HISTORY OF THE POTATO. 13 



tivation of early potatoes for the English markets com- 

 menced somewhere about the seventies. Mr. Burbidge says : 

 " During the last few years, a remunerative industry has 

 made rapid progress in the Channel Islands, where, owing 

 to the difference in the climate, the potato crop reaches 

 maturity earlier in the season than is the case in many 

 parts of England; and, consequently, a ready market is 

 found in London, where the Channel Island produce com- 

 petes successfully with that from Southern Cornwall, the 

 Scilly Islands, and Normandy. Every year the quantity 

 of early potatoes from Guernsey and Jersey increases, so 

 much, indeed, that these islands are likely to become 

 potato gardens ere many years elaps". Most of the people 

 who possess a patch of ground make a point of cultivating 

 this crop, either in the open air or under glass, as the case 

 may be. Many acres of pits, frames, and glass-houses are 

 devoted to potatoes during the winter and spring months. 

 In these houses the potatoes are ready for digging very 

 early in the spring, when they are sold for as much as Is., 

 or more, per pound to the Co vent Garden dealers. Some 

 idea of the extent already reached by this new industry 

 may be formed from the fact that during two months of 

 the potato season of 1876, 22,623 tons were exported from 

 Jersey alone, the value of this quantity being 215,000. 

 From trustworthy data, it has been calculated that the 

 cultivation of this vegetable alone yields annually a re- 

 turn of 7 10s. for each acre in th^ island of Jersey." 



The Potato in Modern Times We have collated 

 together in the foregoing paragraphs as many fragments of 

 the history and progress of the potato as we have been able 

 to discover, and such as we deemed of sufficient interest to 

 the potato enthusiast. So far as the history of the potato, 

 during the last twenty years, is concerned, there is nothing 

 very startling to add beyond the fact that very consider- 

 able progress has been made in the improvement of the 

 potato by rearing new varieties, superior in form and 

 quality, and with greater powers of resisting disease. Ex- 



