132 
TJie Potato in Jersey. 
In 1844 the first signs of disease became manifest in several 
parts of both hemispheres ; accounts came in from various sides 
that the crop was partially, if not wholly, cut down ; causes 
without number were attributed, and remedies without end were 
offered, but all seemed powerless ; and for a time the plant was 
despaired of as if doomed to succumb and disappear from among 
the fruits of the earth. 
Although prevailing throughout England in the season of 
1844, the potato disease was not observed in this island till the 
latter end of June of the following year, when a few cold nights 
checked the flow of sap and paralysed the plant, that disease im- 
mediately set in with awful rapidity ; and so virulent was it, that 
when the time arrived for clearing the ground, in some places 
every tuber had rotted away, and in others one-half of the crop 
Avas injured. Although the loss was severely felt in this island, 
it was comparatively nothing when compared with the dreadful 
consequences which befel the agricultural people of Ireland, 
whose sustenance all but wholly depended on the returns of their 
potato crop. The famine which prevailed in that country at 
this period is still fresh to our memory. The numerous cases 
of destitution and of deaths through starvation which filled the 
papers are indescribable. 
Though we say that the position of the poorer inhabitants of 
this island was not to be compared with the agonising state 
of the Irish, we can recal a moment when the loss of the potato, 
coupled with the high price of corn, influenced the price of pro- 
visions to that extent, that in all probability more cases of want 
have not here existed within the present century, than did exist 
during the winter of 1847-8. Happily, better times followed. 
Although the disease prevailed in the following years, its type 
was less malignant ; still the crop was very short of its former 
produce ; 2 or 3 cabots per perch were now the average returns 
of the general crop ; and although prices increased consequent 
upon the scarcity, the markets were dull, and operations very 
limited. As ma}' be supposed, a few successive years like these 
made a change in the modus operandi of our farmers. 
Feeline that a continuance in the old routine would soon tell 
urkatisfactorily on the return of their labour, the country people 
diligently sought another article to replace what so long had 
been to them a small mine of prosperity. The growth of the 
parsnip increased, and the fattening of stock partially took the 
place of potato cultivation : but this was found to answer only 
as a temporary relief. Favoured by soil, by climate, and by 
daily communication with England, it was not long before a few 
discovered that by devoting their attention to potatoes of early 
sorts, they could compete with particular advantage for the early 
