60 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 



ploy it — to garnish dishes and flavor viands — but to bestrew 

 tombs. It was thought to be associated with the powers of 

 evil, and an ancient historian attributes a certain panic that 

 befell a Greek army to some mules laden with the unlucky 

 herb. According to the folk-lore of the Old World, the devil 

 takes tithe of its seed, and a bed sown to parsley is accordingly 

 believed to come up one-tenth short. To cut parsley, the 

 superstitious say, may cause one to be crossed in love; while 

 to transplant it is a sure fore-runner of ill fortune. 



Corn, the most distinctly American of all our vegetables, 

 is, appropriately enough, of American origin, but strange to 

 say no one knows the particular country of its nativity, for 

 white men have never found it growing wild. The evidence 

 points to Mexico or Peru as its probable first home. It was 

 a cultivated plant among the Indians upon the discovery of 

 America, and it is from them that the knowledge of its use- 

 fulness has been obtained. 



Of American origin too, are potatoes, both sweet and 

 white, though, as in the case of corn, it is not definitely known 

 from what particular section the original stock of either came. 

 The Spaniards found the sweet potato in cultivation by the 

 aborigines of tropical America; and enjoying its chestnutty 

 flavor when boiled, they brought specimens home to Spain 

 about the year 1519. Thence it was carried to other European 

 countries, becoming known there before the white potato — the 

 roots, steeped in wine or made into sweetmeats, being regarded 

 as restoratives of lost strength. The potato of literature, until 

 the middle of the seventeenth century, was always the sweet. 



The elevated valleys of Chile, Peru, and Mexico were 

 probably the cradle of the white potato. It was in extensive 

 cultivation by the Indians in Columbus' day and it is believed 

 to have been transported from Peru to Spain early in the six- 

 teenth century. Authorities differ as to its introduction into 

 England, but perhaps the credit is due to Sir Francis Drake 



