i89o 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
771 
suspecting his ability as a juniper. In July, 1889, he entered 
him at Genesee during the annual sports of the Genesee 
Valley Hunt Club, and to every one’s surprise he cleared 
five feet and nine inches with ease. Then he was put in 
active training and at the Buffalo International Fair, held 
in September, cleared six feet and four inches, but was 
beaten by Roseberry. At Chicago, in November, the two 
horses met again and were tied at the height of six feet 
and lOJlf inches. Roseberry’s owners refused to jump off 
the tie and the association gave to each horse an equal 
prize. Ontario’s next appearance was at Boston last April, 
where he made the highest jump made at the show, six 
feet and eight inches, beating his rival Roseberry by five 
inches. The Boston authorities prevented him from trying 
any higher jumps, though Mr. Howland thought that he 
could clear seven feet. Anxious to prove that he was cor 
rect, Mr. Howland, on May 18th, gave an exhibition of 
Ontario’s jumping powers at the Washington Riding 
Academy, that covered him with glory. After easily clear¬ 
ing six feet and eight inches, the bars were placed at seven 
feet. In his first attempt he knocked off the two top bars, 
but at the second he went over like a bird and struck 
safely on his feet in good shape. In disposition he is very 
gentle and uever refuses to jump anything that 
is before him. There are many other attractions 
at Belwood, that help to make it the notable 
place it is, but enough has been said to give The 
Rural readers a fair idea of one of the ideal 
homes of the Genesee Valley. 
Livingston Co., N. Y. EDWARD F. DIBBLE. 
THE POTATO ROT. 
Its Nature and Suggestions for Check¬ 
ing It In the Future. 
DI{. BYRON D. HALSTED. 
The time to talk and write about a subject is 
when it forces itself upon us. This is the case 
with the potato rot. There have been complaints 
coming up from all parts of the country that 
the potatoes are decaying. So bad is this rot in 
New Jersey, for example, that the experiment 
station has been appealed to for information or 
perhaps the word help would more nearly ex¬ 
press the nature of the call. After having given 
the subject some consideration in the laboratory, 
the localities of greatest distress were visited, 
and some points were thereby gained that may 
not come amiss to the great fraternity of potato- 
growers—a fraternity that includes nearly every 
farmer and gardener throughout the length and 
breadth of the land. It is not my purpose to 
quote statistics or outline here the range of our 
country over which at the present time the po¬ 
tatoes have rotted. It goes without further 
saying that the potato rot is one of the greatest 
blows to the farming industry in this country. 
Just as in Ireland for several seasons the rot has 
been the cause of famine in that island, so here 
it has been so bad in isolated parts as to render 
the growing of this crop full of uncertainty. 
In hundreds of acres in Salem and Cumberland 
Counties, N. J., where the potato is one of the 
chief crops, upon which the yield would have 
been large, the plow will simply prepare the soil 
for some other crop. The rot, while it may not 
mean starvation, does bring a loss that places 
the farmers in a condition almost of despair. 
Without considering further the subject from 
the economic stand point for the present, and 
prospective prices are a sufficient argument 
here, let us look into the face of this dire de¬ 
stroyer, and from the nature of the trouble and 
the conditions under which it flourishes, try to 
get some light that, if followed, will help to 
mitigate the curse in the future. In the first 
place, we must not confound cause with condi¬ 
tion, or condition with cause. While wet 
weather may favor the development of the rot, 
it is not the cause of it. Warmth, sunshine, 
rain and a dozen other things may assist in the 
growth of an apple tree, and favor a full frui¬ 
tion, but it is absurd to say that the weather 
makes apples, cider or the like. It must be 
clearly comprehended that the cause of the rot 
in potatoes is a vegetable growth as true as an 
apple tree. It is small, but that does not pre¬ 
vent its being a plant. It grows upon another 
plaut, and gets the nourishment from the latter, but that 
is no argument against its being a vegetable growth. There 
are many of the higher plants, even those with flowers, 
that grow as parasites upon herbs, shrubs and trees. Thus 
the dodders or “love thread” are pale, twiuing plants 
that get their living from clover, flax and other crops, and 
do much damage. 
In order to better exhibit the nature of the potato rot 
the accompanying engraving is here presented through 
the courtesy of the New Jersey Board of Agriculture in 
whose last annual report it recently appeared. The cause 
of the potato rot is a microscopic plant, consisting of mi¬ 
nute threads smaller than the spiders’ silks that make up 
their webs. These threads are like those of a mold upon 
bread, only with this difference, the bread mold feeds 
upon a substance without life, while the mold of the 
potato grows upon a living plant. The various smuts, 
mildews and many of the so-called blights are in like man¬ 
ner microscopic plants and all belong to the group known 
as fungi. The potato rot is not a fungus, but is caused by 
a fungus ; iu other words, the feeding of this microscopic 
plant upon the tissue of the potato plaut causes a dis¬ 
organization of that tissue; the starch is used up and the 
walls of the cells turu of a dark color and undergo decom¬ 
position. Other forms of mold or fungi often and usually 
follow the one first causing the decay and thus, working 
together, hasten the destruction of the potatoes. 
Let it be clearly and fully understood that the decay, 
now so prevalent in the potato, is primarily due to the 
ravages of a minute mold, and half of the work towards a 
rational consideration of the preventive measures is accom¬ 
plished. Now with the aid of the figures let us look 
further into the way this mold grows and its method of 
propagation. It is only the statement of every observing 
potato grower that the first change noticed in a field is the 
mildewing of the foliage, followed quickly by a blackening 
and withering of the leaves, followed soon by the decay of 
the stems. As a rule, the fungus begins its work in the 
young leavqs and this is due to the spores that arrive there 
through the air, coming from places where they have re¬ 
mained since the previous year. The bodies passing through 
the wind are called spores and may come from any field 
where potatoes have rotted previously. It is possible also 
that the fungus may have come up from the seed potato 
provided that it was infested even only slightly before 
planting. From the leaf—a single one with several in¬ 
fected spots is shown dark in Fig. 1—the spores may pass 
to another leaf and cause a new mildew spot; or they may 
fall to the surface of the soil and be washed down by any 
rain that falls. The leaf spots continue to enlarge until 
the whole leaf is covered and then the fine threads run 
down the stem ruining it as they go, and pass on to'the 
potatoes. There are, therefore, at least two methods by 
which the»pest reaches the tubers where the greatest 
damage is done. Fig. 2 shows a portion of a leaf in cross- 
section with the rot fungus threads shown dark and the 
branches that have come from the surface of the leaf and 
are bearing the spores upon their tips. The manner in 
which they come out of the breathing pores is shown at 
Fig. 3. The reader will of course bear in mind that this 
and all others of the figures in the plate are highly magni¬ 
fied, except No. 1. In order to give a better idea of the 
development of the fungus the remaining figures are given. 
Thus Fig. 4 is one of the swollen tips when immature; 
Fig. 5 shows it later in its growth in which the contents 
begin to divide up. At Fig. 6 the wall of the sac is open 
at the eud and small bodies are passing out. Each one of 
these is capable of moving around by the vibrating of two 
arms with which each is provided. These minutes bodies 
when they come to rest upon the surface of a healthy leaf 
germinate, as shown at Fig. 8, by sending out a tube and 
this enters the leaf through one of the countless breathing 
pores, as shown at Fig. 8. 
The rapidity with which this fungus will grow is remark¬ 
able, for it requires only a very few hours to elapse from 
the time the threads emerge from the leaf, as at Fig. 3, 
until the full-sized branches with their spore bodies are 
produced, as seen at Fig. 2. The suddenness of the appear¬ 
ance of the rot has made some loth to accept that the 
cause is a minute vegetable growth. 
The conditions favoring the rot are several; but the most 
essential are abundant moisture and a warm atmosphere. 
The fungus is fond of wet, as is true of nearly all of this 
vast obscure group of vegetation. The most favorable 
weather is known as close or muggy, and, as a rule, it is 
associated with the decay as its direct cause. As before 
stated the rains also facilitate the descent of the spores to 
the tubers where they infect them. 
There is little or no timely advice to be given now as to 
the treatment of the infected field. There is no cure for 
the rot when it has once found entrance to a potato ; 
but knowing that the cause is a fungus that begins 
usually in the leaves and from there passes down¬ 
ward to the roots, it is evident that it is only the part of 
wisdom to dig the potatoes as soon as the foliage 
is moldy, and the field gives off the first of its 
disagreeable, rank, rotten odors. If the vines 
are killed the potatoes cannot grow any more, 
so that there should be no hesitation in digging 
even though the tubers are not full-sized. At 
the same time the vines should all be placed in 
heaps and burned—as also any rotten potatoes 
that may be found. A whole chapter might be 
written upon the subject of farm sanitation. It is 
no wonder that the diseases, fungous and others, 
are upon the increase, for the tendency is to grow 
but few kinds of crops, manure highly and then 
take no care to clean up after every crop that has 
suffered from some enemy that lurks in the field 
in stubble, old vines, roots, leaves, etc. 
In the treatment of the potatoes possibly 
tainted with the rot something may be done. 
It is to be kept In mind that if the threads are 
there in considerable numbers, there is little 
hope of saving that particular tuber; but much 
spreading in the heap may be prevented by 
keeping it in a warm, dry place, so that all 
moisture may quickly dry from the surface. All 
rotten tubers must be removed as they appear, 
and it is well to sprinkle air-slaked lime over the 
surface of all. The point in all this is to remove 
the conditions for the passage of the germs from 
one tuber to another. 
The preventive measures to be employed an¬ 
other season are to grow the crop upon a soil 
that is not liable to be wq£. Much will depend 
upon the season, but some places on the farm are 
usually too wet for potatoes, and they only serve 
to propagate the rot, and keep it in the neigh¬ 
borhood from year to year. Potatoes should be 
grown, therefore, upon as dry a soil as possible 
to insure a crop. Of course, no one would at¬ 
tempt a second crop upon an area already 
charged with the germs of the last season. 
Have the best seed possible, that i3, use that 
from a place that was free from the rot, if pos¬ 
sible. Spraying the vines with the Bordeaux 
Mixture so efficacious for rot in grapes has been 
successful in reducing the amount of decay, and 
is worthy of consideration. It is of much im¬ 
portance that the early 3orts be planted early, so 
that the potatoes may be mature and out of the 
ground before the rot comes, which is, as a rule, 
not until midsummer or later. This last point 
can not be too strongly insisted upon. My visit 
to the fated counties of Southern Jersey empha¬ 
sized this fact most strongly. There the plant¬ 
ing often was not done until July. In a dry 
season this may do, but this year the result was 
that the potatoes were in the midst of their 
growth when the late September and early 
October rains came, and the fungus flourished 
under the conditions that then surrounded it. 
There may be many advantages in some years in 
having the potato crop mature so late, but in 
a wet season it is fatal and ruinous. By plant¬ 
ing on dry soil, planting early, using healthy 
seed and spraying for the rot fungus, which can 
be done at the same time and with the insecticide 
application for the beetles, there is great hope of saving 
the crop. Follow this with quick digging if any decay 
appears in the vines; store like sweet potatoes, and profits 
are all the more certain. Last of all, do uot neglect clean¬ 
ing up the rubbish should there be an attack of the rot. 
New Jersey Experiment Station. 
W hy do not the farmers pay more attention to a just re¬ 
vision of our patent laws in their political claims ? The 
patent tribute is worse than the tariff tribute because in 
the oue case individuals alone are benefited, while in the 
other the money raised is at least put iu the public 
Treasury. No one can fairly deny to the inventor a just 
reward for his discoveries ; but at the same time this re¬ 
ward should never be more than just. A few years ago a 
bill was introduced in the Senate authorizing the govern¬ 
ment to buy valuable patents and make them public prop¬ 
erty. There were many objections urged against this 
plan, chief of which was the fact that dishonest officials 
might accommodate their friends by paying great prices 
for worthless inventions unless the greatest care was taken 
in selecting patents to be made free. The bill was not per¬ 
fect by any means; but the revision of the patent laws is a 
matter that farmers ought to think about. 
Fig. 357. 
