clear away. In order to satisfy 

 myself thoroughly, I resolved upon making a suite of ex. 

 periments. I accordingly did so ; and as they were con- 

 ducted entirely by myself, or under my own immediate su- 

 perintendence, I can pledge myself for their accuracy. I 

 now beg leave to lay them before the Caledonian Horticul- 

 tural Society, in hopes that they may, by means of the 

 Society, be made known to the public; and as the experi- 

 ments are easily repeated, that they may induce others to 

 turn their attention to the subject. 



I think it right to observe, that the experiments now to 

 be detailed were not made with any view of their ever ap- 

 pearing before the public; nor would they have been 

 brought forward at this time, but from a wish to promote 

 the views of this Society. 



It is well known to all cultivators of the potato, that 

 the usual mode of reproducing any particular variety of 

 this valuable root is by cuts or sets of the tubers ; and that 

 this mode of propagation is repeated every year, so long as 

 that particular sort is wished for, without our ever thinking 

 of reinvigorating the seed-stock*, by raising new plants 

 from the real seeds. In this way it happens, that merely 

 the individual variety is propagated; the species being re- 

 produced only by sowing the true seeds of the plant. It 



* By this expression is always to be understood the stock of tu- 

 bers for planting, in contradistinction to the real seed of the plant, 

 1. is 



