THE CULTIVATOR. 
77 
1848 . 
most sure and profitable. And in no part of the world, 
probably, has this reproduction been resorted to oftener 
than there. 
Mr. T. A. Knight, the former distinguished Presi¬ 
dent of the London Horticultural Society, experimented 
with the potato many years, and in fact made it a par¬ 
ticular subject of investigation during his life. In a 
treatise in the British Farmer’s Magazine, he says:— 
u The first point to which I wish to direct the atten¬ 
tion of the cultivator of the potato is, the age of the 
variety; for it has long been known, that every variety 
cultivated , gradually becomes debilitated; and loses a 
large portion of its powers of producing; and, I be¬ 
lieve that almost every variety now cultivated in this 
and the adjoining counties, has long since passed the 
period qf its age, at which it ought to have resigned its 
place to a succession .” 
Similar to the above is the language used in the Li¬ 
brary of Useful Knowledge, Farmer’s Series —“ It has 
been ascertained by repeated trials, that every variety 
of the potato, when propagated during a series of 
years, either by cuttings from the root, or by the whole 
tubers, is subject to degenerate; in some, the quality 
remaining good after the produce in quantity has be¬ 
come defective, whilst with others it disappears with 
thewigor of the plant.” 
In the year 1778, a disease called the curl, affect¬ 
ing both the vine and tuber, appeared among several 
varieties of potatoes in England, and soon spread 
through Scotland and Ireland, and subsequently devel¬ 
oped itself more or less in this country. It occasioned 
a general panic, as much perhaps, as the disease that 
has made such havoc for a few years past; and the 
multitude of books and pamphle'ts that were written on 
the subject, was beyond all precedent. Scientific men 
engaged in a great variety of experiments, and Parlia¬ 
ment ordered investigations, &c.; but nothing abso¬ 
lutely conclusive was ascertained as to the nature or 
cause of the disease, or the proper remedy. The more 
general belief seemed to be, that the disease was more 
or less induced by the age or deterioration of varieties, 
as those more recently produced from the seed were 
almost wholly exempt. As the result of experiments, 
it was ascertained that varieties differed greatly in 
their nutritive properties—from 30 to 50 per cent.; that 
they also differed greatly in their vital energy and har¬ 
diness of constitution, some of equal age running out 
much sooner than others; and that the continuance of a 
variety and its exemption from, or power to resist dis¬ 
ease, depended as much upon the above circumstances 
as upon its age. 
Willis Gaylord, I think, (see Cultivator vol. 7, page 
165,) expresses the belief, that i{ the formidable dis¬ 
ease known as the curl, is the natural result of the old 
age of the variety, and indicates the failure of its veg¬ 
etative powers.” £C The new varieties of this valua¬ 
ble root, those lately originated from seeds, have not, 
to our knowledge, been affected by the curl in the least. 
The inference, then, seems to be a fair one, that in the 
production of the potato, as in many other plants, a 
recurrence to the fundamental law of propagation, that 
from seeds, must be occasionally resorted to. in order 
to prevent deterioration. The new varieties of the 
potato, that have been introduced into culturq in 
England and in the United States, from the seeds, ex¬ 
hibit a vigor and strength which none of the long culti¬ 
vated kinds show.” This last mentioned fact is con¬ 
firmed by the statements of many English and Ameri¬ 
can writers, and abundantly verified by experiments 
frequently made. In my reading, I have met with 
many passages similar to the following, which I ex¬ 
tract from the Pennsylvania Farmer, published in 1804. 
Speaking of a field of potatoes raised from the seed, 
Eli Bronson, of Conn., says :— 11 Part of the field was 
better by one-half than the other part. In the best 
part, the seed was the second year from the balls; in 
the other part the seed potatoes were from the balls 
several years before, and had been planted yearly.” 
One of the most valuable communications respecting 
the potato, is found in Mr. Ellsworth’s report from the 
Patent Office in 1844. M. Standinger, who had resi¬ 
ded at Gros Flotbeck, near Hamburg, in Germany, 
near 50 y*ears, paid great attention to the potato, and 
cultivated from the balls for thirty-six years in succes¬ 
sion. His long experience and constant intercourse 
with practical men, and his habits of observation, give 
peculiar weight to his testimony. In view of the weak¬ 
ness in the vital energy of the plant, occasioned, he 
says, by constantly planting the tubers, he urges the 
importance of often raising new varieties from the 
seed; adding, that those grown from the seed balls 
have a more vigorous growth than those obtained from 
bulbs, that have been used for seed for some years. 
His practice, which he minutely details, enabled him 
to raise as large a crop, both as to weight and mea¬ 
sure, the first year from the seed, as could be obtained 
by planting the bulbs. The opinion of the farmers, 
that it requires three or four years to bring to maturity 
and to a large size, potatoes raised from the seed, he 
considers not well founded, and attributes it to their 
unskilful method of cultivating them. And in relation 
to the disease among potatoes, that has spread over 
Europe the last few years, he expresses his belief that 
it is owing to degeneracy in the plant, and that the 
only effectual remedy is to start new varieties from the 
seed. In proof of this, he states “ that in the neigh¬ 
borhood of Hamburg, as well as also in Holstein, there 
is not the slightest trace of this disease to be seen, and 
no complaint of it has ever been heard ; the reason of 
this being, that in the vicinity of Hamburg, there is always 
an opportunity of obtaining good seed potatoes ,” fyc. 
I did not intend, Messrs. Editors, to make any re¬ 
marks about the cause or remedy of the present wide¬ 
spread disease in the potato; that I consider a distinct 
question from the one I had in view, and will leave it 
to be elucidated by other pens. That the older varie¬ 
ties of the potato are fast failing, and can be replaced 
only by renewing them from the seed; that the potato 
is susceptible of progressive improvement, so that there 
is reason to believe, varieties may hereafter be pro¬ 
duced far superior in every desirable quality to any yet 
known; that a large crop, of good size for the table, 
may be raised from the seed the first year, so as to 
render it profitable to the grower; and that such seed¬ 
lings, as a general rule, do remain fair and sound, 
while nearly all the old varieties are more or less dis¬ 
eased and running out, I consider facts well established. 
These facts have had a living illustration under my 
own eye during the last few years, while I have wit¬ 
nessed the operations and success of a neighbor, who 
has obtained the premium for the best and greatest va¬ 
riety of seedling potatoes at the last two Fairs of the 
State Agricultural Society. While I witness such facts, 
developed by persevering, well directed labor, I pre¬ 
dict with confidence, that the potato will, or may, be 
perpetuated as long as seed-time and harvest shall 
endure. H. A. Parsons. 
Buffalo, Jan. 4, 1848. 
Plowing for Wheat. —Elias Cost, of Ontario co., 
N. Y., is very successful in raising wheat, by prepar¬ 
ing his fallows with a singleplowing —sometime during 
summer—all the rest of the mellowing and weed-kill¬ 
ing being done with a two-horse cultivator. The wheat 
is'covered after sowing, by passing the cultivator but 
once over it. A strip 6 ft. wide is then covered at a 
time. The soil is not heavy. 
