POTATO.

Boiled potatoes, mixed up with steamed cornstalks, shorts, &c., make an

excellent compound for fattening cattle; yet, at the present time, they

are too expensive for general use. We hope, however, that ere long our

farmers will take hold of this subject in good earnest,--we allude to

the causes of potato rot,--and restore this valuable article of food to

its original worth. A few remarks on this subject seem to be called for.

_Remarks on the Potato Rot._

Where are the fine, mealy, substantial "apples of the earth" gone?--and

Echo answers, "Where?" They are not to be found at the present day. The

farmers have suffered great losses, in some instances by a partial, and

in others by a total, failure of their crops. Numberless experiments

have been tried to prevent this great national calamity, yet they have

all proved abortive, for the simple reason that we have been only

treating the symptoms, while the disease has taken a firmer hold, and

hurried our subjects to a premature decay. Different theories have been

suggested with a view of explaining the causes of the potato rot, none

of which are satisfactory. We have the "fungous theory," "insect

theory," "moisture theory," "theory of _degeneration_," and "the

chemical theory of defective elements." In relation to the "fungous

theory" we observe that fungi inhabit decaying organic bodies. They are

considered to be a common pest to all kinds of plants, like parasites,

living at the expense of those plants. We do not expect to find fungi in

good healthy vegetables, at least while they possess a high grade of

vital action. It is only when morbid deposits and chemical agencies

overcome the integrity or vital affinity of the vegetable that fungous

growth commences.

In the fungous development, the living parts of the vegetable are not

always destroyed; yet these fungi obstruct vital action by their

deposits or accumulations; hence the small vessels that lead from centre

to surface are partly paralyzed, and the power peculiar to all

vegetables of throwing off useless or excrementitious matter is

intercepted. This is not all. The process of imperceptible elimination,

which might restore the balance of power in any thing like a vigorous

plant, is thus impaired.

Now, it is evident that the fungi are not the cause of the potato rot;

they are only the mere effects, the symptoms: preceding these were other

manifestations of disorder, and these manifestations, in their different

grades, might with equal propriety be charged as causes of the potato

rot. The deterioration of the potato has been going on in a gradual

manner for a long time. A mild form of disease has existed for a number

of years, making such imperceptible change that it has escaped the

observation of many until late years, when the article became so

unpalatable that our attention has been called to it in good earnest;

and by the aid of the microscope we have discovered the fungi. Has this

discovery benefited the agriculturist? Not a particle.

The theory of degeneration, without doubt, will assist us to explain the

why and wherefore of the potato rot. But this is not all; the community

want to know the cause of this degeneracy. We have spent some time in

the investigation of this subject, and now give the public, in a

condensed form, our opinion of this matter. We may err, but our progress

is towards the full discovery of the _direct cause_, and the ways and

means best adapted to prevent this sad calamity. The potato came into

existence at a certain period in the history of the world. After its

discovery, it was taken from the mother soil, the land of its nativity,

planted in different parts of the world, and grew to apparent

perfection. Our opinion is, that the transplanting was one of the causes

of this degeneracy. It is generally known that indigenous plants do not

thrive so well on foreign soil as in their native; for example, the

plants of the sunny south cannot be made to flourish here in the same

degree of perfection as at the south; they require the genial warmth of

the sun's rays, which our northern climates lack. The soil, too, mast be

adapted to each particular plant. It is true we do cultivate them by

ingenuity and chemical agency; yet they seldom equal the original. Need

we ask the farmer if he can, from the soil of New England, produce a St.

Michael orange equal to one grown on its native soil? or if a squash

will grow in the deserts of Arabia? All vegetables, as well as animals,

possess a certain amount of vital power, which enables them to resist,

to a certain degree, all encroachments on their healthy operations. The

potato, having been deprived, in some measure, of its essential element,

lost its reciprocal equilibrium, and has ever since been a prey to

whatever destructive agents may be present, whether they exist in the

soil or atmosphere. Yet we conceive that its total destruction is

dependent on another cause, which has been entirely overlooked; for, in

spite of the gradual deterioration alluded to, the potato will, for a

number of years, continue to keep up a low form of vitality, and result

in something like a potato. In order to comprehend the subject, let us,

for a moment, consider the conditions necessary for the germination and

perfection of vegetable bodies. We shall then be able to decide as to

whether or not we have complied with such conditions. The first

condition is, we must have _a perfect germ_; secondly, _a ripe seed_;

and lastly, _nutrimental agents in the sail, composed of carbon,

hydrogen, and oxygen_.

The potato requires but a small quantity of moisture to develop the

germinating principle; for we have every day evidences of its ability to

send forth its fibres, even in the open air. Now, the premature

development of these fibrous radicles, or roots, debilitates the tuber;

in short, we have a sick potato. Is the potato, under such

circumstances, a perfect germ? No. If you examine the potato, with its

roots and stem, you will find the cutis, or skin, and mucous membrane.

This external skin, _including that of plant, stalk, leaf, and ball_, is

to the potato what the skin and lungs are to animals; they, each of

them, absorb atmospheric food, and throw off excrementitious matter; the

roots and fibres are to the vegetable what the alimentary canal is to

the animal. A large portion of the food of vegetables is found in the

soil, and enters the vegetable system, through its capillary

circulation, by the process of imperceptible elimination and absorption.

Now, you must bear in mind that the fibres, stem, and leaves are

delicate and tender organs; they are studded with millions of little

pores, covered with a membrane of delicate texture, easily lacerated.

When these delicate organs are rudely torn off or lacerated, the potato

immediately gives evidence of the encroachments of disease; it shrinks,

withers, and, although the soil abounds in all that is necessary for its

growth and future development, it is not in a fit state to carry on the

chemico-vital process. We often take the potato from the soil with a

view of preserving it for seed, without any definite knowledge of the

exact time of its maturity; as the season arrives for again replanting,

the fibres are torn off, and the potato itself is often cut up into two

or three pieces; sometimes, however, the smaller potatoes are used for

seed. Both practices are open to strong objection. Oftentimes the cut

surfaces of the potato are exposed to atmospheric air; evaporation

commences, they lose their firm texture, and are more fit for swine than

for planting.

The cause of the total destruction may exist in a loss of polarity! We

know that all organic and inorganic bodies are subject to the laws of

electricity--each has its polarity. Men who are engaged in mining can

testify that the stratification of the earth is alternately negative and

positive. The hemispheres of the earth are also governed by the same

law; for, if you take a magnetic needle and toss it up in this

hemisphere, which is negative, the positive end will come to the ground

first; but if you pass the magnetic equator, which crosses the common

equator in 23 deg. 28', and then toss the needle up, its negative end will

fall downwards. Hence we infer that the potato has a polarity, just as

man has; and this is the reason of their definite character. Take a

bean, and destroy its polarity by cutting it into several pieces, as you

do the potato, and all the men on earth cannot make it germinate and

grow to perfection. It will die just as a man will, if you destroy the

polarity of his brain by wounding it.

Take an egg, and destroy its polarity by making a small puncture through

it, and you can never get a chicken from it. A man or an animal will die

of locked-jaw, caused by a splinter entering the living organism; and

why? Because their electrical equilibrium, or their polarity is

destroyed. Some of our readers may desire to know how we can prove that

electricity plays a part in the germination and growth of animals and

vegetables. In verification of it, we will give a few examples. A dish

of salad may, by the aid of electricity, be raised in an hour. Hens'

eggs can be hatched by a similar process in a few hours, which would

require many days by animal heat. By the aid of electricity, water,

which consists of oxygen and hydrogen, may be decomposed, and its

elements set free. The poles of a galvanic battery may be applied to a

dead body, and that body made to imitate the functions of life.

And lastly, it is through the medium of electrical attraction which

bodies have for each other, that all the chemical compositions and

decompositions depend. Bodies must be in opposite states of electricity

in order to produce a result. Now, if the polarity of the potato is

destroyed in the manner we have just alluded to, or should it be

destroyed by coming in contact with the blade of a knife, _the latter

conducting off the electrical current_, or by any other means, it must

deteriorate. We are told that "the potato has several germinating

points, and that a part will grow just as well as the whole." Such

reasoning will not stand the test of common experience.

For example: the Almighty has endowed man with various faculties, and

the perfection of his organism depends on these faculties, as a whole.

Now, he may lose a leg, and yet be capable of performing the ordinary

duties of life; but this does not prove that he might not perform them

much better with both legs. So in reference to the potato. The fact of

its ability to reproduce its kind from a small portion of the whole--a

mere bud--should not satisfy us that a perfect germ is unnecessary. Then

the question arises, How shall we restore the original identity of this

valuable article of food?

We have, in the early part of this work, recommended the farmers to

study the laws of vegetable physiology. This will furnish them with the

right kind of information. We would, however, suggest to those who are

desirous of making experiments, to comply with the conditions already

alluded to, viz., plant a perfect germ, by which means the potato may be

improved. Yet, in order to restore its identity, we must commence by

germinating from the seed, and plant that on soil abounding in the

constituents necessary for its development. Elevated land abounding in

small stones, and hill sides facing the south, are the best situations.

Potatoes should never be cultivated on the same spot for two successive

years.

In relation to the insect theory, we would observe, that it throws no

light on the cause of the potato rot; for, in its gradual decay, that

vegetable undergoes various changes; the particles of which it is

composed assume new forms, and enter into new combinations; its

elementary substances are separated, giving birth to new compounds, some

of which result in an insect. We all know that animal and vegetable

bodies may remain in a state of putrefaction in water, and be dissolved

in the dust; yet some of their original atoms appear in a new system.

Hence the insect theory has no more to do with the cause of the potato

rot than the fungus.