The Sun.
London, England, 1845-10-20 00:00:00

DISEASE OF THE POTATO IN

BELGIUM AND ENGLAND.

At this moment, when the disease of the potato in
various districts in England seems to be rapidly spread-
ing, the following paper on the subject will be read with
extreme interest :

A general disease, as our readers are perhaps aware,
has attacked the potatoes in Belgium, and it seems that
the crop of that first-rate necessary esculent is very
seriously endangered in that country. The disease is
said to threaten also the potato crop in certain parts of
France. We republish, therefore, the advice which M.
Morren, professor of Agriculture in the University of
Liege, has addressed to the public, in a letter in the
Independence, a Brussels paper. M. Morren, after saying
that the evil had prevailed in Belgium for several years,
though to a less alarming degree, proceeds
The real cause of the evil is a fungus, or sort of
mushroom, a mouldering which the learned will classify
under their genus botrydis, but which agriculturists, or
without further specification, will call a spot, a blemish,
blotches, and which they will attribute, some to humidity,
and some to dryness—some to a bad wind come from
France, and some t.) insects. It is not, however, matter
of indifference to know the true cause of the pheno-
menon, for that knowledge will put us in the way of
diminshing or destroying the evil, if it is possible.
"For some time I have been following, day by day,
and step by step, the progress of the evil, by keeping
my observation fixed on some potato fields. The disease
decidedly begins with the leaves, and at the top of the
leaves; I have even seen the flowers and fruit attacked
first. A part of the green tissue, however, loses its hue
and quickly turns to yellow; the spot soon becomes more
grey at the bottom, and it is always at the lower surface
of the leaf, or on the fruit that a whitish down makes its
appearance the next day or the day but one after the
formation of the yellow spot. By applying the micro-
scope, you then see that this down proceds from a fungus
or mushroom, that is fructifying amids the numerous
hairs that cover the inner side of the leaf of the potato.
" This mushroom is of the same tenuity, but it breeds
amazingly, and reproduces itself by thousands. Its
stems are formed of little straight hollow threads, which
bear on their summits one or more branches always di-
vided into two, and at the end of these branches repro-
ductive bodies are found, which have the form of eggs,
but which have the form of a millimetre, in size, and even
less. It will be said that this is a very small body to do
so much mischief, but I answer that the itch is not a
disease less to be feared, because the aware which pro-
duces it can be seen only by the aid of the microscope.
" After the formation of the yellow spot, and the
development of the botrydis on the leaf of the potato,
the stalk receives the deleterious influence. Here
and there its epidermis turns brown, and blackens,
and following with the microscope the phase of the
evil, you perceive that it is by the rind that the stalk is
attacked. The morbid agent carries its action from the
rind on to the epidermis, and though the epidermis does
not always disclose mushrooms, it is not the less for that
struck with death. Whoever has any notions of vege-
table physiology will easily understand these effects.
The sap modified into living juices, into vegetable blood,
is formed in the leaf, whence it descends by the rind into
the stem and the root. Here this sap is diseased, it
carries death ; it bears the poison of the leaf to the stem,
and the latter perishes. Indeed, as soon as the black
spots show themselves on the stems, the leaves dry up
and die ; they fall to the ground propagating, unfortu-
nately, the source of the evil, or depositing its germs in
the earth. I shall presently point out means of stopping
this fatal communication.

"The infection soon descends into the tubercule it-
self. If the disease follows its course, the tubercule
mortifies forthwith. A potato is not a root but a real
branch, whence it follows that a tubercule contains
a marrow, which is the eatable part to be preferred,
and a separate rind i between the marrow and the
rind there is a zone of vessels, which represent wood.
This construction is apparent to any one who chooses
to cut a thin slice of potatoe, and place it between
his eye and daylight. The infection attacks that
part which receives the sap on its descent that
part by which the morbid agent has itself come
down. When a potato is attacked, you perceive a
series of livid, brown, or yellow spots, sometimes grey
and blackish, and the series extends over the whole of
the ligneous zone. By following the progress of the
evil upon a great number of tainted tubercules, I have
been able to see how the evil, by one continuous progress,
at length reaches the heart itself of the potato, and
under t e knife, a flatulent' liquid d
cor-
rupts the vegetable entirely. The skin of the diseased
potato ornnes off easily ; the flesh
arandustrreosoernntsl. no longer cracks
Yreacnenantliymaclustrarlls
, analogous to the
from the potato,
sammeullstoy i
occasions considerable nausea. The veryitself, and
animals re-
fuse to eat of a food that may be considered as hurtful
as deleterious mushrooms themselves.

" As soon as the inside of the potato', has mortified, •
three days at the utmost are sufficient for the botrydis
to make its way to the exterior. The white efflorescence
shows itself in the eyes of the tubercules, and then it
spreads itself like little white fleeces upon the surface
that is roundish at first, but which finishes by invading
the whole of the tubercule ; then the potatoe is alto-
gether destroyed.
" The evil being traced to its source, the cultivator
must direct his attention to the destruction of the fungus
or mushroom, for it is unfortunately but too true that
all the parasites of this genus once introduced into a
country, remain there and propagate. This year the
epidemy has been general ; the germs that exist every-
where ; thousands and thousands of propagules, if their
numbers are not diminished by times, will next year be
attacking the plants, and it will then be more difficult
than ever to eradicate the scourge.
" It is essential to adopt the following precautions :
" 1. When, then, the leaves are decidedly spoilt, cut
them down forthwith and burn them on the spot, in-
stead of taking them away. The ashes may serve to be
scattered on the soil. In collecting them, shake them
as little as possible. I have seen with regret cultivators
cut down the diseased leaves and keep them in heaps on
the field, or throw them over the hedges. It is preserv-
ing the scourge for the following year.
" 2dly. When certain varieties or certain localities
are free from the scourge, at the time of the harvest, it
is always prudent to burn the leaves, for a field may
appear secure from the botrydis when it is not so ; se-
veral leaves are attacked ; these leaves throw the pro-
pagules on to the tubercules which, being preserved
for purposes of reproduction, will spread the plant the
follow ing year.
" 3dly. If the tubercules themselves are attacked, it
is essential to take them out of the earth, and to
speedily choose amongst them, which is an easy pro-
ceeding, for habit soon enables one to distinguish be-
tween the tubercles that are tainted and those that are
not. The tubercules that are still sound must be turned
to account as soon as possible, for they are not noxious
so long as the rind does not become yellow. The smell
alone is sufficient to indicate the development of the
disease. The diseased tubercules must be burnt.
" 4thly. In order to obviate the disastrous conse-
quences
of a scanty harvest, it would be important to
adopt in our country the practice now prevalent in Scot-
land of cultivating potatoes during winter.
" sthly. As it ►s infinitely probable that the tuber-
cules which will be preserved for putting in the ground
will be infected with the spawn of the mushroom, it
would be advisable, by means of the Government or in
the course of commerce, or i❑ some way or another, that
our cultivators should have at their dispssal for re-
cro3uction tubercules perfectly pure and non-infected,
and in that respect the potatoes of Pennsylvania or of
Ireland would suit us extremely. The present scourge
is unknown in these two countries. You must be aware
of the German potatoes, in which the high gangrene,
the crispure, and the ulceration of the tubercules are but
too apparent. The occasion of the proposed importation
on a large scale should be seized to introduce into our
country the varieties the most useful to our soil.
6thly. Should the agriculturists persist in using for
re-production he tubercles harvested in the country this
year, it will bt necessary to submit the tubercles to the
agency of lime, as is practised with wheat, barley, oats,
and all plants chat are liable to the invasion of parasiti-
cal bodies. Tale process ought to be by the immersion
of the tubercles, because a study of the botrydis shows
that it is the eye of the pototo, a point that is most
often sunken in, that is attacked. The lime-water should,
therefore, bathe this lethiferous eye; 25 kilogrammes
(50 lbs.) of lime, a quarter of a pound of sulphate of
copper, and three kilogrammes (6 lbs.) of marine salt,
for twenty-five liters (quarts) of water, constitute a pre-
paration, the utility of which in the destruction of para-
site plants has been recognised by a great number of well-
nformed cultivators.

" ithly. In the plantations, whether of the winter of
1845 or of the spring of 1846, it is essential to plant
with potatoes only such districts as are as far as pos•
sible removed from the districts annually infected; for
it is clear that the chance of transmission by the pre-
servation in the soil of the spawn of the mushrooms
is much greater in plantations that are close to each
other than when the plantations are at a greater
distance.
" Bthly. When M. de Martins visited Belgium and
investigated, in our different provi❑ces, the state of
our potatoes, he informed me, in one of his interest•
ing conversations, that the cultivators on the banks
of the Rhine had observed that the dry gangrene
attacked oftener the potatoes planted in the afternoon
than those planted in the morning, and he explained
the phenomenon by a very simple fact. When the
sun has passed the meridian, the heat of the coatings
of air is at its maximum; this heat accelerates the
vitality of the plants; their propagales float about
more easily in a dilated air; the insects, in their flight,
disperse more easily a mass of little bodies of which the
atmosphere is the vehiculum, and the dissemination of
these germs is then at its maximum too. The cultivator
is then in the very midst of this atmosphere, and the
potato which he is planting has to go through it too ;
the potato gathers on to it the spawn, which is thus
sown with it, and there then happens to the potato,
what happens to the corn that has not been submitted to
the action of lime-water—namely, that the poison grows
with the plant, and at a later period attacks it and kills
it. Cultivators, consequently, would do well to plant
their potatoes in the morning.
" 9thly. The use of lime and of marine salt with a
slight mixture of sulphate of copper, is, as I have already
said, of acknowledged efficacy in the destruction of the
germs of parasite plants. Consequently, to powder over
with such a mixture a soil that has been planted with
diseased potatoes, is a good operation for destroying in
that land the germ of the scourge. The operation ought
to be strongly recommended everywhere.
" 10thly. The preserving of the potatoes that shall
have escaped the scourge this year, in caves, cellars, &c.,
will certainly be to deposit the spawn of the mushroom
in those very places. The cellars must be thoroughly
cleaned, and scoured with lime, which will destroy the
spawn, and then scattering lime or ground coal on the
soil where the tubercles have been spread, will conclude
the series of operations, the most rational and the most
certain for destroying, if it is possible, the evil at its
root.

" CH. MORREN,
" Member of the Royal Academy of Sciences, &c., &c.
" Leige, Aug. 18, 1845."

THE CROPS IN THE UNITED
STATES.

The season has so far advanced, that we are able to
cropseak with
tthe
whole confi-
dence, because most of the crops have been harvested.
can.w
country. s
no
First, as to the great northern staple, wheat. The
take a
genera l
viru re v e) of the
speak
crop is undoubtedly a large one, more than an average,
and it has been secured in excellent condition. This is
the tenor of advices from all quarters. Even in Ohio,
where the wheat crop is probably less than an average,
the wheat is very clean and the berry very white. We
hear neither of rust nor smut. Though the farmers
have lost in quantity they have undoubedly gained in
quality. In Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, and lowa,
the wheat crop is magnificent. Everything has been
favourable, So likewise, we understand, is the wheat
crop in Pennsylvania. In Virginia, Maryland, North
Carolina, and Georgia, it has been effected by the
drought, some say so seriously as to shrivel the berry.
In Tennessee, Kentucky, and Missouri, the crop is a
noble one. In New England and New York it is pro
bably less than an average.
The hay crop is remarkably light in nearly every
State in the Union. From all sections, the complaint is
almost universal that hay is very light. This is par-
ticularly the case in New England, New York, and
Ohio. Further west, and in Michigan, we hear of a
heavy crop of hay, but it is not to be disguised that the
hay crop is shorter now than it has been in many years.
The protracted spring drought stunted it, and the in-
tense summer drought nearly killed it. The farmer
will have to make up his deficiency of fodder by an in-
creased sowing of late root crops.
Rye, oats, and barley, are a fair crop, but not a heavy
one. Like grass, they have suffered from the drought.
The corn crop is now ripening; it is therefore impos-
sible to speak conclusive; but it seems to be the general
impression that it will be less than an average crop, ex-
cept in the Western States, where the drought has not
been so severe. Yet it is acknowledged that the quality
is uncommonly fine.
Potatoes are of an excellent quality, and though here
and there there may be a failure, we shall have our
usual abundance of one of the finest and most whole-
some vegetables ever cultivated for man. The rot has
got into it in some sections, but this is not so general as
it ssc ausr
sails r
vt ye eya r.
would not be complete unless we said a
few words about the great crop of the South—cotton,
rice, tobacco, and sugar.
The cotton crop will be a heavy one—probably reach
2,500,000 bales. In South Carolina and Georgia, the
intense drought has.reduced it some, but this deficiency
will
Thebe more
eccto crop litkanstiedby Mississippi and Arkansas.
light in Virginia, and in North
and South Carolina, but heavy in Kentucky and Mis-
souri, and we think the whole supply will be a full
average.
Rice, which is mostly raised in South Carolina, will
not be a full crop. If we are to believe the papers of
that State, the drought has burned up everything almost
like a blast of fire, but these effects are probably ex-
aggerated, as the sufferings of heat make it seem more
intolerable than it really is.

be a splendid one. The culture
in
extending beyond all former example
The Lou
It is so much more profitable than raising cotton, that.
sugarsiana cropiis
will
the cotton planters are rushing into it. The last year's
crop was 200,000,000 of pounds—by far the largest ever
before raised in this country. The next may reach
250,000,000 pounds. There is yet a large room for in-
crease, as the consumption in the United States is allout
500,000,000.
In this connexion we can very properly speak of the
crops of Texas, which are uncommonly good. Cotton,
sugar, corn, and wheat, are all fine. There is a glorious
abundance of everything for sustenance or comfort. As
that country may now be considered a part of our
Union, its prosperity will be chronicled with as much
interest as that of its sister States.—Albany Argus.

LEITH.-GREAT FLIGHT OF BIRDS.—The Mary,
Captain Small, from Rotterdam, which arrived here a few days
ago, encountered a severe gale off the land on her passage home
and during its continuance an immense number of small birds
boarded the vessel, covering the rigging and uttering wild..
cries, as evidently glad of the shelter from the great wind
which had driven them so far to sca. Safe from one disaster, th ey
soon were overtaken by another in the shape of a large hawk, t' sat
pounced upon the timid songsters and killed several of them be fore
he could be secured. A number have been brought home, dead
and alive, consisting of nearly all the variety of our Eur. vean
songsters. The hawk is perfectly tame, and a great favourite t trrith
the crew of the Mary.-Bcotsman.