that every year the growth is weaker,
less true, and less profitable. It is so all through, but is especially
the case with Potatoes. We do not say that all who save their own seed
act unwisely, for some are most expert in the business. But we do say
that seed saving is not learned in a day, and many who think they save
shillings when they save seeds, actually lose pounds by burdening
themselves with a bad article. The art of 'roguing'--the elimination of
plants which are untrue to type--is but one part of the seed-saving
process. There is the proper storing, the selecting and sorting
operations, to which eyes and hands must be trained, and there must be
no scruple about the sacrifice of false, immature or diseased samples.
The point we have in view is to advise the Potato grower to be sure of
his seed, and when a doubt arises as to the purity and healthiness of
the sample at command, it may be remembered that the seed merchant
practises methods of purgation for insuring perfectly true stocks, while
by growing in many different districts, and on diverse soils, he can
furnish an admirable change of seed for any description of land.

==The Potato Disease.==--The culture of Potatoes cannot be dismissed
without allusion to the destructive fungus which is never absent in dry
seasons, and in wet summers does its deadly work on a vast scale.
Scientific men have acquainted us with the history of the Potato fungus,
and this may eventually result in as efficient a remedy as that which
renewed the vineyards of France. Such a remedy for the Potato murrain
has yet to be discovered. Meanwhile, we must continue to resist the foe
with the plough, spade, draining tool, and above all with a wise
selection of sorts. It is an acknowledged fact that many Potatoes that
have been cultivated for a long time appear to have lost their vigour,
and are liable to succumb to the disease; but several kinds that have
been raised from seed in recent years possess a constitution which
almost defies the virulent assaults of the =Phytophthora infestans=.
Since the introduction of Sutton's Magnum Bonum Potato there has been a
disposition to believe in 'Disease-proof Potatoes.' There is no such
thing absolutely, and perhaps there never will be, any more than there
is a disease-proof wheat, or dog, or horse, or man. But some varieties
of Potatoes are known to be more susceptible to the ravages of disease
than others, and it has been one of our aims to secure