secretary's budget. 349 



to aid in planting a colony there. The most probable theory to my mind 

 is, that Sir Francis Drake, returnin": from explorations in the Pacific 

 Ocean, coasted along the western shores of South America, one of the 

 native habitats of the potato, and while in that region procured some 

 of the tubers which he carried with him to England. On his home- 

 ward voyage, he touched on the shores of Virginia, and took off the 

 discouraged colonists and conveyed them back to the mother country- 

 If this is correct, then this introduction probably occurred as early as 

 1565, this being the date of Drake's return from the west. The potato 

 was doubtless known to Europeans at an earlier date, as Columbus, 

 during one of his voyages, found a root cultivated on the island of Cuba,, 

 that was used for food by the natives, and this was no doubt the po- 

 tato. 



Early European voyagers and travelers found the potato growing 

 in the Andean forests and along the Pacific coasts on both sides of the 

 equator, through several degrees of latitude. It was also found in cul- 

 tivation, the natives testifying that it had been in cultivation as an ar- 

 ticle of diet from time immemorial. Spanish and Portuguese adven- 

 turers probably introduced the potato into those countries at a very 

 early day, whence it probably made its way into Italy. It is quite cer- 

 tain that it was cultivated in Spain as early as 1550. The time of its 

 introduction into Ireland, where it has become so important as an ar- 

 ticle of food that a general failure of the crop results in a famine, is in 

 dispute, some claiming that it was from Spain by a sea captain in 1565,- 

 others that it was procured from Raleigh in England. 



Germany received the potato in 1710. The government gave great 

 encouragement to its culture, even using compulsory means in some 

 instances, to promote its cultivation. Its importance in Germany as an 

 article of diet is. second only to what it is in Ireland. In France, where 

 the potato was introduced at the beginning of the 18lh century, it had 

 to fight its way to popularity against great opposition. The National 

 College of Physicians pronounced it poisonous. The Catholic priests 

 pronounced it an evil root because it was not mentioned in the Bible 



Through the address of a courtier King Louis XIV. was interested 

 in the plant, and it was introduced into the royal garden?. The exam- 

 ple of the sovereign was followed by the nobles and thus it soon became 

 popular. 



It seems strange to us that a plant that has so many qualities to 

 commend it should have required 250years to make its way to general 

 popularity, but such is the case ; and it was not till the beginning of 

 the present century that it came to be appreciated as its merits de- 

 serve. — ReV' L. J. Templin in Rural New Yorker. 



