CHAP. VI.] POTATO. 141 



them to a hothouse or greenhouse (according to 

 the season) to fruit. Sometimes they are sown 

 in the earth of the hotbed, and fruited there 

 like cucumbers. The dwarf kidneybean is a 

 native of India, and was introduced before the 

 time of Gerard; but the scarlet runner is a 

 native of South America, and was not intro- 

 duced till 1633, when it was at first only culti- 

 vated in the flower-garden as an ornamental 

 plant, and it is treated as such by all the early 

 writers on flowers. 



The Potato is a native of South America; 

 but it was first brought to England, by Sir 

 Walter Raleigh, from Virginia. It was hence 

 called the Potato of Virginia : and it was, at 

 its first introduction, thought very inferior to 

 the Convolvulus Batatas, which was called 

 the Spanish Potato; and to the Jerusalem 

 Artichoke, which was called the Potato of 

 Canada, from its having been first taken from 

 South America to Canada, before it was brought 

 to England. About twenty or thirty sorts of 

 the common potato are now cultivated for the 

 table ; but so large a quantity is wanted in 

 almost every family, that few persons attempt 

 to grow their main crop in a garden. A few 

 early potatoes are, however, frequently grown, 

 even in small gardens, and the best of these is 

 decidedly the ash-leaved kidney. The soil for 

 potatoes should be a deep sandy loam, on a dry 

 subsoil ; the ground should be trenched, and 

 rotten dung dug into the trenches, as few crops 

 are more exhausting to the soil. The potatoes 

 to be planted should be then cut into what are 

 called sets, each set containing a bud or eye. 



