294 
On the Cultivated Potato. 
lutely necessarj : as to cultivation, we must " hark back " to a 
more natural system : we want careful studies of varieties, and 
we want new varieties. 
In the House of Commons, the Chancellor of the Duchy of 
Lancaster was asked by an honourable member whether pro- 
posals had been received from the Highland and Agricultural 
Society, in conformity with the recommendations contained in 
the Report of the Select Committee on the Potato-crop, 1880 — 
namely, to undertake, with the pecuniary assistance of the 
Government, a series of experiments with a view of producing- 
new and disease-proof varieties ; and whether those proposals 
bad been lavourably considered. 
Mr. Dodson said that Lord Carlingford and himself had been 
interviewed on this subject, but in the matter they did not see 
their way to granting any pecuniary assistance from the State. 
In consequence of the question, I immediately wrote the fol- 
lowing letter to the right hon. gentleman, and my further 
object in this Paper is simply to explain that communication, 
and to add to it only such further observations as may appear 
absolutely relevant and essentially complementary. 
Sir, London, June 23rd, 1883. 
I write to you in regard to the disease in the cultivated ^wtato, and 
in reference to your reply in the House last evening. 
I do not in any way question the decision at which you have arrived ; 
Government aid to an inquiry oS the tnie line would be a misfortune. 
I should explain that the accident of my heing President of the Eoyal 
Agricultural Society of England during the last serious outbreak induced me 
to offer a prize for an Essay on the subject of the Potato-disease. The neces- 
sary conditions were published by the Society, and this brought me com- 
munications from all parts of the world. The subject, moreover, has for me a 
sort of fascination, being of its kind the most economically important and 
apparently insoluble problem of our day. 
For ten years this subject has more or less occupied my thoughts ; I have 
traced the history of the plant from the first ; I have noted many facts, and 
in my own mind I have reached certain conclusions. My evidence, argu- 
ments, and conclusions, I hope some day to embody in a paper for the 'Journal 
of the Eoyal Agricultural Society.' 
Meanwhile my object is to mention to you, and to ask you to convey to 
any interested in extensive experiments, that it might be desirable to com- 
municate either with my friend, Mr. J. G. Baker, F.E.S., Royal Herbarium, 
Kew, or with myself. 
Mr. Baker's position as a man of science, his residence and oflBcial duties 
at the headquarters of English botany, together with a longstanding ac- 
quaintance — he was a neighbour in Yorkshire — induced me recently to seek 
his aid. Being in possession of my views, he has brought his clear, instructed, 
and altogether unprejudiced mind to bear on the inquiry. Mr. Sutton, of 
Reading, has for the purjwses of study kindly placed his very extensive 
potato-grounds at our disposal, and, subject to verification, this crop, the 
result of our inquiry, appears something like the discovery of reliable bearings 
from whence to take a safe departure. 
