204 



Humboldt, the Prussian Philosopher, says — "The cultivation of the 

 potato has become common in New Zealand and Japan, in the Islanrl 

 of Java — in the Boutan and in Bengal. Its cultivation extends from 

 the extremity of Africa to Labrador, Iceland and Lapland. It ifi a 

 very interesting spectacle, to see a plant descended from the mountains 

 under the Equator, advance toward the Pole, and resist, better than the 

 cereal gramina, all the colds of the north." 



Potatoes were introduced into Ireland by Sir Walter Raleigh, in 1600. 

 He had planted a colony in Virginia, by patent from Queen Elizabeth, 

 and found the potato used as an edible root, among the Indians of that 

 country. In Ireland, the cultivation of the potato was for a long time 

 confined to gardens, but its valuable quahties becoming known, it soon 

 spread over the Island, and was expoited to foreign countiies. In 1650 

 a vessel freighted with potatoes, sailed from Dublin for London, but was 

 driven by stress of weather, into Formsby, in Lancashire, where the 

 cargo was discharged, and Lancashire was the first county of England, 

 in which potatoes Mere extensively cultivated ; and it is famous at the 

 present day for its excellent crops of that nutricious root. 



A Physician, named Charles de T Ecluse, introduced potatoes into 

 Flanders or Belgium in 1660, but theii- excellence as an article of food, 

 was not at first suflicieutly appreciated, and they had only reached the 

 gardens of Bruges in 1704, when a landed proprietor of the name of 

 Venhulst, distributed a large quantity of them gratis — this caused their 

 rapid and extensive cultivation by the farmers and gardenei's of that 

 country. 



The Continent of Korth America is said to have been originally sup- 

 plied from Peru. 



THE CULTIVATION OF THE POTATO. 



Having seen that the potato had its origin among the volcanic val- 

 leys and recesses of the Andes, where it no doubt has existed since the 

 creation, I have traced the manner of its introduction among the na- 

 tions of the earth, and I will now describe the mode in which it ha.s 

 been most successfully cultivated. 



1 have had twenty-five years extensive practice in raising jx>tatoes, 

 and the lessons that I have learned from that rigid preceptor, experience, 

 cannot fail to bo of use to Michigan Farmers. 



