her the appearance of its worst
symptoms, seems to depend very much on the mode of management adopted
after the potatoes are raised. A friend of ours in Mid-Lothian, who
has paid much attention to agriculture, has saved nearly the whole of
his crop, by careful attention to the dryness of the roots when
heaped, by keeping these heaps small and frequently turned, and, above
all, by judicious ventilation _through them_. A neighbouring farmer,
who had an immense crop, but who did not avail him of any of these
precautions, has suffered most severely.

One letter which we have received is of great importance, as it
details the means by which an affected crop has been preserved. We
think it our duty to make the following extract, premising that the
writer is an eminent practical farmer in the south of Scotland:--"I
had this year a large crop of potatoes, but my fields, like those of
my neighbours, did not escape the epidemic. On its first appearance, I
directed my serious attention to the means of preserving the crop.
Though inclined to impute the complaint to a deeper cause than the
wetness of the season, I conceived that damp would, as a matter of
course, increase any tendency to decay, and I took my measures
accordingly. Having raised my potatoes, I caused all the sound ones,
which seemed free from spot and blemish, to be carefully picked by the
hand; and, having selected a dry situation in an adjoining field, I
desired them to be heaped there in quantities, none of which exceeded
a couple of bolls. The method of pitting them was this:--On a dry
foundation we placed a layer of potatoes, which we covered with sandy
mould, though I don't doubt straw would do as well; above that,
another layer, also covered; and so on, keeping the potatoes as
separate from each other as possible. We then thatched and covered
them over as usual with straw, leaving ventilators on the top. I have
had them opened since, and there is no trace whatever of any decay,
which I attribute to the above precautions, as others in the
neighbourhood, whose potatoes grew in exactly similar soil, have lost
great part of their crop by heaping them in huge masses. Ventilation,
you may depend upon it, is a great preservative. I have, I think,
arrested the complaint even in affected potatoes, by laying them out
(not heaping them) on a dry floor, in a covered place where there is a
strong current of air. They are not spoiling _now_; and when the
unsound parts are c