192 ANNUAL REPORT 



HISTORY OF THE POTATO AND ITS DISEASES. 



By a. S. Johnson, of Chili Station, N. Y. 



The potato is a native of the mountainous district of South 

 America. It had been cultivated in America, and its tubers used 

 for food long anterior to the discovery of this country by the 

 Europeans, and is regarded as one of the greatest gifts of America 

 to the old world. It seems to have been first introduced into 

 Europe by the Spaniards, from the neighborhood of Quito, in the 

 beginning of the sixteenth century, and spread from Spain into the 

 Netherlands, Burgundy and Italy; but it was cultivated more as a 

 curiosity than an article of food. 



About the year 1587, Sir Walter Raleigh's vessels carried to 

 Europe from his possessions in Virginia, corn, tobacco and pota- 

 toes. The potatoes were largely introduced in Ireland and their 

 cultivation encouraged, for it had begun to be believed that they 

 might be used with advantage for feeding cattle and swine, also as 

 food for the poorer classes, in case of famine or a failure of the grain 

 crop. With this idea in mind, the Royal Horticultural Society of 

 England, in 1663. adopted measures for extending its cultivation; 

 soon afterwards Germany, seeing the advantage and success of its 

 use, became interested and in some portions of the country pro- 

 moted its growth by compulsory regulations. The potato, how- 

 ever, made slow progress, and was not grown much as a field crop 

 until the latter end of the seventeenth century; in fact, the time 

 when large farmers raised only a few bushels a year is yet within 

 the recollection of some still living. 



The first varieties grown in the United States were brought from 

 Europe;*;but no variety then cultivated, would at the present time, 

 be considered fit for the table; and not much efi'ort was made for 

 a number of years to improve it in any respect. The English 

 white andjflesh colored are the first varieties of my remembrance. 

 Farmers usedjto grow about what they thought sufficient for their 



