230 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



hurts corn to lioe it, but I think the same amount of labor put on with the 

 cultivator is more economical of time, and does more good. A few words in 

 regard to late cultivation. I find a number of good farmers believe in it. In 

 riding through the country after harvest you frequently see a horse in a corn 

 field, with a man and cultivator behind him. If these men would go into a 

 corn field after a heavy shower, where the soil is washed down the hill side, 

 they would find the ground between the rows completely covered with a per- 

 fect network of fine, fibrous, white roots. What are they doing there? Are 

 they looking for a sharp piece of steel to cut and mangle them? I think not. 

 I think they are looking for nourishment and moisture for the plant growing 

 above them. 



POTATO CULTUEE. 



BY G. W. MILLER. 

 [Reaa at GreenviUe Institute.] 



Mr. President and Brother Farmers, — I present my essay to you at 

 this time with a good deal of reluctance. I know my inability to do the sub- 

 ject justice. It is a subject that has never received the attention by the farm- 

 ers that it deserves. But very little, comparatively, has been said and written 

 abo«t this important plant that figures so conspicuously in the welfare of 

 nearly the whole populated world, as well as nearly every individual family. 

 There is no other plant so universally grown among the people, whether rich 

 or poor, as the potato, and yet very few grow it for profit. In order to under- 

 stand our subject better I will review the history of the potato and its manner 

 of introduction. The potato is a native of our own country, and was probably 

 first found in the mountainous districts of tropical America. It differs but 

 very little in its wild state from our cultivated potatoes, except that it is 

 smaller. The potato was probably cultivated for food by the natives long 

 before the discovery of America by the Europeans. 



It was first taken to Europe by the Spaniards in the beginning of the six- 

 teenth century, and about the middle of the same century it was taken to 

 Ireland and England, where it remained to be cultivated only as a garden 

 curiosity, and not as an article of food. In 1G23 it was a third time imported 

 from America by Sir Walter Kaleigh, who imagined that it might be used with 

 advantage for feeding swine and cattle, and after a while that it might be use- 

 ful for feeding poor people in time of famine. It was not until the seven- 

 teenth century that any measures were adopted to extend its cultivation. 



Ireland was the first country to take the lead, the potato having already 

 come into cultivation there to an extent far greater than in any other country, 

 and with great advantage to the people. Other countries saw the manifold 

 benefits that Ireland received from its culture, so that by the middle of the 

 eighteenth century it had become quite important as a field crop, but in some 

 places the people were so prejudiced against it that its cultivation had to be 

 promoted by compulsory regulation. It was not until the beginning of the 

 present century that it became recognized as a good article of food for the 

 human family. 



