REMEDY FOR THE POTATO DISEASE.

Otago Witness, Issue 571, 8 November 1862, Page 6

REMEDY FOR THE POTATO DISEASE.

(From the Yeoman.) The di=ease <• hich has so often of late years destroyed the potato crop in the United Kingdon does not appear to have leached Australia. Ai any rate, we have not heard of it, although po tatoes are often met with iv an unsound state Mr. Glenny, in a recent number of Lloyd's News paper, gives the following as a " eeitai'n reinedv" for this destructive disease. As to the notion that the disease is tvused by electricity, we do not believe in it. Scientific men and others arc ton apt, when they meet with anything which they cannot understand or comprehend, to ascribe ii to the influence of electliuity. if e'eutricitv causes the disease, wl.y is it so little known here, and how dots it happyu that it was unknown in the days of our fathers, '{ In Australia there is as much electricity as in En-laud, and there was undoubtedly as much electricity in former times as in the present day :—: — The greatest ruins aie just now being taken to cet up a potato panic. A'ow let us for the tuentiethperhaps the fiftieth —lime in this paper tell the growers how to save the crop, if it really be attacks . Mow the haulm down clo c before 'it spreads JSot that we believe a woid about ifc (the panic) • but if the remedy bo proclaimed i.ir and near, it' wih counteract the -\ lie attempt, to raibu the prices, bucausethe remedy is certain, and tliu worst that'can happen is, that if the potatoes are not full grown ther. «ili bo a Jess crop, but not the less sound. Tin di&en&e alwujs makes its appearanc-i on the ton of tin. plant. If it be neglected, ir. sinks down to tin: rout as certain as a mortified limb spreads through tinwhole frame. The lops are decomposed by electricity, and if not removed, produce putidtty and death • for if wtiea they aie dug there be only two or three potatoes appaiently afiecte I, aud one-lulf look per fectly sound, they will nave taken th- poison, and g oft one after another in &lore. Here is the uiibtaKe nlnch many have m ide when combating what they pl-ase to cill out- dmrma. They dispute our as sertion that it is electricity out of uW.s, because they sty Katctcksp.uu.ue- ne.i in the htoie-lioiiNcs a t«. th«y Inve be. v put away sound. Tim fact is. that it the poison h•» r aclie.l any of the 'über^ it hatainted them all; aud however sound some of them may appear, th y w 11, y oner or late-r, be atf-ct.-d >!. re is no secu ity uuJess the instant tlu attac is noticed, the plant should be cut fown. it will be seen, then, th.it the di.tase might attack tiie potato very exten.ively without cm-ing any alarm, and i: is almost criminal to m gleet so safe and cer'ain a remedy. It is true that the tubers clo not swell much after the operatio i, hut the disease rarely attackb them u.ilii they la/c att'iined the greater part of their growth. ••' Half a lo»f is hotter than no bread ;" so halt a crop sjuni h bettor than a whole one rotten.

Bheakino Flax.— E. Brobier, of Deptf.rd. Eu • land, patenfee. This invention consisN in bioakii-'--and drawing the fibres of il ix and hemp between two ttut-d rollers of ditferent di.uneteis, which have an alternate back and forth mo'iou. Th.se du'w th" s ivers of flax to their fu 1 length in one d.r ctiotucn reverse aud pass them buckwar Is, and go on ' until the fibres are sep^ated aud the s-hive or woody portions are completely boken.—ScientiJic A mar icon Counting tiie Chickens— ln le*, than a month we shall have over a million of soldiers in the fluid and an immense iron-clad navy afloat. We s) m ii then show Europe how to crush out a rebellion in a sty eof unprecedented quickness a»d completeness. Iv three months (the old " niuefcv days ") theie will be no rebel armies left.— Sew York Herald, Aug (i Curious Arrest oi> a Miskr in London.- -a policeman made a strange arrest the other evening in the neighborhood of Wldtechapel. He saw a wretched-looking old man, clad in raus,and tottering along, apparently overburdenel by sjinething whicfi he carried about him. He questioned him, and as the old man resented his interference, be took him to Leman-street police station. There the superintendent on duty, having got over the first sensations of disgust which the appearance and odour of the captive created, had the old man searched, and the result was that a sum of nearly £200 was f >imd upon him, the greater part of it in si'ver. Hi 3 story was, that he had saved the whole of this, and, fea ing to trust it anywhere else, had wrapped it up in rags, and carried ifc about, with him. The story had turned out to be true, and with some difficulty the old man was induced to go to tiie Bank of England to exchange hi 3 money for notes. Here Jus appearance and ttie condition of the money were so nasty, that the , cashiers for once declined to receive it. Their scruples were, however, overcome, and ultimately the old maVwas'indueed to entrust his savings to Sir &. Cardea for investment, — Scettihun,