XXIX. 



ESCULENT ROOTS POTATOES. 



IN no other form can so large an amount and -value 

 of human food be ob tamed from an acre of ground as 

 in. that of edible roots or tubers ; and of these the 

 Potato is by far the most acceptable, and in most 

 general use. Our ancestors, it is settled, were desti- 

 tute and ignorant of the Potato prior to the discov- 

 ery of America, though Europe would now find it 

 difficult to subsist her teeming millions without it. 

 In travelling pretty widely over that continent, I 

 cannot remember that I found any considerable dis- 

 trict in which the Potato was not cultivated, though 

 Ireland, western England, and northern Switzerland, 

 with a small portion of northern Italy, are impressed 

 on my mind as the most addicted to the growth of 

 this esculent. Other roots are eaten occasionally, by 

 way of variety, or as giving a relish to ordinary food ; 

 but the Potato alone forms part of the every -day diet 

 alike of prince and peasant. It is an almost indis- 

 pensable ingredient of the feasts of Dives, while it is 

 the cheapest and commonest resort for satiating or 

 moderating the hunger of Lazarus. I recollect hear- 

 (170) 



