328 THE COTTAGE GARDENER. August 20. 
tlian mine,—more in number, larger in size, and less dis¬ 
eased. [Were they not different varieties ?] Now, then, 
I had not a word to say to the farmer; hut I still thought 
I would follow your advice in my garden, and this year I 
planted my Ash-leaved Kidnies and Forty-folds (this last, 
in my opinion, being by far the best potato) rather early; 
and about a month afterwards, seeing a space at the end of 
my potato-bed wide enough to receive another row, I desired 
my gardener to put ono in. lie did so ; and this morning 
we took up all that remained after our summer's consump¬ 
tion. Now, then, read again the result. All my potatoes 
are in some degree diseased, but those that were planted a 
month later than the others, are far the best, being more 
in number, larger in size, and not one quarter so many 
diseased. [Were they the same varieties ?] Something 
may be said in regard to the part of the country where the 
potatoes are grown, for what may he well in the south may 
be injurious in the north, and, perhaps, every farmer knows 
best what is proper for his particular situation ; but allow 
me to make a remark that applies generally. The disease 
is still a mystery, and the cure is still to be discovered; but 
we find the potato is never attacked till after it has remained 
a certain time in the ground. Now, may it not be advan¬ 
tageous to curtail that time as much as possible, and not 
to put the seed into the ground a day before it is absolutely 
necessary to give it time to ripen ? By doing so, you avoid 
the spring frosts, and give the disease less time and oppor¬ 
tunity to mature itself and make the attack.—J. C n."* 
Now, the simple answer to our correspondent is— 
Whoever grows a variety of potato that is not ripe until 
autumn, or even until mid-August, will never escape from 
liability to extensive loss by the murrain. We this year 
grew four varieties— Walnut-leaved Kidnies, planted in 
February, and taken up in the middle of July without 
a diseased tuber; Asli-leaved Kidnies, planted in No¬ 
vember, and taken up in the middle of July with not 
more than one tuber in fifty diseased; a new Shropshire 
variety, and Martin’s Seedling, planted in November, 
and now (August 17th) only fit to take up, and full one- 
sixteenth of the first, and about one-twenty-fourth of the 
second, rendered useless by the murrain. We were per¬ 
suaded to grow the two last kinds because very productive. 
If the sets are kept sound, unslirivelled, and the sprouts 
uninjured, we do not care much whether they are 
planted in February or November; hut we consider it 
essential that the variety should bo ready for storing, 
that is, that its tubers should he perfected before July 
is ended. 
Then, again, wo have wearied ourselves, and we fear 
our readers, in warning all potato planters against 
manuring for this crop. Now our correspondent seems 
to have been compelled to neglect this rule, for he says 
his tenant farmers do not object to let him have plots 
for the culture of potatoes, “ provided he cleans and 
manures the land ” Now all evidence goes to establish 
the fact that manured potatoes are more frequently and 
more extensively diseased than those grown on land 
unmanured for them. This testimony is not borne by 
British cultivators only, hut the chorus is increased 
from the Continent. “ In a few parts only of Germany, 
* To show how testimony varies, we give the following from the pen of 
our correspondent, “Upwards and Onwards.” “ Every year, since 
the murrain appeared, my potatoes have been affected with it more or 
less, though they are not so to near the extent this season as usual, 
owing, I am hound to believe, from their having been planted last 
November. This autumn-planting system I was very wary of adopting, 
and tried it three years ; the result proved to me it was good: so this 
year, the whole of my crop, with the exception of the early Ash-leaved 
Kidneys, is thus planted, much to my satisfaction. I intend to continue 
H for the future, as I strongly recommend iU” 
especially in Thuringia,” says Dr. Schleiden, “ a custom 
has been pretty well established not to plant potatoes in 
fresh manure, hut as the third or fourth crop, and 
generally after clover, and these parts aro precisely ! 
those which remained the longest free from disease, and 
which suffered the least.”— Journ. Hort. Society, vii. 190. 
One of the reasons why manure is injurious to pota 
toes seems to be, that it keeps them longer in a growing 
state; and another reason seems to be, that it supplies 
them with an excess of phosphates of lime and mag¬ 
nesia, which phosphates are found to he excessive in 
the murrained potatoes. 
Our correspondent is quite right in his inference that 
it is “ advantageous to curtail the time as much as 
possible ” that the potato is in the ground; hut the time i 
to he curtailed, by every effort, is the time that the | 
growing tubers are in the ground, not the time that the 
sets are so situated. It is to shorten that time—to have 
the growing tubers in the soil during the months of 
May, June, and July only—that we recommend early 
planting, early ripening varieties, and no earthing-up ; | 
for late planting, and earthing-up, delay the period of I 
the tubers ripening. 
We entirely agree with our correspondent that the 1 
nature of the disease is a mystery. The facts that the 
tubers on seedling plants, and that diseased and sound j 
tubers occur on the same plant, set at defiance most of ; 
the theories which have been suggested; and there are 
other facts which are similarly incompatible with other ! 
speculative explanations. It may be that the murrain, 
as Dr. Schleiden suggests, is independent of temporary 
causes, and will never disappear. It may be that the 
potato, like other plant-varieties created by culture, has 
reached the period when permanent decline is esta¬ 
blished. All these are but “ may bes,” and it is con¬ 
solatory to know that every one of them is counter¬ 
balanced by its parallel “ may not be.” 
It is more useful just now, in the imperfect state of 
our knowledge of the disease, to keep our attention 
fixed on modes of escape from its attack, rather than on 
speculations as to its nature, or remedies in case of its 
appearance. Now, there is no one denies that there 
are two precautions, which, if adopted, are certain to 
preserve the crop from serious loss. They are these :— 
1. Grow a variety that is ready for storing in July, 
and the earlier in that month the letter. 
2. Grow it in a light, unmanured soil. 
Lot no one neglect those rules, and we recommend 
these as the results of our own experience:—3. Keep 
the sets in dry sand, or ashes, in a cool, dry place, until 
wanted. 4. Plant early—not later than the end of 
February. We plant in November. 5. Plant whole 
tubers, and each about two-and-a-half ounces in weight. 
(1. Do not earth-up the stems, hut, when some of the | 
tubers appear above the surface, merely draw around 
the stems about an inch in depth of earth. 
FORSYTH MSS. 
William Paterson was a native of Scotland, and 
probably of Montrose. His parents seem to have been 
