36 HISTORY OF THE POTATO. 



which these plants were viewed : the one, long re- 

 jected, by the slow operation of time, and perhaps 

 of necessity, was at length cherished, and has be- 

 come the support of millions ; but nearly one 

 hundred and twenty years passed away before even 

 a trial of its merits was attempted : whereas the 

 tobacco from Yuccatan, in less than seventy years 

 after the discovery, appears to have been exten- 

 sively cultivated in Portugal, and is, perhaps, the 

 most generally adopted superfluous vegetable pro- 

 duct known ; for sugar and opium are not in such 

 common use. Luxuries, usually, are expensive 

 pleasures, and hence confined to few : but this 

 sedative herb, from its cheapness, is accessible to 

 almost every one, and is the favourite indulgence 

 of a large portion of mankind. Food and rest are 

 the great requirements of mortal life : the potato, 

 by its starch, satisfies the demands of hunger ; the 

 tobacco, by its morphin, calms the turbulence of 

 the mind : the former becomes a necessity required ; 

 the latter a gratification sought for. 



Many as the uses are to which this root is appli- 

 cable and it will be annually applied to more ; if 

 we consider it merely as an article of food, though 

 subject to occasional partial failures, yet exempted 

 from the blights, the mildews, the wire-worms, the 

 germinatings of corn, which have often filled our 

 land with wailings and with death, we will hail the 

 individual, whoever he might be, who brought it 

 to us, as one of the greatest benefactors to the 



