
No. 33.]__ ety 
entirely, while about half of the tubers of Jordan Prolific, Late Beauty 
of Hebron and Sunrise, and about one-third of those of Gypsy, 
Knapp’s Snowbank, Marvel of Beauty and Pennsylvania Belle were 
rotten at the time of digging. 
The Flesh Colored, a very old variety, which has so far deteriorated 
in vigor that it produced but eight pounds of merchantable tubers in 
one hundred (calculated) hills, had no rotten tubers, while of the 
Garnet Chili, another old variety, a very small percentage of the tubers 
were rotten. ‘his would seem to indicate that the liability of potatoes 
to decay has no connection with what we term ‘‘running out.” 
Neither does it seem to have any connection with prolificacy. The 
Gypsy, which was among the more prolific, had one-third of its tubers 
rotten, while the Alpha, one of the least prolific, had but about two 
per cent of rotten tubers. Again, the Beauty of Hebron, a prolific 
variety, had. more than twelve per cent of rotten tubers, while the 
Astonisher, a light yielder, had no rotten tubers. 
What surprises us more, the liability to decay seems to have no re- 
‘lation to the vigor of the plant. ‘Thus, of the varieties that failed to 
rot, our notes of plants and foliage read as follows: Astonisher : 
“Plant feeble, leaves somewhat shriveled and blighted.” Bliss’ 
Triumph: “ Plant very feeble, foliage much blighted.” Bliss No. 39: 
** Plant very feeble, foliage much blighted.” Bliss No. 51: ‘ Plant 
. rather feeble, foliage not blighted.” Flesh Colored: “ Plant very 
feeble, foliage shriveled, with some blight.” McCormick: < Plant 
very vigorous, three feet high, foliage not blighted.” Seottish Cham- 
pion: ‘‘ Plant rather feeble, foliage not blighted.” A seedling from 
C. Baldridge: ‘“ Plant moderately vigorous, foliage slightly blighted.” 
Vermont Champion: “ Plantrather feeble, foliage very much blighted.” 
It appears from this that decay does not always follow, even though 
the foliage is severely blighted. The blight, spoken of in our notes, 
may not, however, have been the fungus which is the parent of the 
potato rot. 
In two plants of the Beauty of Hebron variety, small tubers were 
formed in the axils of the leaves. We noted that the blight affected 
these in the same manner as the foliage, causing them to shrivel and 
blacken. ‘The decay commenced upon the uppermost tubers and pro- 
ceeded regularly down the stem until it reached the surface of the 
ground, when the tubers which protruded from the soil were attacked. 
This is in accordance with one theory of the potato rot, viz.: 
+ that the spores of the fungus fall from the blighted foliage and are 
washed downward through the soil by rain until they reach the tubers, 
when they germinate and the growing fungus destroys the structure 
of the potato. It seems probable, therefore, that the method that has 
recently been recommended in England, of hilling the plants very 
high as soon as the blight appears upon the leaves, may have efficiency 
a8 a preventive of rot. 
‘ It would seem that one lesson at least can be gathered from our 
statistics of decay. ‘Those who are producing new varieties should 
scrupulously avoid using as parent varieties, those that are subject to 
rot. The fact that so many varieties rotted seriously on our soil the 
_ past season, is not evidence that they will rot in all seasons, but those 
that have shown themselves to be rot-resisting we should hardly ex- 
pect would decay under any conditions that the farmer is likely to meet, 
[Assem. Doc. No. 33.] 28 
P 
