THE POTATO — SAFFORD 517 



plqnts arriving at maturity Sir Walter's old jiarilener, availiiiic himself of the 

 privileges of his situation, gathered some of the fruit, or " potato apples," as 

 they are now called, and tasted them. Those of our readers who have eaten 

 of this particularly unpalatable and unwholesome production will feel no 

 wonder that the ire of the old man should have been raised. Breaking in 

 unceremoniously on his master's studies he exclaimed : " If this is your fine 

 foreign fruit, I would not give it garden room, not I." " Well," said Sir 

 Walter," " if it is as bad as you say, dig it up at once ; but if you find any 

 roots worth looking at bring them to me." It is, perhaps, needless to say that 

 the roots proved very well woi'th examining. 



THE DRAKE LEGEND 



The famous English admiral, Francis Drake, deserves the credit for the 

 introduction of the potato into Europe. On his return from Virginia in 1580 

 he brought thence the potato with him. * * * Wishing to domesticate it 

 in England, he not only gave some of the tubers to John Gerard but also 

 handed a part of them to his own gardener, telling him to plant the precious 

 fruit in his garden. * * * When the seed apples ripened the gardener tasted 

 tlicm and threw them away in disgust. Bringing a few of these apples to the 

 admiral, he asked sarcastically, "Is this, then, the famous fruit from Amer- 

 ica? " The admiral rei>lied with feigned gravity, " Very well, if you believe the 

 plant to be worthless pull it up, roots and all, before it spoils the garden." 

 The gardener did as he was bid ; but to his surprise luider each plant he 

 found a considerable number of tubers of the same form as those he had 

 laid in the earth the previous spring. 



That the Raleigh legend was generally accepted as true is sliown 

 by Rev. Francis Mahoney in his celebrated Reliques of Father 

 Prout, the frontispiece of which represents the first planting of the 

 potato in Ireland with Sir Walter, pipe in month, as the central 

 figure. Under the heading of " Father Front's Carousal," the 

 attention of Sir Walter Scott, who is represented as a guest, is called 

 to the potato. In handing it to him Knapp, the mayor of Cork, 

 makes the following speech : 



Sir Walter, as it has been my distinguished lot — a circumstance that con- 

 fers everlasting glory on my mayoralty — to have had the honor of presenting 

 you yesterday with the freedom of the coi-poration of Cork, allow me to pre- 

 sent you with our next best thing, a potato. 



Sir Walter Scott : 



I have received with pride the municipal franchise and I now accept with 

 equal gratitude the more substantial gift handed me in this capital esculent 

 of your happy country. 



Father Prout : 



Our round towers. Sir W^alter, come from the east, as wiU one day be 

 proved ; but our potatoes come from the west ; Persia sent us one, and Virginia 

 the other. We are a glorious people. Two hemisplu-res minister to our his- 

 toric recollections; and if we look back on our annals, we get drunk with 

 glory. * * * 



TC.OJl— 26 34 



