92 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



from South America, about the same time. In all probability the 

 Papists who early had a strong footing in that quarter of the globe, 

 transmitted the root to the Pope. In those times it had a great 

 reputation for aphrodisiac properties and was especially avoided 

 by those who made vows of celibacy. 



It is somewhat remarkable that in nearly every State in Europe 

 its introduction met with great opposition; even as late as 1723, 

 its use was interdicted in some of the German States, , being 

 accused of producing dysentery and leprosy. To scarcity and 

 famine was its introduction due. 



In 1663, the Royal Society of England took measures to en- 

 courage the cultivation of this vegetable to prevent famine ; yet 

 in the popular agricultural publications of England, as late as 

 ni9 — a hundred years or more after its introduction — it is hardly 

 noticed. 



Says Cobbett's " Poor Man's Friend": " It was during the old 

 American war that the poor people of England and Ireland began 

 to eat potatoes as something to save bread. The poorest of the 

 people, the very poorest of them, refused for a while to use them." 

 In 1822, Mr. Wakefield, an English writer says : " The misery 

 and degredation of the Irish were chiefly owing to the use of the 

 potato as the sole food of the people." Ilanning made a still strong- 

 er assertion when he declared that "the Irish laborers ate only 

 potatoes for breakfast, for dinner, and for supper." In a " Treatise 

 on Cottage Economy," the author advises above all things to 

 abandon the use of " Ireland's lazy root." Dr. Drennan adds : 

 "It is the root of slovenliness, filth, misery and slavery." 



The' period of its introduction into the British North American 

 colonies is not precisely known. Whether Admiral Raleigh when 

 he discovered that part of America called Norombega, became 

 acquainted with the potato, or whether it was s^nt to him by one 

 of the first Governors of Virginia, is uncertain. It is first mentioned 

 as one of the cultivated products of Virginia and Georgia in 1648, 

 and among the products of New York and New England in 1749. 



In its wild state, it is a watery, bitter, unwholesome plant, with 

 tubers rarely an inch in diameter, or exceeding half an ounce in 

 weight. Its flower is white. The skin of the tubers are either 

 red or yellow, but never variegated. 



The " New American Cyclopaedia" says "there are two princi- 

 pal varieties, as shown in the color of the tubers." 



