The Sun.
London, England, 1847-06-22 00:00:00

THE SUN,
_LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING-, JUNE 22, 1847.

RE-APPEARANCE OF THE
POTATO DISEASE.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES.
. .

Sir,—As your journal has contained at number of
articles upon the potato disease, in which it has
been attributed to the attacks of aphides, I beg
to request the insertion in your paper of the
following observations relative to its re-appear-
ance, at a moment when the generally healthy
appearance of the crops and the singular absence of
aphides might induce a false security and lead to irre-
mediable evils ; and which are an abstract of a paper
read by me at the Linnean Society on Tuesday, the 15th
inst.; my object being to disprove the assertion which
has been circulated by Mr. Alfred Smee, with so much
activity, that the disease has been entirely produced by
the attacks of a species of aphis.
The arguments I adduce in opposition to this theory
are—

1. That the aphis which has been found upon the
potato, and thence considered as the cause of the disease,
is neither a newly created nor a newly imported species,
but was well known long before the disease in question
appeared.
2. That the disease itself has not been known until
the last few years.

3. That the disease may occur independent of aphides.
4. That aphides may abound on a plant without pro-
ducing the real disease.
5. That the results produced by the attacks of aphides
upon a plant are of a widely different character from
those exhibited by the plants attacked by this disease.
6. That the disease in question may appear in the off-
spring of a sound parent tuber ; and
7. That the disease appears in many respects to be
analogous to the cholera, and may thence, for the sake
of distinction, be termed the potato cholera.
The facts already before the public fully confirm these
arguments, which are corroborated by other
circum-
stances which I have noticed within the last few days in
my own kitchen garden in Hammersmith, and which are
briefly as follow:
On the 4th inst., a few plants were observed sickly in
appearance, with the leaves drooping and yellow in
colour ; the remainder of the crop having a remarkably
healthy appearance and being singularly free from
insects of all kinds.
On taking up these drooping specimens, the haulm or
stem for about two inches below the surface of the
ground was found to be dried and shriveled up in ap-
pearance, and of a dirty brown colour; whilst the tuber
from which it had sprung, and which had been set entire
last autumn, was still found perfectly sound, thus
proving the absence of disease inherited from the parent
plant. With the exception of these few plants the
entire crop retained its healthy appearance until
Sunday afternoon, the 13th instant, when a great
Rgalaiß,ltgra-sj ERtQR theny lidneelthainTrecePs/givSi
doge, which has since been followed by the same appear-
ance in other parts of the garden. It is proper here to
state that no attempts had been previously made to rid
the plants of insects, nor had the ground received other
than the ordinary treatment ; the last year's crop in
my garden having been singularly free from disease.
On examining some of these plants on the following
morning the haulm below the surface of the ground
was found to present the same dried, withered, and dis-
coloured appearance as in the specimens examined ten
days previously; the fibres of the roots being likewise
dry and incapable of performing their proper functions,
and which would produce discoloured blotches on the
leaves in a subsequent stage of the disease. The plants
at the same time were free from insects, and the parent
tuber remained in several of them, to all appearance, as
sound as when first planted. A number of the plants
thus attacked were exhibited to the meeting.
This sudden drooping of so many of the plants, which
up to that time had appeared so healthy, led to the
examination of some of those which still remained erect,
when it was found that even some of these presented
precisely the same appearance as those which had
dropped, and which would doubtless in a few days have
shared fbe same fate as the others. Nothing, there-
fore, can be more fallacious than to depend upon
the present general healthy appearance of the crop
throughout the country or its freedom from aphides.
The theory of Mr. Alfred Smee is, as that gentleman is
well aware, rejected by every zoologist and botanist of
distinction in London, and its reiteration at the present
critical moment is a gross attempt to mislead the public,
and may be productive of the greatest evil by inducing
security (owing to the absence of aphides), until too late
in the season to remedy the evil.—l am, sir, your very
obedient servant,

JOHN 0. WESTWOOD,
Secretary of the Entomological Society.
St. Peter's, Hammersmith, June 16.

STRIKE ON THE CORK, BLACK-

kROCK, AND PASSAGE RAILWAY.
We deeply regret that the insane folly of the labour-
ers employed on this line, and their instigators outside,
should have given a check to the undertaking, which
WAS so auspiciously commenced on Tuesday last. They
were dissatified with Is. 4d. a day, or Bs. a week, and
struck for higher wages. They did so, we could learn, on
the belief that the contractor was bound to a stipulated
time; but there they are mistaken. The directors
will, as a matter of course, protect their contractor
against unlawful combination, and make every fair
allowance for any embarrassment he may meet with in
his undertaking. We think the wages offered such as
any labourer should be glad to receive in such times as
the present; and we deeply regret that they should
have shown themselves unworthy of sympathy and con-
sideration. The directors are men of firmness and ex-
perience; and it will be their duty to take such a de-
termined course as will bring those foolish conspirators
to their senses. We have ever been the opponent of him
who would defraud the labourer of his hire, or grind
the faces of the poor; but all our sympathies are op-
posed to men who would attempt to take an unfair ad-
vantage of their employer, who was satisfied to give a
fair and sufficient remuneration for their labour.— Cork
Examiner.

STAMFORD, JUNE 21.—FROM A CORRESPONDENT.
—John Rolt, Esq., QC., arrived in Stamford on Wed-
nesday evening last, and addressed the electors from a
window of the George and Angel Hotel, and the next
day proceeded] on his canvass, which has this day been
completed, and with better success than could have been
anticipated by his most sanguine friends. Many of. the
former supporters of the nominees of the Marquis of
Exeter having, on account of the late railway business,
come forward to support Mr. Rolt, who is of such moderate
opinions that neither Whig or Tory can object to him.
The addresses of the Marquis of Granby and the Right
Hon. J. C. Herries were published on Saturday, but it
is said to be a very difficult job to find an active com-
mittee, and although the Marquis of Granby will have
tough work to answer his insulted and injured constitu-
ents, he may still be elected, but Mr. Herries will have
no chance whatever.

We are happy to he able to state that the alarming
rumours which have been circulated respecting the health
of the King of the Belgians, are greatly exaggerated.
His Majesty has been suffering from a billious attack,
the symptoms of which were aggravated by the use of
the Wiesbaden waters, to which he had resorted for re-
lief, but which had the contrary effect of producing con-
siderable derangement of the system. Although not
entirely subdued, the symptoms had yielded to the usual
treatment. There was at no time any serious appre-
hension of danger, and the rumours respecting any
further affection of his Majesty's health, beyond what
we have here stated, are utterly groundless.—Observer.
At Hamburgh, on the Bth of June, money was easier
at 44 to 5 per cent. Exchange was slightly more in favour
of this country, the quotation for three months' paper
being 13.6. From St. Petersburgh, also, under date of
the 11th of June, exchange comes more favourable,
large arrivals of silver having reduced the price to 38
13.16 to .1. Hemp and flax were without alteration, but
prices were very firm. Some arrivals of the new crop
had taken place, and the qualities are considered ex-
tremely good. The grain market was quieter, and
there were more sellers, but no decline had taken place.
The weather had at length changed, and summer
seemed to have established itself. Freights to Eng-
land were dull. From Riga on the 12th June, ex-
change is quoted 391. The total number of ships
arrived was 1,470, of which 677 had sailed. Grain was
rather lower.

The Observer of Sunday morning gave the parti- I
culars of the meeting at Dee's Hotel, Birmingham, of the
ghar.holilerc of the Birmingham and Oxford midway Com-
pany, nearly to the extent of one of the Observer folio
columns, and which meeting did not commence at Dee's
Hotel until after two o'clock in the afternoon of Saturday,
and appeared in the Observer published at six o'clock on
Sunday morning. The:Observer also gave an account of the
splendid Waterloo banquet, including the names of most of
the gallant surviving heroes present, with a summary ex-
ceeding one of the Observer folio columns; nearly two folio
the horticultural meeting at Chis-
columns of her Majesty's Theatre and the Royal Italian
Opera ; a folio column of critique on the British Institution
pictures; nearly two folio columns of the state of the funds
wickan dp tessaotfu
r d railways;at he
prizes awarded, and to whom ; Fox
Club dinner at the Trafalgar Hotel, Greenwich, on Saturday ;
upwards of a column and a half of births, marriages, and
deaths; five columns of miscellaneous advertisements, in-
cluding a folio column of public amusements for the coming
uently ltc"
duplicate in which the Ob-
servercopies. The
week. The Observer also contained twenty-six columns of
news, foreign and domestic, chiefly original. Price of the Ob-
server 6d. There is scarcely a Club-house, Institution, Librar3.
or News-room in all England, Scotland, Ireland, the Conti':
nen t,Ei
sasntoatn d
taken Nest i
nI n, dainesd frequently , America,
extensive publication of the Observer commences at six
and concludes at ten o'clock on Sunday morning Monday
edition of the Observer, best adapted for the country and
abroad, is regularly published at four o'clock on Monday after-
noon. _

INSPECTION OF IRISH STEAMERS.--We learn that
an order has been received from the Government, inti-
mating to the Custom-house authorities here, that in the
case of Irish steamers or passenger vessels arriving in
the Clyde, they shall be inspected by a medical
man, with the view of guarding against the im-
portation of persons affected with fever. The
Thetis, from Belfast, was the first vessel subjected to
this regulation. Not being aware of the new order, the
Thetis, instead of waiting at Greenock for inspection,
came up to Glasgow on Sunday morning as usual.
Before being allowed any communication with the shore,
however, she was boarded by a medical gentleman and
a Custom-house officer, a detachment of the Clyde
police being in attendance ; but after a due examination,
all the passengers being free from fever, they were al-
lowed to land. We cannot do otherwise than hail this order
for the inspection of these vessels with satisfaction. It
will operate beneficially in many ways, and the first re-
sult will be to cut off the ever-continued supply of fever,
so to speak, at the fountain head. We have no doubt
that the highly respectable parties in the management
of these steamers will, by increased attention as to th©
state of the persons whom they receive as passengers,
see that no real obstru.l lion arises to the extensive trade
between Glasgow and the) North of TP3140,-...scotch Re-
.
_former? Gazette.