06 The Potatoe Plague. 
matter of the apple potatoe, and as the Nova Scotians do; 
by rejecting it altogether. The potatoes planted should be of 
good size, and of cut into small pieces. You may as well 
expect a vigorous blade of corn from a diminutive, shrivelled 
grain, as a strong plant from a, small potatoe. There never 
was a more fatal error than the common one that “ any pota 
toes are good enough for planting.” 
Tt is confidently asserted by many writers, and I believe it 
io be true f.om my own experience and observation, that the 
weakness of the seed is usually caused by over-ripeness; that 
is, by coming to full maturity before being taken from the 
ground. The best potatoe growers dig their seed potatoes 
before they have quite completed their growth. They are 
full of sap, and remain so. Froin the fact that they are too 
waxy for the table, they are the fitter for seed. Seed pota- 
toes should not be of a mealy quality, nor should they be 
stored so that they will heat, or be kept out of the ground 
long after they are cut for planting. 
Jt does not follow that all potatoes of what are called new 
varicties are necessarily equally new. Some of them may 
have gone through more generations than others. I have 
been forcibly struck with the truth, as it seems to me, that 
most varieties now in vogue are actually dying slowly of old 
age, the principles of decay being more or less quickened by 
unfavorable seasons or unskillful management. The chenan- 
go, for example, has been among the longest cultivated by 
farmers, and has been, perhaps, the most affected by discase. 
English whites and reds have not suffered so much, being 
of a hardier constitution; but they, too, have, for years, been _ 
showing symptoms of decay. Perhaps the wisest course , 
universally, would be to obtain new varieties from the seed, 
or to resort to the wild South American original. 
