and on its Introduction into Europe, 159 



spontaneously in Mexico ; and this derives probability from the 

 fact, that the early travellers enumerate it among the useful na- 

 tural productions of Terra Firma. 



However, the South American origin of this precious vegetable 

 is established beyond a doubt. The late Dr. Baldwin of the U. S* 

 navy, a learned botanist, in a letter to Dr. Darlington, dated on 

 board of the U. S. ship Congress at sea, July 7, 1818, thus 

 writes : " I do not recollect that I informed you, in any of my 

 preceding letters, of my finding the Solanum tuberosum indige- 

 nous about Montevideo and Maldonado. This is the fact, al- 

 though it is unknown to the inhabitants, who inform you that 

 they cannot cultivate the common noble plant.''^ — Reliquia Bald- 

 iviniancBj p. 273. 



The evidences of Dr. Baldwin^s discovery were exhibited to the 

 botanists of Philadelphia on his return from the voyage above 

 alluded to : these were tubers of the plant. They were examined 

 by a committee of the American Philosophical Society, composed 

 of Joseph Correa de Serra, Zaccheus Collins and Dr. William P. 

 C. Barton. The tubers were planted by Mr. Collins, and their 

 vegetation proved the species. Tubers were likewise given by 

 Dr. Baldwin to an excellent practical botanist. Col. Robert Carr, 

 the proprietor of the Bartram Botanic Garden near Philadelphia; 

 and Col. Carr was equally successful in the cultivation of them. 

 It is to be regretted that the respectable gentlemen who com- 

 posed the committee of the American Philosophical Society did 

 not give publicity to their investigations. If they had done so, 

 they would have prevented a doubt which arose in the minds of 

 the European botanists as to the accuracy of Dr. Baldwin^s de- 

 cision ; a doubt resulting from the belief that the usual satisfac- 

 tory evidence of specimens had not been supplied by him. Col. 

 Carr has informed me, that the tubers above mentioned corre- 

 sponded as to their size and aspect with those figured in the 

 work which I shall now speak of. 



In the first volume of the ' Transactions of the Horticultural 

 Society of London,' a Society famed for its beneficial labours and 

 splendid publications, there is a communication entitled ''An 

 attempt to ascertain the time when the Potato {Solanum tubero^ 

 sum) was first introduced into the United Kingdom," written by 

 Sir Joseph Banks, and read to the Society the 7th of May 1805. 

 The conclusion of the learned author was, that " the potato now 

 in use was brought to England (from Virginia) by the colonists 

 sent out by Sir Walter Baleigh in the year 1586." This opi- 

 nion, which appears to be prevalent, shall be the subject of com- 

 ment by and by. In the fifth volume of the same ' Transactions ' 

 there is a paper under the following title : '' On the native coun- 

 try of the Wild Potato, with an account of its culture in the Gar- 



