Nebraska advertiser. [volume] (Brownville, Nemaha County, N.T. [Neb.]) 1856-1882, 1862-08-30
[From the Country Gentlemen ]
The Potato Rot and its Prevention.

1Ht EUtdIO nut anu It's IFCHCHtlOu
l take the liberty of making few
remarks on the potato disease and my
method of saving potatoes when the
rot has made its appearance. Divers
opinions have been advanced relative
to the cause of the potato rot, but
have heard no reason assigned that
was satisfactory to me. except that of
atmospheric influence, which We have
TO remedy to counteract.
Truly an excess of moisture (when
the disease is present,) will cause a
decomposition of the potato, but this
is not the cause of what we term the
potato disease. As soon as we dis
cover the leaves and stalks of the po-
tatoes become suddenly wilted and
black, when there has been no frost to
cause it, We may rest assured the dis
ease is present, and l believe the
sooner the potatoes are dug after this
appearance the thhe more soG@..di ones you
will have, and the more that are par
tally affected may be saved for feed
ing purposes.
1t is the deleterious sap of the dis
eased leaves and stalk circulating to
the potato that causes it to rot; cut
off the communication and you arrest
its progress. If partially affected
potatoes are separated from the sound
ones and spread thin upon the floor of
some out~building, they will become
dry and keep we'll for some time, and
may be fed to good advantage in fat
tening cattle. I had over 200 bushels
of this description one season, which
] fed out for the above mentioned pur-
pose, and saved what otherwise would
have been a total loss. The better
way is to commence feeding the un-
sound potatoes as soon as you begin
to dig. ,ssr-
/ have noticed that some potatoes
appear sound except a number of
white specks on the surface, and on
cutting them / found dark colored
streaks extending through the potato,
showing decidedly that the potato was
diseased; such potatoes if deposited
in heap would shortly ferment and
rot. The reason why so many pota~
toes rot in the cellar is because so lit
tie care is taken in selecting all that
are unsound. Again, have observed
that when the leaves and stalks of
potatoes were suddenly and totally
killed by disease, that very few potas
toes, became rotten, the circulation of
the eeleteEious sip Seiiig entirely arN
rested. The method I pursue when I
find my potatoes diseased is to dig
them as soon as possible Gn fair
weather fpracticable,) and sort out all
the unsound ones I can discover while
picking them up; and deposit the
sound ones on the ground in long
narrow heap in the form of a roof,
and then cover them with straw laid
on lengthwise from the ground to the
top of the heap, for the purpose Of
protecting them from wet in case Of
rain, and then put on sufficient earth
to prevent them from freezing. If
there should be severe frost, let them
lie few days, and then uncover and
carefully sort and put into the cellar,
and keep your cellar cool until the
frost becomes so severe that there may
be danger of freezing in the cellar,
then close up for winter. Ihave never
suffered any loss from potatoes rotting
in the cellar since | have used the
above mentioned means to prevent it.
M, NJ. HOWARD.