Alexandria Gazette

THE POTATO ROT
We are sorry to be under the necessity of announcing that the peculiar malady which was so generally fatal to the potato last season in distant sections, has this year made its appearance with equal destruction here.
The disease appears to have commenced its blighted work here at exactly the same period that it was first observed in Delaware, some account of which was given in our last paper, to the effect that almost the entire crop in that section was being destroyed. The same is actually the case here. It was first observed at the close of week before last, when, as we are informed by a practical gentleman who discovered it in his own fields and has since marked its progress, only a comparatively small number of the potatoes showed signs of the decay; but all have since more or less been affected—so much so indeed, that often in digging below the vine not a vestige of the root is to be seen. The progress of the malady is such that it may at first be discovered by the emission of a most disagreeable smell from the beds, simultaneously with which the under leaves of the vines are found to be dying. The root itself, after first becoming specked, collapses into a black, watery pulp, which finally (in the course of only two or three days) appears to be entirely absorbed in the earth, leaving not a vestige in the hill of what formerly promised a rich yield to the planter. We have heard even of much and very sudden rot to the potato after having been dug. The potatoes in general, too, when used, appear not to be of good quality. We hear of the same being the case in Virginia.—Georgetown Advocate.