The Dying Potato.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XVI, Issue 5579, 26 September 1889, Page 4

The Dying Potato.

. — ♦— Thtsre ia an artlole in tho Oornhill Mftgazine for July which is calculated to strike terror into evory domestic household. Tho potato, we are assured, is n doomed plant — dyin" out from sheer old age. Its growing feebleness is shown by its increasing liability to disease and pests of various kinds -from the fungus that caused the Irish famine to the Colorado beetle, which has achieved so much notoriety of late years. The anise of the alarming decrepitude which lms befallen " this favorite esculent," .is the old-fashioned cookery hooka say, is easily accounted for by botanists. It is all owing, they tell us, to the fact that we don't grow the potato trom seed In effect we grow it from a cutting. The tuber or the cut fragment of one winch a hardener puts in the ground about tins time of year is in reality an undeveloped branch of the old potato vine, which has died down to the ground. Looked at in t'lis light all the potatoes in the world are probably parts of two or three individual potatoes, "and may very likely be ultimately developed from a single good gardeners' variety of the 17th or 18th century. Concerning this mode of propagation the writer in tho Cornhill grimly observes tiat its true animal analogy would be found if we could cut off a gouty leg and g ow a new man from it with all the constitutional faults and failings of the enfeebled and aged first possessor, wonder the mildew and Colorado beetle find an easy prey in this solanaceous dotard. Naturally in our despair we t im to the scientists and ask them if there is no remedy for this state of things; If the only way of getting a vigorous stock is by crossing and seeding, as they tell us, cannot we at once set matters right by saving our potato seed, and .saving it as we would onions? Alas where are we to get the seed ? If we take seed from two of the flowers, they are mere B ; ster blossoms of the same decayed and decrepid stock, and their seeding* in turn start life with decayed constitutions, due to so much "breeding in and in." The only hope is that the botanists- may be able to discover the "fountain head" of the potato— the original from which it sprung, and then reinvigorate the stock with that. With this object they are experimenting witli various allied South American solanums, with a view of bringing back some of the primitive vigor to the existing stock. Finally they tell us that threatened men live long, and that they hope the potato may struggle on, in spite of its increasing infirmities, for a few hundred years or so. If the worst comes to the worst, wo in these colonies can fall back on the kuinara, bo dear to the Maori— we were going to say heart, but probably this is not anatomically correct.

The appeal to Parliament in the ' Nineteenth Century' for June against the enactment of a woman suffrage law, and signed by Mrs Humphry Ward and others, has had the effect of producing a flood of papers on the subject in nearly all the English reviews for July. Most of them favor woman suffrage. Tho evils of gambling were discussed at some length at the meeting of the Canterbury Diocesan Conference held in July last. Lord Hardinge, one of the speakers, expressed a doubt as to whether legislation could check the evil. Ho pointed out that the other day, when the police made a raid on a gambling hell, all the people arrested got off, except the man who kept the place. He could not say, he added, that there was less gambling amongst the upper classes ; round games were played in most country houses, and often for high stakes. He himself once played whilst with an eminent bishop, who did not think it wrong, and lie (the speaker) did not think it wrong because he was playing with a bishop. — (Laughter.) There was no doubt, however, that betting was very prevalent. The recent turf scandals have revealed painful circumstances. People said the turf would be purified. He did not believe anything of the sort. The turf would be nearly as bad as ever, and malpractices would still go on. No doubt the members of the Jockey Club were all honorable men, but they were powerless to check these malpractices. What were the remedies ! The Legislature would never do much. The influence of the pulpit should be made to expose these vices, and parents should set a good example to children ; and when the clergy preached against it they must not mince matters, but call a spade a spade. — (Cheers.) Gambling was dishonest, and the man who stood to lose money which he knew he could not pay was as dishonest as the man who stole a leg of mutton from a butcher's shop. The Melbourne Age contains an account of a great Salvation Army meeting held in the Melbourne Town Hall, the occasion being for the purpose of bidding farewell to Commissioner and Mrs Howard prior to their departure for England as well as to Colonel Barker, who was making a temporary visit to headquarters. There were 3000 Salvationists present during the evening. A tea at which 2000 persons were seated was held. This was followed by music and singing till half-past 7 o'clock, when the public meeting was opened. The hall at this period presented a most animated appearance, the floor, balconies, and galleries being a mass of brilliant color, from the scarlet uniforms of the closely packed soldiers. The great hall was decorated with banners. A powerful brass brand played by females was stationed on the orchestral steps. On the platform were prominent Salvationists. Great enthusiasm was created by an address by Commissioner Howard. Commissioner Howard, who is being recalled by General Booth to undertake an important command, arrived in Australia five years ago. Owing to the rapid growth of the Salvation Army in tho colonies, it was decided that he should remain and be endowed with head command over the whole territory. To give an idea of the vastness of this association in Australia it may be mentioned that there are now over 900 officers and 16,000 rank and file in the "army." Its landed property is valued at LIOO,OOO, it worships in 775 buildings, and possesses among other institutions eight Rescued Sisters' Homes, and five Prison Gate Brigade Homes. The circulation of its organ, the War Cry, is about 100,000 per week.