The Book of the Potato. 



CHAPTER I. 



HISTORY OF THE POTATO. 



THE early history of any popular flower, fruit, or vegetable 

 grown in British gardens is always interesting alike to the 

 student or grower. And so any historical facts about the 

 tuber which has commanded so much notoriety among gar- 

 deners and farmers, the last year or so, will be sure to meet 

 with ready acceptance. In compiling histories, however, 

 legend is often so much bound up with fact that it becomes 

 no easy task to write a really truthful narrative, and espe- 

 cially when the subject thereof has been more or less under 

 notice for several centuries, as in the case of the potato, 

 for instance. However, we have consulted the best autho- 

 rities, and we give the story, based upon such information 

 as we have been able to obtain. 



An Early Nineteenth Century Account.. The 



best historical account of the potato we have come across 

 appears in London's " Encyclopaedia of Gardening," pub- 

 lished in 1836. Therein we read: "It appears probable 

 that the potato was first brought into Europe from the 

 mountainous parts of South America, in the neighbour' 



