8 THE POTATO. 



Introduction of the Potato into Scotland. 



In the excerpt culled from the " Treasury of Botany," it is 

 stated that the potato was first_grpwn in Scotland in 1725. 

 The " Scottish Field," however, in reviewing our " Vege- 

 tables and their Cultivation," wherein we repeated this 

 fact, controverts our statement. It says: " The potato is 

 here stated not to have been introduced into Scotland 

 prior to 1725, when there are several known instances of its 

 having been grown earlier, the Duchess of Buccleugh hav- 

 ing paid 2s. 6d. to a neighbour for a peck in 1701, and in 

 1683, Sir George Mackenzie's gardener published details 

 of its cultivation and treatment generally." We are glad 

 to be able to rectify the error, and to record the additional 

 facts supplied by the " Scottish Field." Phillips, in his 

 " History of Cultivated Vegetables," records that 

 " Thomas Prentice, a day labourer, first planted potatoes 

 in the open fields, in Kilsyth; the success was such, that 

 every farmer and cottager followed his example." 



Market Culture of the Potato. The first account 



we can find of the potato being - extensively grown for 



market appears in the writings of the late Arthur Young, 



the agricultural writer and traveller. He mentions that 



JxL.1807, a farmer, named Puttman, of Barking, in Essex, 



, grew 300 acre_s_oJLpotatoes, and sent to market, washed 



ready for sale, no less than 3,000 tons. 



Varieties Grown Sixty to Seventy Years Ago. 



In Johnson's "Farmers' Encyclopaedia," published in 

 1842, we learn that the potato was then grown extensively 

 in field and garden, and considerable space is, conse- 

 quently, devoted to the subject in that volume. The varie- 

 ties then grown for field culture were the Ox-Noble, Cham- 

 pion, Purple Red, Rough Red, Hundred Eyes, Kidney, and 

 Moulton White; while for garden culture B rough ton's 

 Dwarf, Early Warwick, Ash-leaved Kidney, Fox's Seed- 

 ling, Early Manly, Early Mule, Early Kidney, Nonsuch, 

 Earlv Shaw, and Goldfinder. are sorts advised for the ear- 



