THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
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ROTIN POTATO “SEED.” 
Discussion of a “Discussion.” 
PRACTICAL FARMERS SAY YES. 
SCIENTIFIC MEN DOUBT IT. 
Study the Facts before you Pay an 
Extra Price for “Seed” from 
Districts where “ Rot has not 
Prevailed This Year.” 
On page 643, the R. N.-Y. printed a note 
from “D. C. L., Cranbury, N. J.,” concern¬ 
ing the practice of planting seed 
from potato fields in which a por¬ 
tion of the crop had rotted. As 
our readers know, several profes¬ 
sors at our experiment stations 
have brought forward the state¬ 
ment that the “germs” or spores 
of the disease known as potato rot 
remain in the tubers alive and 
ready to develop and spread all 
through the plant if at any time 
during the growing season the con¬ 
ditions of atmosphere and tem¬ 
perature are right for their devel¬ 
opment. Hence these professors 
go on to say that it is not entirely 
safe to plant potatoes from fields 
whei’e there has been any serious 
damage from rot. “D. C. L.” com¬ 
batted this theory, giving an expe¬ 
rience of his own to show that the 
character of the seed had little or 
nothing to do with the rot; that 
it was due almost entirely to the 
weather and the condition of the 
soil. This is a matter of great im¬ 
portance this year when we con¬ 
sider the condition of the potato 
crop of this season. There are cer¬ 
tain sections where there has been 
absolutely no rot to speak of. If 
our scientific friends are right, the 
seed potatoes from these regions 
are worth more than those grown on 
soil where rot has prevailed. Before 
our readers pay an extra price for such 
seed, we want them to obtain all the facts. 
The following notes have been written with 
“ D. C. L.’s” note as a text: 
FROM PETER HENDERSON. 
Although I have had little experience 
■ with potatoes, I reason from a general 
knowledge of horticulture that there is 
likely to be no danger in using for “ seed ” 
potatoes that have been grown in the vicin¬ 
ity of fields where the rot has been, or even 
if the seed itself is partially affected. The 
“ rot ” as I understand it, is in almost every 
instance due to a condition of excessive 
moisture. The “ working roots ” of the 
plant die from that cause, the leaves begin 
to spot owing to injury by a parasit ical fun¬ 
gus, which, however, is a consequence and 
not the ca use of the disease. Tubers from 
potatoes so affected would not, in my 
opinion, be any more likely to rot than 
others, unless the conditions favorable to 
the disease were present. 
This “spotting” of the foliage, variously 
called “ rust,” “ blight ” and “ black spot,” 
no matter whether on a potato, a celery or 
a rose plant, is in every instance which I have 
ever investigated, brought about by the de¬ 
struction of the working roots, mostly from 
excess of moisture, but occasionally from its 
opposite—excessive drought. The destruc¬ 
tion of the roots shocks the vitality of the 
plants, and the ever-present spores of the 
fungous parasite pounce on the diseased sub¬ 
ject. We have reason to believe that these 
spores are more or less always present, but 
if there is no shocked plant, no weakened 
subject, there is no suitable “soil” for 
their germination. There is no reason to 
apprehend that even if these spores re¬ 
main in the potato “ seed,” the crop will 
be injured more than if they were not pres¬ 
ent. This, of course, is only theory. I have 
had no actual experience on the subject; 
but the statement of “D. C. L.” seems to 
confirm this theory in his practice. Potato 
rot the past season has been so universal 
that it is safe to say that a large propor¬ 
tion of the “seed” that will be planted, 
may hold the germs of the disease, but if 
the weather next year be unfavorable to 
their development, it is reasonable to hope 
that no bad results will follow. Were it 
otherwise, the disease would so spread that 
the potato crop might be annihilated. 
Jersey City, N. J. 
FROM EDWIN TAYLOR. 
I am not sure that I have ever had ex¬ 
perience with potato “rot.” To be sure, 
my potatoes have rotted, more or less, in 
low places every year when water stood 
over the ground for any length of time, 
particularly in very hot weather. Some¬ 
times all have rotted in such places; some¬ 
times a portion only. Those that came 
through at all seemed to be all right and 
have been stored and planted along with 
the remainder of the crop without the rot 
showing itself in the bin or in the next 
year’s crop, except in low spots again. 
Sometimes, in our climate, shallow-planted 
potatoes “cook” in the ground and rot, if 
the season is very hot and dry. Some¬ 
times, again, potatoes of the Early Rose 
type will partially rot—half the tuber per¬ 
haps will do so; but such potatoes will 
generally dry up and the sound end will 
keep through till spring. They are often 
veloped; and all concede that tubers in this 
condition are poor for seed purposes. More¬ 
over, besides this seeming necessity for 
making such a change of seed at the pres¬ 
ent time,such a change almost always proves 
beneficial for the purpose of crop improve¬ 
ment in any season. For this latter reason 
I have at intervals, for three different sea¬ 
sons, obtained my seed potatoes from the 
eastern part of Maine for planting in West¬ 
ern New York, and always with good re¬ 
sults. I have also noted, in some cases of 
almost total failure of the crop either from 
the rot or on account of a drought, when 
seed had to be obtained from other locali¬ 
ties more or less remote, that often in less 
than two years many farmers in those sec¬ 
tions would say that they had been the 
gainers, in the long run, by such failures 
for one season; and the extraordinary com¬ 
mercial facilities of the present day will 
soon afford any region where failure has oc¬ 
curred a supply from other sections where 
there has been an abundance of well-ma¬ 
tured tubers, so that by judicious selection, 
at ordinary prices, most planters may secure 
such a change of seed as may prove of much 
advantage to them. 
Genesee County, N. Y. 
FROM G. W. P. JERRARD. 
I can give no information from my own 
experience, on the subject of potato rot as 
affecting the tubers for seed purposes the 
following year. We*have never been so un¬ 
fortunate as to have received a visit from 
that dreaded disease in this part of Maine. 
Caribou, Me. 
FROM C. H. EVERETT. 
I do not believe that the germ of the pota- 
toto rot can remain in the tuber for a con¬ 
siderable length of time without causing 
it to decay. If the potatoes remain sound 
from the time they are dug until planting 
time I should consider them perfectly safe 
for seed. The rot with us this year is what 
THE PRODUCT OF A R. N.-Y. No. 2 POTATO WEIGHING ONE OUNCE. Fig. 266. 
planted; but I never heard it suggested 
that they propagated the disease. 
Edwardsville, Kansas. 
FROM IIENRY IVES. 
Many farmers are already considering 
to what extent the prevalence of blight and 
rot in the present potato crop will affect the 
quality and value of the tubers for seed 
next year, and I think it very commendable 
in them to exercise this care and fore¬ 
thought ; and I feel quite confident that it 
will prove good policy for planters whose 
crops were more or less affected with blight 
and, perhaps, rot to obtain their seed for 
another year from some good potato-grow¬ 
ing locality (be it far or near-by) where the 
crops were not thus affected. There are 
several good reasous for this, and especially 
the two following: 
Let me first say that I make this sug¬ 
gestion, not through the fear which some 
seem to entertain that “ seed” from infected 
fields would necessarily perpetuate the rot. 
This is not to be feared any more than that 
one will be poisoned by eating potatoes 
from a crop on which Paris-green had been 
used. My reason for urging the practice is 
the very practical one that the tubers, 
the tops of which were killed by the pre¬ 
vailing blight, necessarily stopped growing 
then, and being only half grown at the 
time, they were immature and not fully de¬ 
we call a “ wet rot.” The tubers that have 
not rotted are very bright; those that 
have been affected are all gone. I should 
not, however, want to purchase seed where 
dry rot prevailed ; for with this disease one 
cannot, tell which tuber will be affected 
next. I expect to plant next year seed 
from fields that are affected with rot this 
year, and as an experiment 1 shall plant 
some that are partly decayed, and report 
the result to the R. N.-Y. next fall. I do 
not expect that I shall be able to tell the 
tubers from such seed from those from the 
soundest seed except by marking the plots. 
Steuben County, N. Y. 
FROM D. B. HARRINGTON. 
The point raised by D. C. L., will un¬ 
doubtedly figure conspicuously during the 
coming season for planting, many seeds¬ 
men claiming superiority for their seed, on 
the ground that it was grown in regions 
where there was no rot this year. My ex¬ 
perience extending over nearly a quarter of 
a century induces the belief that it makes 
but little difference how badly the rot pre¬ 
vailed among the crop from which the seed 
came, if the tubers are sound and well pre¬ 
served at planting time. If the fungus had 
attached itself to the tuber, and been trans¬ 
ferred to the cellar, rot would commence at 
once in the bin, and continue while any of 
the live spores remained. But suppose we 
should plant a tuber to which the fungus is 
attached ? The office of the latter is to pro¬ 
duce decay, and consequently it would only 
accelerate that condition that is absolutely 
necessary to give life to the plant and en¬ 
able it to reproduce itself. Have the R. 
N.-Y.’s learned correspondents ever exam¬ 
ined the remains of a decayed seed potato ? 
It is a simple experiment and will go along 
way in determining the question. If the 
fungus should be found in the old potato, 
then we have conclusive proof that it does 
not affect the growing crop. If the disease 
could be transmitted from one crop to an¬ 
other, our potato industry would have dis¬ 
appeared long ago, for there are few farm¬ 
ers who have not planted seed grown in 
iufected districts. 
My opinion is that the rot is caused by 
the formation of poison spores, or fungi, by 
the action of the elements on cold, sour, 
improperly drained soil. These spores are 
of the nature of the deadly yeast plant, and 
as fast as they mature, detach themselves 
from the ground, and float in the air to the 
nearest substance. Having attached them¬ 
selves to the vine, the deadly work begins. 
The first symptoms may be detected by the 
scorched appearance of the leaves at the edge 
and points. Sores develop on the stalks, 
the tubers cease to grow, and the vines die 
prematurely. Rain and heavy dews wash 
the spores down to the roots and tubers, 
and rot commences. The fault is not in the 
seed, but in the atmosphere and soil. I 
will guarantee to grow a good crop, free 
from rot, on our Wisconsin prairie, or sandy 
plains, from seed grown in the most af¬ 
fected fields in the State of New York. It 
would be money in my pockets to take the 
other side of the question, as there is no 
rot here. For the good of the potato in¬ 
dustry, I hope this discussion may settle 
the question satisfactorily. 
Walworth County, Wis. 
FROM T. H. HOSKINS. 
In reply to the Rural’s 
request, I will relate my own 
experience. Last fall I pit¬ 
ted my seed potatoes, and 
when the pit was opened and 
the potatoes were taken out, 
about two bushels of more 
or less rotten tubers were 
thrown aside on the ground. 
A female member of my fam¬ 
ily, who is fond of making 
experiments, noticing that 
the sound portions of these 
rejected tubers were sprout¬ 
ing, planted a row of them 
in her garden just as they 
were, that is, without separa¬ 
ting the sound from the de¬ 
cayed parts. This was a 
number of days before I 
planted any of the sound 
potatoes; and from this plant¬ 
ing of semi-rotten seed a fine 
growth was made, and our 
earliest table potatoes were 
afterward dug from them. 
As there were no “ skips,” 
it seemed evident that the 
disease made no progress in 
the tubers after planting, or 
at least not enough to affect 
the vitality and vigor of the 
stems coming from the sound 
eyes. A farm hand gather¬ 
ed up the remainder of the 
lot, and dumped them around some half- 
dozen newly set apple trees, which soon 
after received a rather heavy mulching 
with straw. Shoots from these made their 
way through the mulch, grew vigorously, 
and bloomed ; but as they were then quick¬ 
ly destroyed by the bugs, no search was 
made for a crop in those places. 
There has never been a year in the past 
20 in which I have not found more or 
less decayed tubers among my seed pota¬ 
toes in the spring; but there has never 
been anything observed to show that the 
disease had extended from an unsound to a 
sound potato in contact with it. This re¬ 
fers to the common dry rot, and not to the 
wet rot, where the whole mass of tubers 
seems to deliquesce, indicatingth at the dis¬ 
ease is communicable from tuber to tuber. 
This form of rot I have seen but* little of 
for many years. It seems to follow that if 
the disease is not even communicated to 
plants that spring from sound eyes in a 
partly decayed tuber, still less will it spread 
to other tubers; and far less could it be ex¬ 
pected to extend to a crop which is sound, 
from another crop, attacked with decay 
consequent upon a local cause. 
Newport, Yt. 
FROM PROF. tv. A. BUCKHOUT. 
I am obliged to say that we have never 
made any experiments in this direction. 
