The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1846-08-25 00:00:00

THE POTATO CROPS,

Tle evil which last year was proclaimed through our
streets without any just reason, is this year really come
upon us. Almost universally through the country the
late potato crops have been attacked by the disease, and in
many places the second early kinds, and even the early
ones, have not escaped. A month at least earlier than its
ravages commenced in 1845, it is now really alarming, as
the main crops, upon which so many of the working po-
pulation of Britain chiefly depend for their winter food,
are irretrievably damaged.

Last year, at least to this country, and this generation,
the disease was, with slight local exceptions, entirely new.
We knew nothing of its nature, or its cause, beyond what
chemical investigation or theory could supply. The pota-
to being afflicted with a superabundance of moisture, and
the season having been very unusually wet, it was natural
to suppose that the drenching rains, the superabundant
moisture with which the earth had been visited, was the
cause of the disease, The only other theory which exten-
sively prevailed was, that the root was worn out; thow4h
we must acknowledge that some few individuals, iu differ-
ent quarters, made much neater " guesses at the truth"
than either of these.

This year, if it has done nothing else, has shown us that
these two theories must be exploded as idle dreams. The
spring was unusually dry—yet the disease has visited us
earlier, and is more virulent than before; and that the
disorder does not proceed from the plant being worn out
is evidenced by the fact, that potatoes raised newly from
seed, and from tubers imported from abroad, have suffered
in common with the rest. Nor will the Buckland theory
of the impregnation of the earth with the spawn of fungi
from the last year's crops account for this. as our own ex-
periments will shew.
And now, having thus far dealt in generals, we will
come to particulars ; and as all the experiments we detail
have been made by ourselves, or those with whom we are
intimately acquainted, we will vouch for their accuracy.
Our readers are aware that we all along combatted the
idea, pretty generally prevElent, that the potatoe root was
worn out. In order, however, to try every plan, we last
year procured tubers imported from Russia, others im-
ported from America, others, of a very sound description,
from Oxfordshire, others equally soue,cl from another part
of Warwickshire, and, in addition to these, saved some of
our own growth, drying the second earlies and "pieinp"
the late ones. The dried tubers of the second early varie-
ties which we had saved for seed being all touched with
the disease we planted in autumn, the rest 9 planted in
spring; and an acquaintance of ours planted at the same

time potatoes raised from the seed produced by the bal!s
of 1844, Till Thursday week all these appeared to flourish
luxuriantly, save that here and there among the late crops
from our own seed a rather suspicious-looking top ap-
peared. Being called on business into Westmoreland, we
left them on that day without the slightest idea that any-
thing was materially wrong ; but seeing, as we passed
through Lancashire, the unmistakeable evidences of the
last year's disease in the decayed tops, we enquired how
long they had been in that state, and were answered—
" Very lately, and in many instances it came all in one
night." This, of course, made us fear for our own, and
at our return we found the same evidences in the tops
there, which we immediately ordered to be cut down.
The results, then, of our experience and observation
are as follow :—None of the potatoes we planted have en-
tirely escaped, save those which were got up before the Ist
of this month ; of the rest the late sorts appeared by the
tops to have suffered most, the American, and
. •
ones equally with the rest.
.The on'

ussian

have found no tuber touched with the disease is thq
grown from our own diseased sets, well dried and planted
in autumn ; and the new variety planted by our neighbour
from seed of 1844 is the worst diseased of any vie have
seen—utterly worthless. One more fact we may mention.
Some of the Russirin and American tubers, as well as
some of our own, i.i.inted in land certainly not im-
pregnated with the spawn of fungi from former crops, es
no potatoes had ever been grown in it, since it was, some
years since, dug in from the turf.
The plain result of these facts is, that the cause of the
disease must be looked for in a Cifferent quarter to those
where we have looked for it hitherto. It is doubt!ess
ATMOSPHERIC, whether or not connected with the light-
ning which has been so prevalent during the last two
years we cannot say, but of this we are certain, IT IS AT-
MOSPHERIC—a direct infliction of an inscrutible Provi-
dence.
Respecting the preservation of this year's crops much
bas been said, but most of it bas been founded on the idea
that the disease arose in the potato, and not in the top,—
was generic not atmospheric. Experiment however has
proved, that if it cannot be cured it can at least be allevi-
ated. Mr. Jasper Rogers, of Dublin, has proved that
either strewn among the crops when stored, or planted
with the seed, carbon, either in the shape of woodashes,
soot, or peat charcoal, has a beneficial tendency. We
planted our first crop of kidneys this year in soot, to
keep out wire worms, and never bad a finer crop. The
cnbon absorbs the moisture of the potatoe, and tends to
top the progress of decay. A simpler mode however has

proved efficacious. It is to mow down the tops and leave
the potatoes in the ground till they are wanted fur con-
sumption. They spoil less there than when exposed to
the atmosphere. Of course if they last till frost comes,
as many of them are near the surface, it will be safer to
cover them over with rubbish or litter.

And now for the future. This useful plant must not
be lost or given up in despair as worthless, because for
two years successively heaven has visited us with a miasma
or some other infliction that has partially destroyed it.
The duty of man is to use the means, and, even against
hope, still hope for a blessing. It is not the first time
this root has been afflicted ; some thirty years ago a
somewhat similar visitation came upon it, and, though
not so general in itsoperations, lasted two or three years.
We would enjoin the horticulturists still to persevere in
attempts to preserve and raise it, notwithstanding their
two years' losses. Let some of the soundest small pota-
toes be selected from those usually given to the pigs, and
laid in the sun to green and harden for next year's seed ;
and let them be supplied with carbon of some kind when
planted, and with heaven's blessing we may not only save
the early varieties, which arc this year litile affected, but
also the later and more prod-active sorts, which keep so
much longer. Above all, let all who have opportunity
continue to raise new varieties from seed, and persevere,
in spite of repeated failures, in their endeavours thus to
secure a national as well as an individual good.
Since writing the above we have seen a letter from Mr.
Balkwill, chemist, of Kingsbridge, to the Secretary of the
Royal Agricultural Society, in which he attributes the
disease to a green bug, about the sine of a common house
fly. He says he observed these insects in many cases
when the tops were deseased, but never when they were
perfectly healthy ; and seeing one of them void a greenish
fluid, he smeared it on a healthy leaf, which soon after
showed• signs of the disease. This idea we saw some
weeks ago in an American paper, where it was stated that
the " poison fly," which had so injured the potatoes last
year, had again commenced its ravages. We fancy, how-
ever, that though this fly may, in some cases, accompany
the disease, it is not the cause of it. Through the state-
ment alluded to, we watched ours minutely, but saw no
such flies or any other kind of blight. Besides, what a
quantity of such bugs would it have required to infect a
whole field in a night, and a whole kingdom in a few days.
They must, like the locusts of Egypt, have been so plen-
tiful, as to be observed everywhere.

[We copy the preceding article from the Birmingham
Advertiser. Mr. 3. Prideaux, in a letter to the editor of
the Exeter Flying Post, recommends the cutting off of
the stem of the growing crop on the first symptoms of dis-
ease being apparent, as noticed by us lass week—a plan
which we observe has been adopted in several gardens in
this locality. A correspondent of the Times, writing from
the neighbourhood of London, affirms that the disease be-
gins in the leaf of the plant, next attackslthe:stem, and gra-
dually goes down into the tubers, which seem to receive
the infection from the small fibres which attach them to
the stem. He suggests, therefore, that if the plants were
pulled up, and the roots allowed to remain on the ground,
a separation would be made between the diseased and
sound parts, and, thus a certain amount of food preserved.
Every field, he says, should he carefully watched, and, on
the very first symptom of disease in the potato the plant
should be pulled up, which can be best done by the per-
son placing a foot on each side of the drill and lifting it
out. In the earlier crops this may be done immediately,
as the potatoes are full sized, and if not ripe, nearly so.
The object of delay in regard to the others is, that the
growth may not be checked sooner than necessary, and
the risk of springing in the ground at the end of the year
diminished; as he thinks they ought to remain there till
he usual time of digging.

THE SANITARY STATE OF SOME PARTS

OF LIVERPOOL

"The nuisance,m

ler public or private, which is in defiance
of sanitary principles, has a threefold character. For such
must be suicidal on the part of the author, immoral towards the
neighbourhood, and impious against the Creator."

TO THE E PITOR OF THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD.

LETTER XV

Mn. EDITOR,—The rAising of the Sailors' Home is a
most necessary and praise-worthy institution, and for
Prince Albert to have laid the foundation-stone is a mat-
ter of congratulation between its founders and the town.
But, after all the bustle, where has it been laid ? upon
what site have the Corporation and the Committee et osen
to uprear a building, the estimated cost of which is to be
£24',000? Why, in a puddle hole, cheek by jowl with the
ugly Custom-house. Is not such a locality very question-
able for residence by day and night ? The ground, al-
though, of course, rock at the bottom of all, yet is nothing
but the oil wash of the tide, and made-ground ; hence it
becomes a likely malarious bed, unhealthy for people to
live in. The Custom-house stands objectionably, for
these reasons, even though it be chiefly occupied by hu-
man beings during the day time only, and that for short
hours; but when a large building is to be located in the
same unfavourable district, the numerous occupants of
which will have to pass night as well as day there, the

full force of the objection -tells against it. There is no
doub: the architect will have something in his power,
through the resources of art, towards preventing the mis-
chief; and these aids, no doubt, be will zealously call in-
_ _

to operation for the purpose :. but it is questionable whe-
ther he can sufficiently forestall the evil to be complained
of. Time will show, since the experiment is committed
for trial. It is a pity that, in all Liverpool, a spot could
not have been pitched upon presenting less obnoxious
foundations than the lowest level of Liverpool Proper.

It may be thought that it is late in the day to aver these
things ; still, if they have validity, it roust be replied,
" better late than never." It is a pity that such a pos-
sible source of prejudice to the health of the inmates has
not been mere maturely weighed. If the Woodside people
were to locate an institution, for day and night abode,
upon the site of the middle of Wallasey-pool, when the
tide will be shut out, would they be considered as do-
ing a wise thing ? Net ihe cases would be parallel, excepting
the the period -t:

in tne particular ot ot time, as so much greater
which has elapsed between the tidal wash of Paradise-street
and its present state. Yet even this hardly weakens the
parallel; I question if it do not strengthen it.
These remarks are not the first notice of the peculiar
unhealthiness of the site of Paradise-street. It has been
a matter of general notoriety all along, and no longer
since than May 22, of the present year, a talented letter
from Dr. Briggs, formerly a practitioner in Liverpool,
called the attention of the public, and of the authorities
especially, through the columns of the Liverpool Journal,
to the errors of planting the Custom-house where it is,
and the inhabiting of such quarters as Paradise-street.
Now, what would he say to the project of a Sailors' Home
on the same unhealthy site ! I shall quote from the doc-
tor's letter, in the hope that good may come of the exa-
mination of the question, although it is an unpleasing task
to deliberate over a deed past, and all but irrevocable;
also in the light of a medical protest against the unsuit-
able selection, lest otherwise the profession of Liverpool
should be reproached hereafter, and elsewhere, for having
tacitly approved of mal-sanitary arrangements, one after
another, in a town where their advice might have been
very properly supposed to have we; ' very -,.asonab!

- -
supposition for French, German, Austrian, and other na-
tions to make, but rather a mistake when the English na-
tion are the party supposed guilty of taking medical advice
into their public councils. John Bull likes to have his
own en-enquiring way in matters of this and nearly all
other kinds.

I need offer no apology for ample quotation. The sub-
ject demands it, and the author will not object to the tres-
pass on his statements. . . .

The impression of strangers must be, that Liverpool is
a town of blunders ' • and though, as a resident, I may re-
gret that such should be the case, yet the next best thing,
after learning a bitter truth as to facts, is, to remedy mat-
ters if possible, and, as far as possible, to mend that past,
to have a care for the future, and to steer through the pre-
sent, by the light of experience shining on the "compass."

Dr. B. observes (1 quote from a slip copy of the-Jour-
not, dated 22d May, 1846) :

" Is it a fact that the present system of dockage is based on a
correct principle? or, rather, is it not now a growing persua-
sion that it is radically bad ? and if so, does it not follow, that
whatever is built upon it rests on a rotten foundation ?

" All who know anything of the early history of Liverpool
must needs hat e heard, or read, that before the Old Dock was

lit,. what Wallasey Pool was till the other day. Where it
had its origin I c i nnot say ; but, even in my time, it was to be
seen as a perennial rill, in the open space between Great Nel-
son street North a, d Beau-street, from whence it descended, in
some way, by what is now Whitechapel and Paradise-street, till
it joined the river.

•• There was living, until a very few years ago, a well-known
respected gentleman, who has often said that his own father te.

of the confined streets north of it, now stand,was a cow pasture,
down to the pool, and which for years afterwards remained
open, so that there was a ferry across it, from Lord-street to
what is now Church-street. No dcubt tbere still exist num-
bers in Liverpool that have conversed with elderly persons who
had themselves crossed this same ferry. .
But from that time there has been nothing but a succession
of steps in the wrong direction. The first great error, and that
to which all else may be traced,Was that ever the old Corpora-
tion of Liverpool w,,s all Aced to have any sort of influence or
control In the rearing of a new formation which was destined
to attain such gigantic magnitude and importance.
Now, for spirits and intellects of such an order, it was quite
in keeping to conclude that their town, having got its one deck
could never require a second ; and that, therefore, if the pool
was arched over. and a street built on its two sides, it would be
so much clear gain to themselves; all which was done; and to
perpetual e their own sense of the happiness of their exploit,
they gave it the name of Paradise-stiect i !

And now, without dwelling on the several intermediate

nyysici;lowreor!lhda,—n whihsicmhoarrael,
punity ;—in either case a
I,*P'ahisooner or lab r. I know
ly Paradise be still inhabited
. " Unhappily- the mischief is of a far. more serious abiding
terriblecl
nahowatsr whetter
indeed,c
th ot
eertrbet ~
be habitually
hr
God'si Tbat
retribution
itwoucfinneaxll
iell
lsaydar
sure
ul
violated
isar
laws,—are
to
gl
rsoef foewal not,
.ti
:01 t
ti
iweh
by human beings or not. In my day, few. except such of the
dispensary doctors as might have to attend patients in them
during hot weather (as once was my lot) can have any idea of
the extent and formidable Character of the nuisance ; indeed, I
confess that, at first, I was far from being fully aware of it. To
outward appearance. the cellar which I first visited was of the
better order, and neat, the family being English ; whereas the
great bulk of the occupants of such places were Irish or Welsh.
Dining one of my late evening visits I heard a pump at work in
the back cellar, in which, ;:s far as I recollect, some of the fa-
mily slept, though, of course, no air could be admitted, except
what came from the cellar hi ,-- - - his back

in front. I learnt that in t.._
apartment these was a well, in which the foul water that was
constantly oozing in from the street was collected, and that it
was necessary to empty the well every night ; nor have 1 yet
forgotten the nausea produced by the sight a; d smell of a pail-
ful of this abominable fluid, all of which must needs be bro; ght
through the front cellar, to be poured out into the kennel. I
remember, too, a still more affecting scene, in the case of a fine
Irish sailor boy, who died in a cellar on the other side of the
street, in hot, damp weather, and who, in addition to all else,
was obliged to have his face constantly covered with a net, to
protect the swarms of flesh-flies and other doleful creatures
with which all such places are infested. But I have since
heard, though on • o certain authority. that the cellars in Para-
dise-street are no longer inhabited by human beings, and if this
be a fact so much the better; but is it equally a fact that
the constant exhalation of deleterious miasm has ceased ?
Just the contrary. I advert to the published fact, that Liverpool
has the bad pre-emineuce of being one of the most unhealthy

Aug. 25, IS-46.

of towns. And is it always to be so ? Most assuredly yes, so
long as the original sin remains ; and, in fact, every additional
step taken ou the same vicious principle does but the more in-
crease the generation of the malaria. In every case of depar-
ture from the right line. whether by individuals or committees,
the only way for them to escape is, to measure back their steps
to the point from which they have deviated. Re the effort ever
so difficult or painful, there is nothing else for it. Never
never, till this fools' paradise and th
has taken the place of the Old Dock be swept
foul, hidden rottenness, be reached and cured."
The extent of cellar living to which Dr. B. alludes has
been partially remedied by act of parliament ; but defini-
tions of heights and depths of windows and door-sills can-
not extinguish malarious exhalations so readily as ima-
gined by some. It is in past evidence, that a cellar va-
cated is not, therefore, a cellar purged of danger, the im-
mediate subjects of prejudiced health are removed, bat
the malaria may go on developing at even an increasing
rate, unless such places are actually filled up. In the
parts of the town above high water mark, filling np cel-
lars may cure the evil, possibly ; but in parts of the town
like this spot, which Dr. B. sarcastically denominates
"fool's paradise'," the case is very different, for, unless
I have been misinformed, the cellarage and kitchen
range, empty or filled up, of numerous houses on this le-
vel, suffer at times insupportably from the fluid retained
in the sub-soil around, which is forced upwards in all di-
rections by the flow of the tide; the sewers regurgitate
from thi same cause owing to the hydrostatic pressure of
the tide, and the stench of such reflwent fluids is neither
tolerable nor healthy. If it had been the mere oozing of
tidal sal: water, the thing would be endurable compara-
tively, although attended with inconvenience and expenses
manifold, but when the stinking fluids are constantly
bathing the foundation walls of houses so situated, even a
fish•woman can pronounce a true and wise opinion.
Roman cementing has proved fruitless,—against the agency
of such immense periodical Ipressure nothing can answer
perfectly. This district, reclaimed at so costly a price of
health as well as money. had better have been given up
again to the domain of Neptune, in the shape of dockage,
as Dr. Briggs points out. The foundation stone of the
Sailors' Home now lies in water, and they had to go
through a bed of watery slush in order to clear a bedding
for the stone, which speaks pretty plainly. By the way,
it is a pity Prince Albert did dot postpone his visit a week
or two later, for he would have had the novel pleasure of
laying the stone under water, with a few diving feats : or
the whole arena which was covered with planks for the
Mayor and allied powers, might have been converted into
a truly Venetian scene of the Doge and the bridal waves
—a travestie of the Lord Mayor of London going in bis
state wherry—or a naumachia of the Romans revived for
the gratification of the Prince.. Of course there will be a
small hospital and staff of attendants planned in the Sai-
lors' Home, if people are brought there to run risks -of
sickness from malaria.

e excrescence which

away, can the

RIGHT OF ROAD OVER A PIG-STYE.
Windsor District. Back Corlet-street to Linden-
street, which latter is chiefly, if not entirely composed of
new houses, presents a connecting pathway to and from
these streets, which leads over a very extensive piggery,
with all its appurtenances. The pathway is on a plane
more elevated now than formerly, by means of a bridge
of three planks, whereby the feet of the passers over are
carried above the heads of the useful animals below. It is
needless to say in the warm weather how pungent the sa-
lute to your nostrils must be. The road then leads
round a large heap of muck from a shippon ; and around
you on all sides are the varied tenements inhabited by
cows, horses, pigs, &c. The whole forms a group such
as must surely be rare and incredible to the uninitiated in
mal-sanitary prospects. It was desirable to have the
road closed, in order to put matters into a more profitable
shape; but the blessed " privilege" of right of road has
proved an untoward obstacle. Lindon-street is built
upon what used to be an open pond. Vested rights here
then, though presenting an ideal property in the volatile
-Id disgusting air of a --at- <ire, Do,

pi ye, ,wever, worthless,
prejudicial,—yet tenable by law, and cannot be inter-
fered with!

THE CLEANLY AND TIDY PEOPLE NOT ONLY PARTAKERS

IN COMMON CHANC

S WITH THEIR

ILTHY NEIGH-

BOORS, BUT ACTUALLY MADE TO CLEAR AWAY THEIR

NEIGHBOURS' FILTH

Harding-street is badly scavenged, and has always been,
from this cause and its crowded court and cellar popula-
tion, a complete hot-bed of fever of the common and
eruptive forms, and of other diseases. Scarletina used 'to
be very prevalent in this district. It is impossible that a
street in so wretched a plight as it has been all along, can
be healthy.

Two or three weeks back my notes were made upon
personal inspection, along with Mr. Greatrex, the surgeon
to the district. (Since that time, of {purse, lam bound
to admit a possible improvement in matters, owing to the
possible increased vigilance of the authorities.) Inquiry
showed that scavengers' carts very seldom visited the
street. The people stated that sometimes stray country
carts did pass along the street, and that they, prevailed
upon them at times to cart away from the street heaps of
offal. The street has no proper drain. The inhabitants,
poor and ill-conditioned, cannot help themselves. The
itate of ti' '-d

_ entire street for years past has always calle,
forth my strongest reprehension when I had• to visit
parochially the sick and nuisance-struck I
Now, suppose a poor, hard-working woman, with
keen sense of cleanliness, and with a desire to secure her

own health and comparative comfort, does actually take
the pains and go to the expense of getting a cart to
remove away the accumulated street filth lying opposite
her own house—because if the authorities do not do it
she in self-defence must—is not this a hardship ?
what if the upshot of such a sacrifice to cleanliness le
health-seeking on her part only brings down upon her to
contributions of her neighbours'offal and sweepings'
who
are too idle, or indisposed at least, to put thems,."-
to
an expense which by unfairness they can impose upon the
shoulders of an exemplary neighbour. Is not this hardest
of all ? It is a fact that such is the case in this street.
Does not the apathy of authorities in this case leave a
poor woman struggling to be clean and orderly in her

inapu-

deuce of her idle and worthless neighbours P—The " canna
be lashed" outwitting the virtuous. So society works;
and yet the rich feel no jar !

_
In the court in Duckinfield-street from which the case
I mentioned in my last, of dysentery was obliged to be
removed to the hospital, a case of cholera in an infant, in
a house opposite, has proved fatal.

NOXIOUS RESULTS FROM ASH-PITS OVERFLOWING

At Windsor, in the notoriously bad scavengered Hard-
inz-street, a coin t was visited by us, the health of the resi-
dents in which was jeopardised by an overflowing ashpit•
The door was open because it could not be closed, the
contents of the place spreading themselves over the yard.
It had been in this condition for a month past. One
party was ill and complained loudly of the nuisance, to
which he attributed his illness—he said the rent collectors
had promised to see to it. The court was peculiarly dis-
advantaged inasmuch as it presented a double cul de sac
form, whereby ventilation fur the dilution of the noxious
gases was rendered impossible. The entrance was through
one of the usual cramped archways—the length of the
court yard was seven yards—it contained four houses.
It was flagged. Many of the terraces and
_courts in this
. .

street have their aslip-its full to excess, and in numerous
instances the cellars adjoining are more or less flooded
thereby. One deserted cellar was said to have its floor
overflowed, where some time back an illicit whiskey still
had been found out.

Tenants have to empty these cellars to preserve them
in anything like utility.

In one cellar, eight or ten months ago, which was daroP
from ashpit overflow, three children living over the .cellar
had been taken ill at once, and one died.
We happened to meet a landlord of about twenty houses
at one end of the street, of the name of Ward. He vo-
lunteered a statement to us that he was ready to do all he
could for the well-being and comfort of his tenants—be
had done what he could—he was ready to meet the au-
thorities half way in any improvements, and would gladly,
for that end, enter into any bond or agreement. This is
highly creditable to him, and it were to be wished that 00
proper a feeling were responded to more generally.
Another landlord in Barton-lane had adopted some im-
provements on behalf of his tenants, which is praise.
worthy, and I quote these instances with great pleasure,
as lights amongst the gloomy shadows of landlordism.
Yet in Barton-lane some ashpits are evidently obnoxious
t ' .

o undue accumulation, and from the escape Tnioiiiem.ot
other ashpits in the rear of Harding. street.
A general system of draining is greatly wanted for
Ilarding.street, Barton-lane, &c. and unless the authori-
ties turn their attention to it in earnest, the occurrence of
preventible sickness and its mortality per centage
continue to disgrace this unhappy Atari/proper of badly
pre-eminent Liverpool.—Yours, &c.
Bedford-street. G. C. WATSON•