The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1872-09-07 00:00:00

:lra. foam Corrtsponbtni.

lawn It right 10 etate that we do not at all times
sAsw, :Atomises with our Coerespendent's optonsd
• great
.snany unkind things have been
_said ha thia

sountry relative to the statements of Mr. Stanley, the
dimoverer of Lie ingsbene ; but the handsome present
and the gracious letter to him on the part of her
Majesty will be balm to his wounded feelings, look-
ing at his gold snuff-box he will not care a pinch of
snuff for the carping criticism of the geographers, and
reading the royal letter he will find in it a solace for
the taunts and stings in letters from minor personages.
The kindly letter and the valuable present from Queen
Victoria to a newapaper correypondent may be regarded
24 an honour to the press, and eel tainly it is one of the
inahy acts which endear the Queen not only to her own
euiil eta but to strangers and foreigners.
'i here has been of late a great eleal of discussion
WI out 00-operation in the form of employ ed sharing
profits with employers, but the Right Hon. H.
t.te Speaker of the House of Common, ha.
coinruencal Salon in rather a startling wAy. He
premiers tit give 2) per cent, interest for any money
which his Mbourers invest with him in the farming
business, besides which he will give them interest
(the 2) being included in it) in proportion to the
intermit he himself derives from his capital in the
farming busine.,l ; sa that they will never have
tees than ravingly bank interest but may have
lost the Caine interest as Me Praia himself has.
Probably no mine remarkable fact than this has
occurred during the whole agitation between Capital
and Labour, and the proposition is very naturally dis-
01111110t1 eagerly among employers and employed.
No public man is more generally respected by all
classes and by politicians of every wet than is Lord
Derby, and the good advice that he gives to workingmen

on the subject of wages will therefore probably exercise
a wholesoree influence. His Lordship, I think, speaks
scenew hat too strongly when he talks ot a superalem.
dance of prosperity, of two masters being after one
man, and of there being in all departments of industry
ageneral ride of wages. Facts and experience scarcely
bear out these remarks, but this little exaggeration is
pardonable, and there can be no dispating the sound-
nem of the noble lord's; utterances on the labour ques-
lien generally. Ile doubts, am most of us doubt,
whether toe present unprecedented demand for labour
will always continue at its present rate, and he thinks
that a reaction muss follow an surely as day succeeds
night. Do I say too mw is if I state that this reaction
has alertly begun! I think not. It seems to ore that
strike have reached- their culminating point, that
laecur movements are slackening, and that with
the continued high prices of provisions and winter
approaching, any department of industry that has not
yet struck will now be very slow to adopt that course.
People are now beginning to discover that strikes and
the er,-e in wages have made the middle class worse off,
and have not made the working class better off than be'
f cc, owing to the increased coot of food, fuel, Its.,
that high wages have entailed.
Autumn manoeuvres seem all the rage just now. The
I lermane on the Mane; the French manceuvring
about Paris; the Italians onthe Picino—what can it all
be for! Add to this the meeting of the three Em•
perors, and we are at least continually reminded of
warlike movements and possible imperial plotting.
There seems, however, no ground for alarm. AU this
playing at soldiers is sail to be perfectly harmless and
intended to be merely go much drill awl practice "in
caste." I daresay it is all necessary, if not desirable,
Out it is nevertheless sad that the art of slaughter
eliould be elevated into a science, and that men should
he continually learning the quickest sod most effective
modes of murdering each other. The interest and even
enthusiasm that our own Autumn manotravres excite
are beyond dispute. A great many of us are suffering
from military fever, and if recruiting sergeants profit
by the opportunity there will certainly be no want of
men for the army. I repeat that this playing at soldiers}
among ourselves may be necessary, but really it is not a
matter to be boastful about ; awl Heaven grant that
the theories adopted and the lessons acquired by our
"Northern Army" and our "Southern Forces" may
not have to be put into practice in actual warfare.
Great efforts are being made to get up a monster
demonstration, Trafalgar-square, next Sunday, on
the high price pre eisions. I doubt whether the
meeting or any one ot the speakers will demon
etrate any one thing, but the latter will no doubt, as
usual on each eceaeions, snake a goitl Tinny rash-
aeserti tee We ehall hear a good deal about the land
laws stud the-earne laws, the conspiracy of capitalists,
She imbecilityirf the Government, awl SO on ; but I
wonder'whetherwe shall hear anything about intern-
perame and improvidence, of grain being employed
for drink vlien it Blight be treed for food, and of many
kiwis of animal abil cereal fowl being almost wholly
neglected. NVe ought to have all the truth on such
subjects. Apropos of high prices, I see that one well.
lthown• public man recommends the working-men to
adapt their clubs to co-operative societies, and that
another is now making epractical effort in this same
direction. Doubtleesioceoperation is very well in some
reepecta and to a certain extent, but it is well to know
all the truth an this subject also. Just is proportion
301 co-operative societies etteceeil, the trailing come
sunnily euffera " Live and let lice" is a wholesome
motto which co operative societies ignore. No one an
be blamed, in the pie Sent condition of the markeles, fur
getting commodities as cheaply as possible, but it is
well to bear in mind that there are two sides to this
its operative movement.
It is said that the names of two eminent inventor 4. -
Mr. Heed auil Mr. Bessemer—are ti be sasoeiated in
connection with anew description of steamer, specially
boats preclude that rolling or osalation iihich causes
Sea aicknesa, and that the new stseel will ?Ake the
passage between Dover and Calais in an hour. May
nese pleasant anticipations he realised. If they are,
tl use of us who the most suffer from this distressing
malady may eafely reckon on having only about half
u hour of it, whip will be wonderfully different to the
eitting miseries even of the "short sea route." But
venters are freenently !Ina sanguine than facts
warrant. We can, however, at all events, indulge a
pleasant hope.
Au might have been expected, the agitation against
the clauses in the Licensing Act which dens with the
Is erre of closing is dying out, and the longer the
no :mire is in operation the more it is generally felt
Veit this Act works well in the interest of the nutlic,
w thout doing any njury to those engaged lathe trade.
Beetle, noticing the effect in the metropolis, I have
made inquiries as to the operation of the Act in many
other towns, and "horn information I have received'
the conclusion come to is that the Act is a very bene-
ficent one, and will gradually work a considerable im-
provement in the order, sobriety, and morality of the
public. In another respect, however, the Act appears
kely, judging from present appearances, to be almost,
not quite inoperative ; I allude to the adulteration
clauses. Persons guilty of adulteratiou may be dealt
with either under the Licensing Act or the Adulter-
tion Amendment Act; but toift they be dealt with
under either? It does not look much like it at preeent.
During the j engross of a police case the other day a
witneeimentimied that she "accommodated" ninety-two
persons in three rooms of her lodging house ! What
sort of accommodation was afforded need not be too
curiously inquired into, but a little eutn in multiplica-
tion may fairly be indulged in. Supporiug that one
with the other—sod they were one with the other with
a vengeance—these persons paid Is. a week each, here
was ,e 4 12a per week income from a low lodging home,
Is well known that such establishments are
very profitable, and here is a case in point. But
profitable as they may be to the proprietors or land-
ords, they are the very reverter to the public, for
they are the centres of disease, hut yet it is only now
awl then that the Co.umon Lodging House Act in
put into operation—AA-tie the pity.
The testimony of Colonel ilenderson, the Chief Corns
miesioner ef Metropolitan Police, relative to the value
and influence of open-air amusements, is important.
Writing to the Lord Mayor, the Colonel speaka favour-
ably of Ilse rocivemnrit for converting the Alexandra
falace Mid Pak into.a plaCe of entertainment calculated
to raise thesintellectnal and moral character of the
people, and he adds that the experience of the police
proves that where large numbers of people as-
semble for opewair enjoyment, drunkenness is
very rarely met with. The experience of most other
people who have pail any attention to the subject
must be,jo the same effect; and it is a great pity that
this ceinnjunion is notiriore generally acted upon. All
honour to those benevolent philanthropietawhohere and
there hate givens park for the recreation of the people.
They are true patriots ; they not only provide innocent
and refining recreation. but a counter-attraction from
thstpublic house. Thew resorts promote the morality
at well as the health of the nation, and we are slowly,
though very slowly, finding this out. Colonel
Henderson speaks with authority on the matter, and
his opinion cannot be ton widely knows.

Tux QUEIQ7AN LiTlig FISWWIFE.— During
the late init of the Qoeen to Edinburgh advantage
wee taken of the excitement by a travelling circus
company, who perambulated in costume the route Her
Majesty was expected to take. Among the crowd
which collected at Brandon-street was s Newhaven
fishwife, who was all anxiety to see the Queen. Ilia
magnificent cavalcade, with its glittering display of
theatrical grandeur, turned the corner, and when
Maggie caught sight of the gorgeously apparelled lady
who rode at the head of it, she sprang forward, seized
the tinselled riding skirt and exclaimed, "Eh! ye'r
Maijesty, nry ilawtie, turn round and let's see ye'r
bonny face; no often we get the chance o' seeing
It." When loud laughter appried her of her mistake
he indignantly inquired **Hoe the coul,l be expected
to ken the Queen, when she had never seen her, and
that onybotly wad expect • queen to IMMO drewed in
gold and diver."

THE POTATO DISEASE.
. As any information connected with this subject—
which is one of national importance—will be read with
considerable interest just new, we give the following
additional letters which have been sen g to Tht Times
for publication : .•
!laving read the various letters which have appeared In
Tee Times since the disease has broken out this mason, none,
so fare,. I have seen, have advised or suggested the cutting
off the haulm close to the ground directly the first sign of
the diemee has made its appearance. Some might object to
this advice, and say that the potatoes or the tubers would
oot grow after this operation, but I can assure them that
they will; the tubers will not grow so large as if the tops
had remained free from disease, but that they will grow
after the tops have been removed has been proved more than
once.
the plan which has been pursued ty a gentleman in thh
neighbourhood, to my own knowledge, for Pe years, is this
- tie watches his potatoes at the time when the disease gene-
r:aly wakes it appeirauce—via, the third week In Idly, awl
directly he sees the first well-known spot he desires Ina gar-
d.sner to cut the whule of them down, anti, the ground being
leans ii after the removal of the tops, a little earth to taken
from between the rows and strewed over the cot stems to ore-
veht the disease tnkitig tifect on the parts exposed, so that
when I saw the piece of ground about three weeks ago it
as as bare to all appearause Al a turnpike road—there was
nothing lobe seen.
lithe disease is allowed to make proeross only for a few
days, your Is our will in all probability Le lest, as the
41isemie spreads so rapidly ; hut if taken directly the first
spot is:observed, you will have sound and good tub, re, though
not so large. instead of decaying and dec ored. The tubers
are tub, left in the ground to ripen the same as if nothim
)laCii hapeeried. and they will keep just as well as ever potatoes
obi and I think it must be patent to every one that po-
tatoes half thesis, arid sound are better thou those double
tho Mae and diseased, so that nothing will or can eat them.
It may be interesting to those who are studying tide disease
to know that it ri not confined to the potato, as has been
aenerally supposed. I have hail it myself on the tomato,
mai this year I had brought me for examination the leaves
of retuned nodal/Miriam and Aya,cyanous taper, from the
gar :en of Mr. 11. lAirville, Alphiugtou, near Meter, whose
practice in preserving the potato I have given above.
The leaves of th: se two plant' were affected with the well.
known brown spots; lint when brought to me they did not
show any signs of the peronospwa infestans. I enclosed
them in a tin I.x till the nest morning twelve hours after
receiving them, the vronorporn was then in full fruit. This
islant is thought by many to be the cause of the potato
disea ; hat of thia I do not at all feel confident. It cv.
thinly fold ors It. and that very eimely, and, so far as I am
aware, it has not been detected sus anything else than the
diseased part of the plants affected by the so-called "potato
disease."
The two plants mentioned above, as well as the tomato, all
belong to the same natural order—Soisneeem, so that the
veronospora norms :artially, if not entirely, confined to the
natural order of plants.
From this it will be seen that sound potatoes are within
the reach of every ono who will take the trouble to watch
for the first appearance of the spot, and at once strike the
blow—no procrastination, or your crop is lost the disease
can be by this method stamped out.—l am, to.,
EDWARD PanWirr.
Devon and Exeter Institution, Exeter, Aug. 29.

exception

Many of your recent correspondents appear to he quite I
ignorant of the inquiries which have beefs made by scientine
observers into the nature of the potato disease. Its exact
nature has been well known for years. It le produced by the
growth of a parasite fungus Botrytis inftsfans) on the
lower surface of the leaves and on the tubes of the potato.
its mycelium ramifies in the intercellular passages, and it
sends out branches from the Mollusks, forming white mealy
stets. Many other species of this fungus are known to
botsniets as infesting cabbages, spinach, nettles, decoying
vegetable matter, ctn., and one species is the cause of the
disease called IMO codifies, which proved so deattuctive to silk
worms slew years ago.
While there is no doubt about the nature of the potato
disease its cause Is involved in great obscurity. From re-
peat-d observations of the disease is. all Its stages lam die-
. posed to explain its origin is the following manner f—The
stem of the haulm is first attacked near the ground by an
insect which destroys part of its structure and impedes the
circulation of the Bap, and thereby impairs the health of the
plant. In this sickly and unripe state it is attacked by
the fungus, which speedily deprives it of its remaining
vitality. If the weather be dry, the leaves turn yellow,
and finally wither away, and the disease does not epread to
the tubers, and it is not, therefore, observed. If, however,
the weather be warns and showery, the growth of the fungus
Is favoured, and the haulm, deprived of its vitality, enters into
deenrpositiou, and becomes black andoffensive. The blacknme
of the leaves and the rottenness of the tubers Is not the
diseme, but its effects. In the very earliest stage of the
disease I have frequently found a small white maggot, the
larva of SOW insect—probably a beetle—burrowing in the
m Istria pith of the stem, and this I am disposed to consider
the chief offender ; hut probably am thieg which will ins.
pair the health of the plant will repose it to the ravage, of
the fermis. I are also of opinion that the tubers are not
affected by the disease till after they have been " struck "
by some insect probably by the perfect insect to which I
have just referred), for the purpose of depositing its eggs.
Tbe diseaseo in the tubers starts from minute black specks on
the skin, which show signs of decomposition, by the forma-
tion of small piles of froth when exposed to a warm moist
at
In seeking foes remedy for the disease we must direct our
attention to some of the substances which have a well known
destructive mann on the lower forms of vegetable and
onanisms. 3,1101,11,111 ad I and carbolic and hove
eery decided properties of this kind. Prob ably very light
dressing of al' Dongall'e or Calverts disinfecting powilms,
which contain earb acid, might be found useful ; but
carbolic acid, being highly poisons., is not available in a,y
other form. Sulphur, which contains a trace of sulphurous
acid, lensed extensively tor the destruction of the hop and
vine diseese—hoth produced by the ravages of paeasitio
fungi—but it will be found to he too expensive, and, probably,
not very efficient; the modified form of it, however, coo.
taints g a large quantity of sulf,hurous acid, now boinx in-
trulnce I ',lto co f micro", 1111.Ivr CIO 10111, u 5 snitlrlrl z
will, no dou,,t, prove a cheap 01141 highly efficient remedy.
Potatoes shoell be stored in a dry plsce, aud, if practi.
cable, exposed from time to time to the fumes of burning
sulphur. The eel phurous mid so produced would retard the
progrms of the disease, and prevent further infection, with-
out iu any way injuring the tubers as articles of food.
CII IP,LES RoBERTS, F.R.C.9,
2, B ‘lton.row, Mayfair.

In the present critical s'ate of disease in our potato crop,
I would call the atteelion of your readers to what I consider
the most legitimate and feasible substitute for this important
tlele of food.
- - - •

It is well known to a great nurnb...r of Englishmen that
Indians, to the extent of about leths of th..ir number, live
almost entirely upon rite, and this fact cannot fail to he a
forcible argument in its favour. It Is particularly nutri-
tious, slid well adapted for use as a vegetable, emecially in
place of potatoes, as the nil de of cooking it is si,ullar—
simi ly boiling, and it has this advantage, that there IS no
waste whatever in the preparation for use. It is sold at a
low price, and this year especially so, being about 111. per
lb., or even less if taken In quantity ; awl 1 lb. of rice is fully
cult d, T consider, to 21b. of potatoes.
From my long residence in the East and experience of
the use of rice there as well as here, I can imagine no heifer
Sr cheaper subetitute for potatoes than this article.—l am, dm,
London, Aug. 23. AN OLD INDIAN.

Having had many years' extensive experience as an engi-
neer In the conduct of drainage works, and having made
many observations as to the occurrence of the prevailing
disease, I have no hesitation in saying that in every single
instance to which ray attention has been drawn the disease
has arisen from a defective system of drainage. Of course,
there are many who will object to this statement, and will
say that their experience leads them to believe that defective
drainage has little to .10 with the spread of the complaint,
but their notirm and mine of a good system of drainage must
be very different. the incidence of the late wet season Is
evideotly the cause of the present state of things. As blood
in healthy circulation laths nutritive food of animals, so are
water and its constituents, kept in due motion by a good
system of deep drainage, the alimentary fluid of ordinary
vegetation. It will be found that as the adoption of a
proper system of sewerage retards the spread of cholera and
other epidemics, so would the completion of an efficient
system of deep drainage, judiciously planned but inexpen-
&,,ly execnted, exterminate the existence of the potato
Dttectiyis drainage causes the substance which
other aloe would field In a state of subtile fluidity, and so
capable of permeating the minute vessels of the tuner, to
at innate and to spontaneously concrete, and so prevent the
proper nourishment of the tubers, and hence the occurrence
of fermentation—l am. dr !., Ils3iitroti H. FlaToti,
22., Great George street, Westrnlnster, Aug. to.

The following observations and facts are necessary as in-
troductory to those by which in a suMequent letter I wou;tl
suoport my claim to the discovery of the cause of the gene—
ral ?lability of the potato to the disease which seems almost
to threat m its dettruction„ and of that which I confidently
believe will, with God's blessing, prove ass effectual prevent
tive.

The necessity has long been known of strengthening the
epidermis of the stalk .1 any kind of corn by a due supply
of aides ; and this necessity has become more apparent with
every increase in luxuriance of growth. For, while in
most soils there is a certain amount of that important
constituent of corn and grass, there is in few soils a sufficient
supply to sustrin the large growth, resulting from high
manuring, especially if there be not in the manure used a
large amount of decompoeed straw or hay. For-few, if any,
of the higher-priced manures contain either Mies, or, at
all events, silicic acid in any appreciable quantity. The con-
sequence of this is that at a certain period of the growth of
crops of most promising luxuriance tne stalk becomes weak,
it sinks beneath the weight of the upper portion of the plant,
and Is generally then attacked by mildew. Manufacturers
of manure, therefore, have for some time past songht for
come mode of introducing sillcio acid into their manures.
That search, however, has been fruitless. And nothing
certain appears to have beep known on the subject until
Angara, 1071, when, as I was engaged in working out the
idea of the disposal and utilization of the entire refuse
of a house, or village, or town, those very intractable
substances, broken earthenware and broken glass, pre-
sented themselves to my mind at the some lament with
the recollection of the fact, which tri the course of
many years hal several times been brought before me—
namely, that whatever amount of silex or siliCie acid may
exist iii grass or corn must derive its origin from minute
portions of siliclous matter, either existing in or introduced
into the soil in which they grow. Together with these ideas
occurred the feasibility through means of glass or some
other form or combination of ailex of obtaining the uniform
distribution of any requisite additional amount of thick
! veld throughout a glees quantity of earth. On this the idea
! of the uniform distribution of other manurial substances
soon followed. These ideas I acted on, and at once,
. while inviting others to do the same, I commenced on
! a small scale the following course of experiments ,--Ilaving
! Is September last prepared a certain quantity of gram ant
I of phosphates, and mined them with other eubstances—
I namely, earth from closet., slaughterhouse rehire, sink-
, water, slops, etc , I applied the manure so manufactured in
the following manner 'owed in that month 500 grains of
wheat, and in toe months of October and November I trans-
planted the plants which sprung from them into a
piece of ground, the hill measure of which was 240 square
feet. lhe plants were 12 Inches apart in the drill and from
six to nine inches in the line. With each I put in lor, of
manure this was more, indeed, than was requisite. I
should here observe that, though wheat like the cabbage,
is somewhat improved by transplanting, this part of the pro-
, cesa adopted on this occasion, and which Would appear to
i be scarcely feasible ens large scale, is by no means • matter
I of necessity; for, in a neighbouring garden, I at the latter
I end of November drilled some wheat in the ordinary way,
app'ying to it in the drill less than half the amount of
manure used in the former ease: and although the blade did
n•t appear until Dacember 29, the plants in the month of
June following were much stronger and nearly double the
j height of any in the hundreds of acres In the neighbouring
cornfields.

The 500 plants in my own garden, even before January 1,
showed • very extraordinary growth, tiLlering out to the
extent of Id or 10 strands. They afterwards so filled the
ground as to lead servo to suppose that the sowing had been
too thick. Some or them had 40 stalks. When in blossom
their heigl.t wag gcnerally ift., and the stalks stout and
strong In proportion. They produced when thrashed and
gleam d a peek and a half of grain, which would give et:ht
quarters and a half to the acre; and the straw, which
weirlied 501,., was at the rate of four tons per acre. Of the
amount of she: Introduced into the manure which produced
such as effect I now nay nothing, but the result in the size
, and polish of the straw was noticed by tveryone who looked
' at it. I ought here to observe that I have often grown wheat
to my garden before, but never any so due as this.
By the side of this crop, in six square feet of ground,
beneath which is a pipe with open j dots for the purp -so of
sub-irrigation by the sink-water of my house, I sowed In
January last flee grains of oats. The plants from these vow
to the height of 7ft., having stalks more like canes than
straw. One of theea plants had 56 stalks ; mid from the ear*
were robbed out halt • pint of seed, weighing, though
gathered too early and therefore pinched, four outer'.
Throe of them produced little more than half a pint,
weighing six ounce& OLIO WWI fruitless th•ough smut.

- - - - . -
In the month of March. labourer residing in one og
Dorset village" sent cos 80 pea" 01 • kind of which I know
not the name. They bear a coloured bloaom and bat brown.

but are my sweet. Although peaa do not affect silos, 1
,etermlned because of the 11111111011i1 and phosphate con-
tained in the manure, to try It with them; and I stretched
out this small quanttty into two rows, 1511. each In length,
and I applied to them about 21b. weight of the manure.
The produce wean peck and a half of peas, most of them
I,rger than hone beans. Twenty four of them, when first
taken from the pod, weighed log. The utmost cutest of the
ground they occupied was 60 square feet.
• "

_
- with the use of the UMW manure au; in about the same
proportion one pint of the old marrow Tat peak in two rows
of 15 feet and two rows of Id feet each, produced—the one
pair five pecks end the other six pecks of peas in pod.
These details may to many of your readers prove uninter-
esting and tenions. l'hey are, however, very important,
both as showing the power and efficacy of a manure which
may be produced from any house, village, or town, and as
oroving its applicability both on a small scale and with the
Nception of sub-irrigation on a large scale to grain and
pulse. But that importance will appear far greeter when
show, as I propose in my next letter to show, how by the
several experiments here detailed I have been helped on to
the driscovery of that a hieh t believe will prove an t ffectual
preventive of the potato cbsease.-1 am, to.,
Fordington Vicarage, Aug. SO. HENRY MOLE.

Some years ago I paid much attention to the potato di,
tote, awl being • diligent reed' r of The Times I tried all
the pious which I saw suggested in your c,iown. I had a
tolerably larm garden, awl I devoted • considerable perthw
Of it to potatoes. Selecting certain rows In the middle of
the patch, I marked them with numbers, noted in my gar-
dening book wh it was done to each, and carefully obaerved
the results at getting-up time, weighing the produce of
each row, and storing the trial rows each by them-
selves, so that any development of climate alter storing
might be duly recorded. I bad no pet theory of my
own which I wished to establish. I merely went to work
In a matter-off mt may to find out what the theori-s
of others were worth. In most cases, I am s.,rry to say,
I dot not find the game worth the car.dle." I can,
however, so for confirm Mr Tarlitt's letter In The nines of
Friday as to say that I found the plan he speaks of perfectly
successful in prevtlitlng the disease. Ile descrined ac-
, curately exactly what I did. With a pair of hand-shears I
cut the tops completely eff on the first appearance of the
disease, strewing earth over the cut atom, and patting it
down with a spade to make it air-tight. In rowe so treated
I never found a diseaaed potato, but, though I triumphed In
having beaten the disease, I regret to say that the potatoes
were utterly worthless except for seed, or for those who do
not mind waxy potatoes and attendant indlgmtiou. Still it is
something to secure one's seed for next year.
•

The tops, however, must be completely removed; merely
shortening them to allow tree circulation of air is so much
I,st labour, for I have never been able to perceive any (re-
ference between rows so treated and those to whiab nothing
was done—l aco, Ac.; CILIUM 11. NEWMAIIOII
August 31. Rector of Wardley with Lelton.

By your kind permission I would crave space to make
known to your numberless readers that soot applied to the
halum of potatoes immediately on the appearance of the
disease (or, msyhap, it would be butter applied in smaller
quantities at intervals daring their growth) appears to me to
Ito au antidote to thin fatal malady : it certainly is a most
perfect disinfectant of the foul odours consequent on an
attack of the diaease. It occurred to me that sa sulphur
judiciously applied is a safe and well knosn remedy f
mildew on plants, the tilium on vines, ev.: , why not
for the potato fungus? I supposed soot c. nt..lned suiplur.
ous matter, and knew it was a cheap substance, which
could be applied in quantity during the growth of plants
without injury, otherwise toe remedy would be as bad as
the disease. I therefore immediately purchased a quantity,
and had It dusted over a great portion of my crop about the
17th to the 20th of July last, at the rate of about 20 bullets
per acre. The results, so far as can be at present judged, or
until the crop is lifted, are favourable beyond my most
sanguine hopes or expectations, so much so that on the 271 h
ult. I had an additional LI of soot applied to the same crisp
at the rate of about 12 bushels per acre, the atmosphere
betokening a recurrence tithe disease.
"••• • • •

The action of the soot on the blldlited haulm appears to
be threefold—i e...tryinz ip the infected lessee and Edema,
also, when badly smilen, purifying all noxious vapours
arising from ths attack of disease, and apparently increasing
the vigour of the plants, the young leaves and growth be
coming of more rich green colour. I am very pleased to
have carried out the experiment, bearing MS it does on a
similar Ides conceived by Dr. Roberts, of London, and made
pubic by your favour on the 3Olh ult. I folly believe it Is
now only for the learned to say what are the chemical pro-
perties of soot and their probable salon on the potato dis-
. . • • "

I ean only say further that I shall be only too pleased to
communicate the practical result of my expeinnent for what
it is worth as I take up the crop. I have plots of the some
kind where no soot was applied, and others where the haulm
was pulled, and others which were dug at the time of apply-
ing the soot—all of which now become and may be noted as
comparative tests, and which during the next eight or ten
days will be open for inspestion by any to whom it may be
convenient to come, see, and judge for themselves. My time
in also teat their service; hoping, under God's Providence, it
may be a goodly knowledge gained as the buts of more per-
fect experiments in future years.
Believing the importance of the subject renders any 'pre
logles for trespassing on your space needless. I am, etc.,
ROBERT Et PoTETBR.
Taunton, Sept. 1.