290 
On the Cultivated Potato. 
change of seed and of season, seed even from France, are the 
only means adopted of which, though doubtful, we can speak 
at all favourably. The variety that runs the most risk is that 
which is most commonly planted : there comes from Peru a far 
cry for a disease-resisting variety, and the expression of a belief 
in individual plants, or varieties of superior vitality." 
On this account Dr. Cooke, of Kew, author of the ' Handbook 
of British Fungi,' observes : " I think that the paper should be 
published. The disease exhibits symptoms of a fungoid disease. 
The great deficiency is the want of a microscopic examination 
of infected parts, or specimens, either dried or in fluid, which 
should have accompanied the account. It would be worth 
while making an effort to obtain specimens of infected plants 
in order that they may be submitted to the microscope," Query : 
Is it after all our " potato disease " imperfectly described ? 
Turning now from the west to the east coast of South 
America : in the ' Manual Cultivador Americano,' published at 
Monte Video in 1882, there is an article on the ' Potato,' from 
which the following is an extract : — " The tendency to degene- 
ration of the infinite varieties is about the first thing noticed. 
The potato yields in field cultivation two easy crops every year : 
the potatoes are planted in August, February, and March ; and 
gathered in December and May and June. The potato from 
seed is a means of regeneration. A disease which parches and 
burns the haulm, appeared in the years 1856-7, devastating all 
our fields. We tried various experiments, and tried amongst 
others one which in an extreme case was efficacious, and by 
which we were enabled to save sound tubers for seed : we 
grafted the tomato near the ground, in the stalk of the potato, 
and thus obtained sound tubers, nourished by the tomato, from 
which we likewise obtained produce. This result is, of course, 
more curious than generally useful." After suggesting known 
means of supposed preservation, the writer goes on to mention 
the ravages of the wirevvorm, which nests and breeds amongst 
the tubers, and increases prodigiously in time of drought. 
" A report to the ' New York Tribune ' states that the potato 
crop of Western New York, and probably that of the State, is 
threatened with a disease. The vine is attacked with ' black 
rust,' which is first noted by brown spots on the margins of the 
leaves, shrivelling the entire plant as it spreads. The rapid 
extension of the disease, and the decay of the leaves and stalk, 
follows as soon as the foliage dries up, and the potato itself 
becomes affected and decays. A large number of potato- 
growers, who were anticipating an abundant yield, now foresee 
an almost complete destruction of this crop. Tlie cause is 
attributed to the moist and unusually cloudy summer. Fields 
