1874. ] 
THE POTATO DISEASE. 
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thoroughly hardy. Its trunk is said to he straight and robust, its branches spread¬ 
ing, and its leaves caducous. The latter are alternate, cordiform, acuminate, deeply 
toothed, having cylindrical red petioles, 8 in. to 12 in. long, and bearing at some 
distance from the base two stout projecting glands, two, or often three, others 
occurring at the point of insertion of the limb, which is thin, soft, 10 in. long, 
8 in. broad, of a glaucous-green, whitish beneath, with reddish venation. The 
flowers are dioecious and apetalous, while the fruits are bacciform, about the size 
of a large pea, fleshy, of a fawn-red, or reddish-orange colour. 
This species, M. Oarriere observes, present a rather rare peculiarity in its 
growth, which is also met with in Magnolia grandijlora^ namely, the development 
of a lower bud, which takes much larger proportions than the others, and tends 
to widen the head, to the damage of the central axis. Hence, if the plants are 
wished to grow up, pruning will be necessary. It prefers warm calcareo-siliceous 
soils, and is found to propagate freely by means of root-cuttings.—T. Mooee. 
THE POTATO DISEASE. 
* ^NOTWITHSTANDING the incredulity of certain unbelievers, there can now 
b be no reasonable doubt that the Potato Disease—which in some seasons 
commits such havoc on our crops, and from which they are seldom quite 
free—is caused by the attacks of a parasitic fungus, as was indeed pointed 
out many years ago by the Rev. M. J. Berkeley. The scientific name of 
fungus is Botrgtis infestans, or according to a more modern nomenclature, 
Peronospora infestans. This is found to attack the leaves of the Potato-plant 
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