100 The Potatoe Plague. 
and Jad seed, is a sufficient inducement to be very particular 
in the selection. It has not escaped the observation of the 
most careless purchaser of agricultural produce, or the expe- 
rience of producers, that there is a vast difference in the 
market value of crops of the same variety. Whence does 
this difference arise? One crop is raised on a congenial soil, 
with congenial food, and with better cultivation than another 
had, but after all, it will be found that the quality of seed 
used, influenced the value of the crop as much as any other 
consideration. Take the article of potatoes. Some varieties 
séll, in ordinary seasons, at retail, in Boston Market, for one 
dollar per bushel, while the main stock is offered at thirty to 
forty cents per bushel. The first are mealy, almost every 
potatoe good, and nearly equal to wheat bread, while the 
others are close, soggy, cloggy, half-decayed things. 
“ Potatoes, which not fit to dig, 
Would turn the stomach ofa pig.” 
Which are most profitable for farmers and consumers? What 
is observed of potatoes is equally true of every other kind of 
marketable produce. 
Perhaps in no part of the duties of the farmer has there 
been so much neglect as in selecting and saving potatoes for 
seed. Any potatoes have been considered good enough for 
that purpose, and any mode of preserving or keeping them 
has been adopted. Now, to this one fact, we trace a portion 
of the evil that has visited us mm the potatoe crop. A greater 
mistake never was committed. To build a house with un- 
burnt bricks were wisdom compared with it. 
By improper management in taking up the potatoe, tubers 
of the finest quality are easily spoiled; and, on the contrary, 
by judicious treatment, even such as are watery may be con- 
siderably improved. It is of the highest consequence that light 
as well as frost should be guarded against ; for light renders the 
