The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1846-01-03
THE UNION.
POTATO DISEASE.

clal Traveller,) touching the disease ~ potatoes
by which so much distress hha been oeeasoned in
Ireland Belgium, Holland, &C. As no article is
in such general use as this nutrieoas vegetable il is
desirable that our farmers and gardeners should be
put in possession Of all he information which relates
to it's successfal cultivation, and certain production.
THE planting season is not very distant, and we
advise such of our readers wish 10 experiment
on the suggestions contained below, to retain this
paper until il arrives and be governed accordingly.
II attended to properly millisns of bushels may be
grown in addition to the usual yield, while entire
failure would scarcely occur;
safer making considerable allowance for the
exaggeration which usually attends Statements cal
culated TO alarm, il seems absolutely certain
that a disease has very extensiyots shown iiseif
among potatoes of the present yeasafgrowth, and
that the effect of il will be 10 reduce the crop very
far below an average, and in districts 10 create
considerable difficulty il not actual starvation and
distress.
at becomes then, matter Of no ordinary i'm
porlance to determine by what means such an evil
may be prevented for the future, well an miugaied
in It's present operation. -....
'''rhe disease itself, in plain language, may he
called the rot and is found to exist more or less,
at all times, but, Of course, IT only exeites public
attention when sufficiently extensive as 10 become
a public evil. The existing cause Of H. the writer
believes TO be an excess of cold and moisture The
potato is vegetable which naturally abeorbs vast
quantity Of water, and when supplied with this ele'
ment in excess, il requires proportonaie degree
of warmth to enable il 10 assmate the moisture IL
has inbibed convert IL into healthy substance;
and in Of its wanting the degree OF warmth
necessary 10 stimulate its seereting organs into a
due state Of activity, II will become subject In
morbid formations, and these, unless means are
adopted TO prevent their development will sooner or
ater show themselves by that corruption, or rot
tenness, which, during the present seaIon has been
so prevalent. This disease, then, sustains TO the
potato similar relationship TO that Of scrofua to
1.-The human body; and like this soourge Of the
human species, il may be considered as partly
sulting from constitutional defect, and partly from
external causes. Among the various opinions
which have been hazarded respecting the causes
of the malady, some have supposed the existence Of
an external blight by which the tubers have
become ultimately affected; and Others have talked
about fungi upon the tubers, by which they
have become diseased. The writer believes that the
plant has become diseased through the unhealthy
state Of the ROOTS secretng organs and that the
fungi have resulted from the disease, and been
the occasion Of it. What, then, are the likeliest
means for preventing the Ualady in fulurel As
far weather is concerned, 1t is clear we can do
nothing but TO submit TO whatever may happen.
We can neither command the sun 70 shine, nor
dispose Of the drops Of rain, nor order the courses
of the winds. Still, much remains in our own
power, and which may be all summed up in few
words-the true secret of success in growing po-
tatoes, as well other vegetable productions, is
10 so,c good seed in good ground and whenever this
simple and rational rule is neglected, there will
most assuredly be more or less of loss and dsap.
poinment.
: "Wth respect to SOIL the potato delights in that
which is moderately light and porous, which points
out the necessity of draining all heavy and wet
lands, if they are expected to grow potatoes. In
the next place, the potato requires frequent
change of SOIL and this account heavy crops are
usually produced newly brokenSup lands. In
kitchen gardens and cottage allotments, where the
root 10 grown year utter yea on the same SPOT, this
necessity is in some measure PROF. ded for by the
large quantity Of fresh manure which is commonly
used Extremely favorable seasons will counteract,
TO great extent the disadvantages Of the soil; but
no man has right to expect large and healthy
crop, who plants his seed in land exhausted by
frequent cropping, which has not been well worked
by the spade plough, which is reentive ofcold
and excess of moisture"
With regard to seed, common sense tells US ii
ought to be in the highest state Of perfection IN
which it be obtained, and to such perfection the
writer considers the following items indispensable:
81. II ought to be ,choie.-The practice of cutting
potatoes into pieces for seed leaving one or two
eyes in piece, cannot be too strongly deprecated.
The result of repeated experiments has unanswer-
ably proved that the plan has nothing to recommend
, it but penny wise and pound foolish economy.
1t is true that every eye possesses the germ of
perfect plant, the same as the eye of a dahia;
: but every cuvator of this Aover knows that, al
though he may get well-formed plant, and hand
some flowers, from single eye, or the cutting of a
, dahlia, he only gets good crop of roofs from q
not flowers, and to secure these let him plant whole
potatoes, and for many reasons, into which the
writer cannot now enter, he will find it answer his
purpose better than cutting them
80. II ought TO be in Stale of NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
seed is necessarily deficient Of the vigor requisite 10
f,rtb md a1st heal hyf MIA
f have already shown, whatever is cause Of weak
, ness is predisposng cause of disease. This is as
true among vegetables as animals, and in regard to
the latter, one ever thinks of disputing II; the
potatoes for planting should therefore, be selected
when the stalks have decayed, and not sooner.
80 ought 10 be Of medium size, and treii formed
The writer has found that, the whole, po-
tatoes of the size of hens eggs have produced the
heaviest crop out of given weight OF seed. lie
would. however, prefer SETS much smaller, If ripe,
whole, and well formed, to pieces cut from large
potatoes. The overgrown tubers should always be
rejected, containing an excess of mosture;
whereas the strength of the future plant resides in
the solid part of the root. 's
90. The potato should frequently be raised direct
from the seed contained in The potato apple.-Every
sort Of vegetable propagaed in the way potatoes are
usually produced, liable to degenerate; and
in proportion to their degeneracy they become
liable to disease. Many sorts Of potatoes once in
common use, have become completely worn out,
has little doubt that much of the disease and failure
: which every year, and in unfavorable seasons in
particular, attends the potato crop IL owing to acts
being planted which are too far removed from the
original seed. The vegetative prBelf3e has become
too feeble TO give existence to healthy and vgor-
Gus plant; and the consequence has been, those
diseases TO which there has been predispositlon,
or which the soil or season has been calculated to
produce
"5. u ought 10 BE- ,oeH preserved. The best of
Iepe1 mat ha n byb had
Though potatoes will stand much rough treatment,
like all things possessing life they cannot be injured
with entire IMMUNITY. When taken up, they should
be exposed to the air for few days to dry and
harden, by which means they will be less liable
TO shoot before the time Of planting they should
then be stored away and efcctuaIly guarded against
frost and damp. A worse plan cannot exist than
allowing the potatoes to shoot, and after pulling of
the shoots, to plant the potatoes for seed. The
man who is guilty of such folly deserves to lose
his crop for his pains.
"Much more might be said on the growth Of this
valuable root, but the experience Of the writer JUS