THE JEFFERSON PLUM — POTATOES AND THE POTATO DISEASE. 
227 
not it may not prove to be superior to the 
justly prized Green Gage : this is its cha- 
racter in America, where it was raised ; it 
is there said to be the most desirable and 
beautiful of all dessert plums, and although 
this has not been fully tested in this country, 
yet in the unfavourable season of 184.5 it was 
found decidedly superior to that excellent 
variety. This plum was raised by the late 
Judge Buel, and the original tree is, it ap- 
pears, still growing in his garden near Albany. 
It appears to have been introduced to this 
country by Mr. James Barnet, who obtained 
it from Mr. Wilson, a nurseryman at New 
York. The summer of 1845, which was a 
very unfavourable one for the maturation of 
fruits, was the first in which the fruit of the 
plum had been produced in this country, 
and notwithstanding the unfavourableness of 
the season, it attracted attention from the 
merit it was found to possess. The following 
description of the variety is taken from the 
Journal of the Horticultural Society, where 
a figure of the fruit, as grown on a standard, 
is given : — " Fruit large, roundish oval ; stalk 
about an inch in length. Skin dark yellow, 
remarkably speckled with purple and brownish 
red. Flesh, deep orange, slightly adhering to 
the stone, juicy, exceedingly rich and sugary. 
Stone middle sized, elliptic. Ripe in the 
third week of September ; but in ordinary 
seasons it will probably attain perfection about 
a fortnight earlier. The tree appears to be a 
great bearer, as a standard. Shoots smooth, 
or but partially and very slightly downy, of an 
upright growth. Leaves middle sized, ellip- 
tical, glabrous above, serrated, or acutely 
crenated. In rich soil, or against a wall, 
where it deserves to be placed, this variety 
would, doubtless, attain a large size. It will 
afford a later supply than the Green Gage, 
for it has the property of hanging for a con- 
siderable time on the tree after being ripe." 
There is one particular aspect in which the 
cultivation of this variety is likely to be of 
some importance. There are many situations 
unfavourable to the growth of plums, where 
fruit of good quality and properly flavoured 
ore seldom obtained ; and there are seasons in 
which, even under more favourable circum- 
stances, plums fail to acquire their wonted 
excellence. In either of these cases — either 
when the season is unpropitious, or where 
the situation itself is not over favourable — 
such varieties as the JefFerson Plum would be 
likely to produce fruit of good quality and 
flavour. 
POTATOES AND THE TOTATO DISEASE 
There appears to have been a good deal of 
controversy about this subject : and the con- 
clusion to which some of the most learned 
philosophers have arrived, is, that the visitation 
was completely atmospheric ; that it affected 
none of the Potatoes that were taken up early ; 
that it is by no means new ; that the cause was 
the cold and cloudy weather in July ; that it 
attacked the foliage and descended ; that the 
present season has no appearance that justifies 
a fear of the disease affecting the crops now 
coming forward ; and that unquestionable proofs 
have been manifest, that sound Potatoes may 
be procured from sets cut from diseased 
Potatoes. Mr. Chapman has, however, dis- 
covered that, when the haulm is affected, the 
disease runs a considerable distance, but that, 
if the haulm be cut down, the disease goes no 
further. The only preventive we should take 
in planting Potatoes, would be to cut away 
every mark of the disease, for, when the set 
of a Potato will boil and eat well, and 
show no ill-effect, it is impossible that it will 
be at all detrimental to the growth. In short, 
the experience of the past shows, that the dis- 
ease is totally independent of the set ; and that 
diseased sets will give sound Potatoes ; and 
sound sets will, under similar circumstances to 
those under which they here suffered, give 
diseased ones. The notion that the fungi 
which have been detected is the cause of the 
disease, has been abandoned by most of the 
writers on this subject, and they are all but 
proved in most persons' estimation, to be the 
effect ; among practical men, it has been, all 
along, treated as a chimera. The new Potatoes 
of the present season, grown from sets of 1844, 
the same description in every respect, the 
same growth, the same season, taken up at the 
same time, and merely left implanted last year, 
have been as free from disease as if such a 
thing had never existed ; and it is impossible 
to entertain, for a moment, an idea that there 
was any disease in the sets, or that it can have 
anything to do with the degeneration of the 
Potato. 
With regard to the kinds to plant, we can 
scarcely do wrong if they are in good order, 
that is to say, if they have not spent themselves 
by growing while stored. We should, how- 
ever, choose those that would be called small 
for table, and plant whole sets, giving plenty 
of room, according to their sorts ; but, if you 
get large ones, and must cut the sets, sprinkle 
them with slaked lime, so as to dust all the 
cut parts, and let them dry before you plant. 
As soon as these are above ground, dust the 
foliage with lime, and choose the morning for 
the operation, while the dew is upon them ; as 
Mr. Chapman, in a paper written for the 
Gardeners' Gazette observes, it will be 
worth all the cost, if it he only for destroying 
the slugs. So long as there is any influi nee 
| in the lime, it will prevent any attack of the 
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