308 THE COTTAGE GxYKDENER AND COUNTRY 
sweet, and nicely-flavoured variety of the Bigarreau 
character. It is a great bearer, and the fruit will hang 
till the end of August or beginning of September, when 
it furnishes a dish which makes a nice variety in the 
dessert. He also sent fruit of the White Warrington 
Gooseberry, which was obtained from a branch of a 
Red Warrington bush which sported, and which has for 
many years remained constant, xt has all the chaiactei 
nnd merits of the Red Warrington except the colour. 
Knight's Sweet lied Currant, Wilmott's Long lied, and 
the Red Champagne came from the same nursery, as well 
as a seedling variety of BlacJc Currant, which was per¬ 
fectly sweet, but the fruit being small the Meeting- 
deferred its opinion till another season. 
Messrs. May and Co., seedsmen, of Wellington Street, 
Strand, exhibited a collection of Gooseberries remarkable 
for their size. 
Mr, Small, of Colnbrook Nursery, near Slough, was 
elected a Eaember of the Society. 
The neat Meeting will be held on Thursday, the 1st 
of September; and on Saturday, the 12th of September, 
there will be a very interesting Meeting on the occasion 
of the competition of seedling Grapes, when three prizes 
of Two Guineas each will be awarded for the best varie' 
ties in each of the classes named. We would commend 
this Society and its Meetings to the notice of the public. 
We know of few places where two or three hours can be 
spent more profitably and instructively. The whole pro¬ 
ceedings are of a thoroughly practical description, and 
what with the interchange of ideas and his own observa¬ 
tion, if a man does not go away wiser than, he came it is 
his own fault. 
POTATOES, THEIR DISEASE AND THEIR 
PRESENT POSITION. 
We have now had an annual visitation of the Potato 
disease for twelve years, it having commenced in 1845. 
I believe I may very fairly take credit for being one of 
the first in this kingdom to announce its disastrous 
character, and to offer advice as to future proceedings 
connected with the virulent character of this disease; 
and I well remember addressing a letter to the Chester 
Courant on the subject at the end of August in that 
year, advising Cheshire farmers not to leave their 
Potatoes too long in the soil after the stems had begun 
to blacken. This letter attracted a good deal of 
attention at the time, not so much from the weight of 
the facts contained therein as from the somewhat novel 
appearance of the caution, to say little of prophetic 
views concerning it; the latter bold enough to be sure, 
but since verified to the very letter. But the question 
soon became much widened; from all points of the 
compass came grievous statements, and a host of 
conflicting opinions as to the cause of the disease and 
remedial measures. That its presence was in part 
caused or accelerated by certain atmospheric conditions 
I did not doubt, and I urged strongly this view of the 
question; but that the primary cause was of a different 
character, and traceable to a course of management 
inimical to the nature and constitution of the plant, I 
also believed, and urged in equally strong terms. 
Now arose a most chaotic conflict of opinions as to 
whether the Botrytis infestans , or fungus which invested 
the body of the plant, was a cause or a mere consequence, 
GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION, August 18,1857. 
and this I believe has not yet been finally settled. 
Persons who took the liberty of directing public 
attention to the rapid devastations of the fungus on the 
foliage of the plants were denounced in an off-hand 
way by some would-be philosophers as most illogical 
persons, floundering between cause and effect, unable 
to distinguish. Thus the battle raged, and I shall be 
glad to hear if any gentleman of the year 1857, after 
a lapse of twelve years, can throw much further light 
on this puzzling subject. 
I remember urging at the time that by some unknown 
means, the foliage becoming suddenly tainted, a kind 
of vegetable gangrene instantly supervened, which, as 
all know, spread with astounding rapidity, and that this 
gangrene corrupted the whole system of the plant, 
descending by means of the returning fluids, now per¬ 
verted, into the very tubers. The latter position, I am 
of opinion, cannot even now be fairly disputed, and 
until I can meet with a sufficiently convincing argument 
to the contrary I must continue to. hold my ground. 
Since I am busy laying claim to a fair share of 
foresight in this matter I must beg to name another 
little thing in connection with it. I ventured at that 
time to suggest that it was a kind of vegetable dyspepsia, 
and that, having been years accumulating, it could not 
be expected to depart in a hurry, but that its departure 
would be the work of years. Plow far this has been 
verified I leave our readers to judge. 
We have our usual return of this disease after an 
annual occurrence of twelve years, and in these parts 
with a considerable amount of virulence. It has com¬ 
menced much about the usual time, and spreads as 
formerly; but at present certainly it has not the 
aggravated character of the years 1846—7. There 
has been, as we know, much speculation as to both the 
original cause and the continuance of this national 
calamity, and, albeit the public is well nigh tired of the 
discussion, I must beg once more to be heard con¬ 
cerning it. 
The two principal and most probable causes hitherto 
pointed at are, firstly, an unnatural amount of fermenta¬ 
tion in the pits or heaps, and secondly, over cultivation, 
to which may be added the somewhat rude liberties 
taken with this tuber in rubbing off the early sprouts 
generation after generation. I will take these in their 
order. 
As to the fermentation let me at once point to the 
difference between the wear and tear of the very early 
kinds and what are called winter Potatoes. I should 
like to know how many kinds of the latter have come 
and gone whilst our old Ash-leaved Kidneys and the 
other early border kinds have stood their ground. 
During the last thirty years I have received, cultivated, 
and discarded twenty or thirty kinds of the latter section, 
whilst I can grow the Asli-leaved Kidney as well as, and 
better than I could thirty years since; and not only this 
Kidney, but also some of the early round kinds, formerly 
known as Early Shaws, Early Frame, and the like. 
Now these kinds, being few in bulk, have never been 
forced into pits ; they have undergone no fermentation; 
they have been slightly greened, kept dry, and spread 
on floors or shelves; but in the country, and where 
many Potatoes are grown, we have all been forced to 
pit the bulk of the latter crops, not having room to 
stow them otherwise. As to the early kinds, it is 
seldom they make a premature growth which requires 
rubbing away ; but not so with the successional or late 
kinds. These, if in bulk sufficient to become heated, 
very generally sprout, and their sprouts become so weak, 
through long confinement and the germinating con¬ 
ditions in which they are placed, that most cultivators 
prefer destroying their first sprouts, and falling back on 
a second series. 
Now, if this appears not a sufficient cause of disease, 
