The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1872-09-14 00:00:00

While I assert this to have been the clear Intention of the
Legislature. I believe that where a different view has heel
taken the Act ha l been misluterpritui, and that, as drawn.
it does carry out the intention exprewed to the debate, snd
the meaning whihh the autihos if the 11111 wished It t
convey. I think it should be remembered that the tw.
clauses had a distinctly separate l j•-ct, and that Clause sh
wag ptwr d oriaioally la the Bill with, as I imagine, the
idea, while charging "coat or rating value" Into "suntan
value," or enabling magistrates to get lid of a class of beer-
house, existing in many pieces, where the returoed rate-
able value was so mate on as seldom mallY to represent
the required qualileation. It was thought desirahle in these
caws even not to sweep them awsy at once, hut to allow ot
notice being mven that their value must be raised to the-
proper standard before next licensing day ; and at Ws stag:
.4 the Bill the word. "annual v.due tao withorla:s the grant
licence" clearly seem limited to the oil state of the law,
to winch no value at all was megulvell for puldichouses, aud
that required for bee/bones was still toe rate chic guolific --
Inns of £l5, £ll, and 18,stocording to pnpuliclon, ...litho old
Beerlionse Act.

_— - -
on he close and Lumediate application to the seed or tuber
from whlab the plant that is to feed upon it shall spring
and of th* its form renders it fully capable. Secondly,
while ife manufacture icy be nulled on by thoso who faro]
at a large scale, and u.Ay sot be tinauf thy of the attention
great firms. and Illay Ilford a conaidernido income to
;owns (ace Town Refuse as Remedy for ',teal Taxation,
Illagway publisher), thu cotage garden r may casil,
aira.elt with that which will be fully euclidean LT lijgas ien
or h;s allotment. —I fun, Me. ItEsra alone.
Fordington Vicarage, Seib. L

There were one or two periods In the meteorological con-
:Mons of July and Anguit which I think are worthy of unto
in connection with the prevailing Potato f-onlhe. .
After a consecutive run of abnormally high temperature
(n into, from the 18th to the 3 Vo Ili Co occurred en the Mat
:i.„fir pong ritlictegni,
m4112,1*
frln6t6ttr,ml;,gtt.i,rmei,„l,n.aittloiTaT,
5 ~ 70 to 62 de%, m..bing a muan depriaolon la.tuouo 24
of worth! of 11 deg.
: the 241, whlgs was the hettest"day Of the met", the,
Ireton° excels was 122 chg., and on the Oa, in ouPs.don
(the 31st) the mesa wen 8 (104. below the average. no th st we
have a defalcation between the (comparative period, little
short of 2., dein
- ••• •-- - -

This, then, would have been Ihe mean.ing and intehtlon of
t'ese words but for the intro. u tI n of Clause 45. Now, how
far does Clause 40 extend that meaning, mid in what way
did It alter the "annual value anthorizlng the grw,t of a
licence ?" I believe it left existing publichomes where
they were, in want ,f no with romihromut by Itic old JAM',
and I believe it left existing, hem-houses pubjeet, of course, to
he change proposed in Clause 480 C to annual" Mislead of
not or tateable value ") t,tmdcr t 5 e old heerhonse
ation, only prodding by Clause 46 that such qualification
houlet be a really a bohl
.Me ore, and not made up, as had
been the case in the lostances I have referred to. I be-
ll: ve what it did do to utter the annual value roquireet
wee ti set up a new " anutrl value authorizing the grant
of • licence" for pnblichouses or beerhousee whieh after
the pawing of the Act should enter upon (IC be built for that
trade. It was distincly ai,d clearly limited to mach new
houses, and I would subudt, therefore, that all Is -.uses "which
were at the lime of the passing of this Act licensed" do not
In the case of publichouses require to be of airy fixed annual
value to authorize the grant, and are therefore not subject
to tire disputed words ip Clause 46 at all, while heerhomees
exiiting at the time of the passing of the Act are eqnmily of
"such annual value as autherises the grant" if their annual
value really represents the va:ue according to population of
the olil Acts ; and that, therefore, in neither COS 3 need
existing house s comply with any magisterial order which
may have been given as to increased annual value before the
next renewal—au order which I have tried to show will
have been given on a mistaken view ad the real meaning and
intention of the Act.
I While writing this my attention has been called to a letter
from "A Country Justice,' iu Vas limes of September 4,
which has just reached me, in whlvh the case Is argued ; and
alter seeing the correspondence 1 should hesitate still more
Ira asking you to insert tlds letter if I 414 not feel that
',chaps the re•diections of the author of Clause 45 as to
the way in which his clause became a part of the Mil, ad the
ma ening Placed soon it by the House of Commo, s at the
time it was accepted by the Home ,ecretary, may to a certain
extent assist ha clearing up the Mill:tiny which has arisen,
anti may help to interpret the real intention of Maumee
which have become confused from the hurried way ha which,
unfortunately, they were put together.-2 am, eke.,

Apia, a Mirth with coo sulttary gooey' Mer, there fol.
towed hem thelFt to the 15th n an .rowdon of torperature
below the wean. -Oa the TM, however, which waa the day,
of exception, another sst Idea vlullattude occorcd. The
temperature rose to 55 &Le, excess. to a few hours a cold
wave pamed (met E-gland, and the ix :els was induced to
6 deo:. below the average So we have again a differLues of
'enipei store in A few hours of 11 3 deg.
it was, after these periods of sudden vicissitude that
manifeststions of the potato disease occurred. The plaots
had been subjected fur mmitho to the combine) aetiou of
meat heat and undue moisture, arisimf from the freqoent
tiumeienshowers of the past summer. They had in foot
been, as the farmers say, " drawn up" by the unwonted
stlmulatic is. Then Vilmeed, suddenly, sufficient f rigid
per.ods to firre4 the circulation of the map, and destroy to a
certain extent the vitality a the plant.
" • '

In instances whir° strong manures were used the stenulas
would he, of coarse, Increased, and tho intuit, pro. tanto,
more decided.
• -

This einlanation will be found, I think, more consistent si ith
observed facts that the vague thcery of the insulated Mots
of elementary electricity on the grossing crops I am, &
The Fire, Prank Rs IT. ALL3dIT.

Waving been an experimental rower of potatoes from the
time of the Irish famine in 11315-6 (sad, indeed, previously), •
and being desirous, in aceordanee with the suggestion cep- .
hdned in year article of the 4tli lost , to "hand down t • our
posterity the chief horticultural legacy of our nearer :amme-
ters," I would offer, ihrouth the e circulation of
The 1 tones, the results of my observations during these 27
years. First as to the cams of the rot.
As it appeared for the lint time in 1810. and was then
lomat more ex. it et in abnost every part id Europe, it could
not have been originated by the grattual fieterioration of the
root, eipecially unit wee worse that season Hum it bite ever -
been slums, utilises, hutted, tLe present should move to to, an
disastrous.
Witiout prelfruninn to dogmatise. I would suggest that It
was cured instrumeetally by a charege in the component
parts of the atmosphere in that year (1345), nod the disease
being oece originated and established (as the cholera was
at an earlier date), certain conditions of the atm up ere
and of the soil hi what the plant might be growing would
cause a recurrence or on a •grevation of the disease, though
such conditions might not be sufficient to cause it, if not
airemy in existence. The fact, so well established by re-
ference to recorded observation', that the most destructive
seasons with the potato disease were those to which there
, were most thunder, lightning, and rain, confines the opinion
I that the atmosphere is the principal cause, though I have
seen no evidence that the electric fluht (as sometimes BIM-
poled) was the immediate cause of the destruction.
If. however, the atmosphere were the only noise, our hopes
for the future might be but faint, the eletnents being bey out
our control, but by of t repeated experiment. anti exteusive
observation, tarn satisfied that the remedy, or rather the
means of prevention, ale placed within our reach, awl will
be compassed by the Intelligent and pereeverieg gardeners
and farmers of the present generation.
The other principal causes or aggravations are:-
2. Insufficient drainage of the land.
a Insufficient ventilation of the crops while growing (the
land being frequently halt covered with fruit trees or sur-
rounded by hedgerow timber.)
4. The continuing to plant and replant the same land year
after year with the very same sort of potato.
Other muses night be mentioned subordinately (as sta-
in continuation of this subject, the following litters silitable or suberabeetlant manure), but I relieve that the
fonr above tpecilied are itbeyent omp mitten the chief causes
havve also Jo en sent to The Times for publication :
—and I ivrite, net from netjeetnre, but from actual exper-
There can be no question Vat the statist,, parasites of the meats made in every variety of soil and circumstances. If
vegetable and animal kingdom were maated with the evi- this conclusion is correct as to the cauge, the cur: or means
dent purpose that they should vegetate and neon the of prevention, woold appear to be self.evident—vis ,by dia-
se yeral piants or animals to which they resPentivele belong. carding old sorts, alai planting in weiddreined land, free
Tho stalk of the wheat plant and the leaf and unripe fruit from obstructi, nby trots, hedgi .roivr, or Imiellues, such new
of the vine are quite as much the food and the life of i seedling potatoes only as have hitherto resisted the attacks if
mildew as the grata of the wheat mid the ripened fruit of disease, arid might be termed "murrain preot" That tnere
the vine ere intended to he the food of nem. IV has been are such veriettes is certain toot that all, tor the majerity
observed, however, to a large extent, with respect to these I of the aorta raised tram seeds or berries are" mterat uproot"
prunsitts generally, that their abundance and increase i but some among them are found to he so.
are dependant on a weakened or otherwise evil condition I
This I have proved brnlauting in favourable and also in
of the vegetable or plant to which they are rsep.,:tiveli
Unfavmirable lend man), new an t old brats, nor the saute
attaceed. Au to mildew in wheat. (1113 is an situate day, idle by side, and when, after a sales of peers, a eer-
feet. The attacks of this parasite are mnile sra(r, the
teie kind hal epee:tree b , evidently pr iof tie-ain'tdiseitee,
stelk is weak in proportien to tha weight it ha. to rut-
though its immediate neighbour suffered, this " n•orraM
tab o ; and test weakrees has been transit mainly to an in- " variotv ills been handed ever to the seed firm (Sutton
snaleitut supply of silt x, or of silicic acid. Nov, tide tub,
FL WhOln I have b en more or 1, s . connected
stance M quite so eaential a constituent of the bark of t tie .
t ens fiftv ears stud lets by them Mee distribetei ill the
vine es It is oi the a heat dell:. stroegly sinperct, thare- ot, • p.;tri
of
tho
foie, that it 13 a deficiency 01 this essential edhediteeut
'item% be: bi en vire' under every variety of citCLUII:
vrhth, on-miming we,knese, exposes tOe ethic alm to the
s mem and sill continues to produce ouly eood souud
Ircv dent sit:lrks of mildew Anti to my mted the Net, a "
potatoes eutitely free mom disease.
=TIT s Alks ensue lt
mel;ttinlert.en..ersat,7l,:lelp, tinhaispf,:,eto
it Thtt this if the ease wetb eeveral sorts this year, alga, Is
inSt pecular eon:Miens of the atmesphere or by stimulating MTi evident tats usual, o wing to the generel prevelenco of
minim s—may ba traeat tha orient of the coothrted pre- disease Arnow the old sets. Sly obje,t iu ad ri re,sii.g yen Is
valence ot the potato blight. Oreviouzly, iii3esd, to those .pt to nil tie, thn to toy particular solls, but to els-
speriinents, and to the ob3crvatieu of the several facts neumge the practice of rehire*, potatoes from the berry, or
which will be me:Atonal, I bail no knowledge of the reed, and of cultivating la nelialminod mg well-ventilated
pr_ seers of slit nor of sidle peed in the Millie alike vedette lted them ei•rta only whiell prove most wartl,y of pree re.
tied I very mech doubt whether the aualy thud chemist 11.1 ever time—Yonne MALTIN I.IA.PE Suiroce
yet thought much eisher cf it, or at least of the due propor- Cintra lodge, Reading, Sept. 6.
don Ir,nlrich it exists is hs n the daet (*lna thoretraily hoali by
Condition ; for in tables it analyses of the constitueuts of
plants so mrny cwt. of potetnes, mil so mane cwt of wheat,
are stated to contain a certain portion of snide acid. Brit It
Is only the tuber nhich to monk en rf in the one and the grain
Is the ether. Of the haulm and of the straw 11, account is
taken. Consequently, with the exception of the restoration
of straw and hay to Ike soil in stable manure, no intelrgei t
provision has hitherto been made firs due snpply of ankle
acid to the carvers tops; and hence. nil believe—through
tine long continuel culture of the piento without a temple of
the Important Mere:tient. In. s mei nieemire prone: thmed to
its increased luxuriance of growth—lie weak, :led coy lath Utloll,
6110 its Ii Hut condition to the attacks eta Magee
which, at certain seasons of year, may pervade the lower
stratum of the atmosphere, and whose gi owth In certain
states of the atmosphere may be peculiarly active.
To this conclude'. (have been led mainly by the following
expe hnents and facts
The potatoes in my little gar3en fart year exhil,lted sone
friehtful itistenem of disease. Tufa year the pot.thee either
saved feint the former crop or Immo of the same kind pur-
: clouted most of them the -.early rose potato "). were set in
the same ground; and without any idea that the potato any
more them, as I believed, the pro, would be effected by the
preeence of situ x in the manure, I lard about an ounce of
that, which I have since named the "Flospho.Silicon
Manure,' placed under each tither when plaute 1. The
manure In the previous season nal applied in the same way
awl in larger quatitity, and differed front this only in the
went in the former of silex malt, arid hone dust. The
planting in the former year seas in lines 3 feet ad
4 feet asunder, and 11 feet or 2 feet in the litre, and
each potato wee earthed up to a great height. This
year the plants were not earthed up ; hut the ground
between them (they were two and three feet apart) Was well
forked. From the tint they showed a strotig and vigorous
growth. In some cases the haulm was so luxuriant as to re.
mitre to be supported by a stout stick. In the greater num-
ber, although the haulm stood two and two and a half feet
high, there was no need of such support. Utter those
whose growth was the most luxuriant the tubers were the
largest and the most abundatit. Now, although the hlight
has affected more or less severely every g oolen and field in
my perish, not a disowned tub, r hati been found among them
potatoes Ocuseionaliy, during the month previous to the
(fleeing of toe last portion of the crop, the dark spot ap-
peared Cr, a leaf here sod there, lint it never was attended
by the ivitheriug of the planter stalk, or even of the leaf
itself.
In my schoolmaster's gerden a single line of potatoes was
grown with some Of this manure, while the rest et the
garden had none of It: awl although every, her part of the
garden WI black and offensive through the prevalence of
the blight, this line animated to be untouched, and out of a
very large yield ouly two tubers were sllghtly affected with
disease.
During the period of the growth of those crops I met with
an account of the Bessemer Iron Works, in which I particu-
larly noticed the use made of the slag, or drams. Previouely
it had been used for mending the roads, but more recently
it had been found that this substance is easily eitintegrated,
And is puiverieed by exposure to the atmoephere, and in that
state proves to be a good manure fur potatoes. Among
the ingredients of this slag I found potassium, silicon, and
aluminum.
Again, it is well keown that the water meadows of Wilts,
Hunts, awl Dorset lie in the valleys formed by chalk hills,
and it Is RS admitted fact that their ereat fertility is dire, not
so much to the water itself as to the very minute particles
of diet washed flown by the naterfr,,m the hills, which yield
tinkle acid to the water, anti this again conveys the acid to
the roots of the grass. Now, when speekine not long ago to
a neighbour about the potato disease, he 01'31mi:tea 1110 to
explain the fact that in the lowest pert of his garden, Just
shove the level of a small str^arn, Ist, potatoes should 00 al-
most free from disease. I replied by giving the aboveonen-
honed fact in natural history, and by selling hls attention to
the beautiful transparency of this little stream irom the chalk
hills. "The water of that stream," tr,iierl, " pree dates tha
ground to some dietance, and conveys its talkie; acid to the
roots of your potatoes."
Feur or eve weeks aro my friend, the lien.Tohn Venn. of
Hereford, who, under his deep conviction of the vast im-
portance of the development of the dry system for eleaslog •
towns and villages which I sun effectime has most bobly
afforded me encouragement' an,e amiatance, wrote, urging me
to take no step tow-ants bringing "the l'hezphe.Silic.,n
Mmuro" before the public "until the potato crop should he
gathered in ;" "for" he added, "tile potatoes in the garden
of the Indentrions Alt Society, which were pot in with a
portion of the one and shelf tons of menure yea sent us in
May. are all strong sad healthr, while the potato bligot is
appearing all around us." Ou the 22a of August, ellen
absent from Hereford. lir. Venn re-eived a rep,rt from the
garelcmer of the state of the crops in this garden ; that re-
port contains the following passage
"I beg to Worm yen that the potato crop here to inking
quite melancholy, and in some instances people will not
real/an the seed from their crops ; bat, nu, the ether hand, I
have to inform eou that our potatoes are Melting wee. 1
this morning alley tried the roots, at d found 82 large-tised
potatoes ma her six r00t.% two only nnbieh appeared to be
slightly etiseaeed. Where Mr. Moulata ;Tess manure was not
twee the haulm leeks very bad, but all the ether crops where
it was used are looking well."
A second report was made to Mr. Venn, Atignst 29, be a
gentleman who has feet great experience in farming. In
that report he writes thus:—

_ _
sELwo-innETsox.
LlllkirainCatle. Killesrn, N. 8., Sept, 6.

The letters which epprar in your pages on the eubject of
the potato disc see aro iuterestiog and instructive, but, as
yet, the suzgestions they oiler have been iiroleepe t, to
arrest the procoms of the evil. If we trace the diseaer to its
origin we blual probably dud a solution to the litlienity. It
clearly arises st..in the absorption of potaara front tee soil.
We brat ..heard dli Win Metrics, 'Where they burn ir
kimher tsr black ashes earl potasea, which forms au attic e
of commerce.

Potato dise tso matters little In a cmutry vesere land is
midi a (trig tn,t wh.h worked oirt It fa absn,len ad sod left
to It.lll to reamer its fertility. lii England we calln..t
afford each waste, and our high farming tiitulahles the
amount of potash in ton soil. With ua the tibieshe broke oat
In the go,ten islands, elleretheyiirowpotatoc,oolltlnuuily,
awl manure with ietw,ed, wnicli contains
,11,1 potash. it
Mon ai tacked our garden grounds, and, pulIN obY beat-
cat' tivated districts.

The heeviat crops of potatoes are found in thoro small
h valleys formed by tae washings of granite roc4s—that
is, disintegrated potmil., the food of the plant.. Peaty male
aso beer an abundance of potatoee front an CX:4101 of
potessa

Oar heavy clsys, when well dr hied, are adapted to the
growth of the potato. Clay remits from 'disintegration a...c1
degratlation of gr.snite and felspar, its bid-erli-nt potash,
the yelp thing required for the support of the plant. If we
observe those ptnc,s where the a house is most prevalent,
we discover it in WI s Cs train the obvious reason that the
small moonlit of pstash that exists reaches the root with
didlculty.

On the other hand, the disease is not on common in light
and dry soils, where the potasm is more readily asslnilated.
At :river who grows ten acres of potatoes!, supposing vitt acre
to carry eight tons, extracts from the sod 2,5301b5. of potash,
assuming that the haulms return 50011os , there is still a
deficit of 2.0301h'. The worider is that we have a potato left In
our cultivated lands. In gardens anc heavily cropped fields the
disease is destructive fr,m the absorption of the alkali both by
cereals and lei:Ominous Vents. in newly broken-up ground
we fancy we have discovered a retreat secure front tl,e ravages
of the enemy. Constant cropping dispels the delusion r the
plait withers f rom tho want of Its natural aliment. There
may he a state of the atmosphere when the pobou is dormant,
but the plant 6 weakened and predisposed to rliseae, and
lacks strength to throw it off. What other cone usion cm
we draw but that potaih is mere ary for the health of the
potato? In its presence it tatrishos, in its absence it fades.
—Your obedient MI eat, DR MAULEY.

I have this morning, at your request, been round most
of ill, car,iens. as well as the one and, the entire mansco-
mat of Trotter tle garden, r!, and I must eriy that the
crops on our own plot of ground arc VAIN; meet luxuriant,
and promising an abundant yield. About half an acre of
the land under his care is planted wilt potatoes. They look
trite free from disease. Toe sort pleated is what are herd.
called white ricks ; the quantity 31 cwt. The rows are tbreo
feet apart, and there is one foot between each set. Between
the rows whiter greens are planted. Toe whole of the
vegetables In the front garden Ind. some st ale. hisiuls's
manure applied to them, Excepting ore row of leek., which
had none, and this now looks very inferior to the others to
which the manure was apple]. In the cordon of the un-
occupied house (one of ten model cottage), where the
potatoes were planted wiilicut any of the manors, the
disease Is very evident. Altoce.her the difference between
their present appearance and the appearance of the garden.
In Jane ia most marvellous.'

On such grounds then. Sir, as these, to which, however,
every day appears to add conffrmablod, my opinion rests,
that the susceptibility of the potato to this terrible disease
lies in the weakness of the structure or frame of the stalk
and leaf, and teat tilts weakness is occasiona,l. just as Ills
in the wheat plant, by a dencten y of one of the main con-
stituents of its structure or frame When in this state of
susceptibility, the attack of the fungus, its par,,,jte, ciii
he more or less effective according to certain electrical cm-
ditloi.s of the atmosphere, and according to the greater or
leas degree of warmth or moisture ; but the exciting cause
or occasion of the disease is in the susceptibility or the
rlast to the growth of that fungus. And If so, then evi-
dently the remedy is to be found in some correction of that
susceptibility by strengthening the cuistitution of the
p'arit, and, if possible, by imparting strength in some
measure proportion-ate to luxuriance of gr,wth snit
produce. The !Acts detailed above clearly prove that "the
• Phospho-Silicon Mannre" does this. The snide acid con-
tained In it strengthens the potato haulm, even as It
serenpth,Ml the wheat stalk, while other ingredienta serve to
ffect a large produce.
Wlth report to this manure allow mete mere the clime.
leg remarks :—First, its (Auer In a great measure dependi