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XIV. The Scientific Investigation of the Potato Blight in 1845–6

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2016

P.M. Austin Bourke
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Extract

The assessment of the contribution of Garrett Hugh FitzGerald to the search for an antidote to potato blight, as put forward by Mr T. P. O’Neill in his article on the scientific investigation of the potato failure of 1845—6, needs to be revised, if only to do justice to Robert Kane.

FitzGerald wrote to a local newspaper on 9 March 1846, suggesting, as a result of experiments he had made in search of a cure for potato blight, that seed potatoes should be steeped before planting in a solution of bluestone (copper sulphate). In February and March of the same year he wrote two letters on the subject to the chief secretary for Ireland. These letters were forwarded for consideration to the relief commission, of which Robert Kane was the scientific member.

Type
Historical revision
Information
Irish Historical Studies , Volume 13 , Issue 49 , March 1962 , pp. 26 - 32
Copyright
Copyright © Irish Historical Studies Publications Ltd 1962

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References

1 O’Neill, T.P., ‘The scientific investigation of the failure of the potato crop in Ireland’,1845-6, in I.H.S., v. 123-38 (1946)Google Scholar.

2 Limerick Chronicle,14 Mar. 1846.

3 O’Neill, loc. cit., p. 136.

4 Poor Law Inquiry (Ireland), , G. H., 1836, xxxiii, Appendix F, pp.232, 279Google Scholar.

5 Gardeners’ Chronicle, 1845, P. 767 (15 Nov.).

6 Prize essays on the potato, and the causes of the late partial failures (Royal Dublin Society, 1835)Google Scholar.

7 Hickey, B.H., ‘On the potato’, in Irish Farmers’ and Gardeners’Magazine, ii (1), pp. 18–19 (1835)Google Scholar.

8 ‘Remarks on the recent failure of the potato crop’, in Quarterly Journal of Agriculture, v, 590–594 (1834-5)Google Scholar.

9 Morren, C., Instructiones populaires sur les moyens de combattre et détruire la maladie actuelle des pommes de terre (Brussels, 1845)Google Scholar. English abstract in Journal of Agriculture, July 1846, pp. 349-53.

10 Gardeners’Chronicle, 1845, p. 625.

11 Ibid., 1845.

12 Ibid., 1845, p. 639 (20 Sept.).

13 Ibid., 1846, p. 179 (21 Mar.).

14 Irish Farmers’Journal, 1846, p. 650 (26 Aug.).

15 Pethybridge, H. G., ‘Investigations on potato diseases (third report)’, in Department of Agriculture Bulletin, xii (2), p. 340 (1912)Google Scholar.

16 Pethybridge, H. G., ‘ Investigations on potato diseases (fourth report)’, in Department of Agriculture Bulletin, xiii (3), p. 450 (1913)Google Scholar.

17 Gardeners’ Chronicle, 1846, p. 582 (29 Aug.), p. 643 (26 Sept.).

18 Ibid., 1846, p. 598 (5 Sept.).

19 Ibid., 1847, p. 125 (20 Feb.); Irish Farmers’journal (newspaper section), 1847 (24 Feb.).

20 Irish Farmers’ journal, 1846, p. 656 (26 Aug.).

21 Gardeners’ Chronicle,1846, p. 349 (23 May).

22 Irish Farmers’ Journal, 1846, p. 574 (29 July).

23 Gardeners’ Chronicle, 1846, p. 499 (25 July).

24 Report of select committee of the house of commons on thepotato crop, 1880, , C. H., 1880, xii, 20 Google Scholar.

25 Large, E.G., The advance of the fungi (1940), ch. XVII Google Scholar.