Gh. XXI.] ON ^POTATOES. 259 



stitute, and is much relished by sheep ; but it is hard and difficult to be fed 

 off, and not being' superior in its nutritive properties, it has therefore fallen 

 much into disuse. It requires to be sown at the same early season, bears 

 transplanting', and is never injured by the severity of the weather; retaining 

 its freshness until the latter end of May *. Its root has a hard thick rind, 

 with solid internal substance, and it continues edible after its seed-stalk has 

 attained considerable height. Its root, however, does not give an equal 

 weight of crop ; and, instead of a solid bulb, usually consists of a number of 

 branches having such hold of the earth that they cannot be pulled up by 

 hand : it is therefore found necessary to turn over the drills witli a plough 

 and then shake out the roots t. 



These different species, as well as rape, appear to be hybrid products of 

 the cabbage and turnip, which botli, indeed, belong to the ?ame genus — 

 produced by means of cultivation ; and the various kinds which have been 

 disseminated throughout Europe iiave become so confused in nomenclature, 

 that it has become difficult to state their properties with any great degree 

 of precision, or to draw any certain inferences to guide us in their use. 



Chapter XXII. 



ON POTATOES. 



The sweet potato — wliich is a native of both the East and the "West Indies 

 — was very early introduced into many parts of Europe, and is the species 

 spoken of by all those ancient writers who allude to it under the name of 

 battcdax. It is of a pale brown colour, somewhat in the form of a pear, 

 but larger, and is the kind mentioned by Shakspeare J, in whose time it 

 was commonly sold in our markets, to which it was probably brought from 

 Spain, as it obtained the appellation of " Spanish sweet potato ;" but the 

 root which is the object of our present inquiry was brought either from 

 Chili or Peru, in which countries it is indigenous, or from some part of 

 North America, in the course of the sixteenth century. It is supposed to 

 have been carried into Ireland by Sir Walter Raleigh, on his return from 

 America, in 1586 §; but the first mention made of it by any English 

 botanist is by Gerard, who says, in his Herbal, that some specimens were 

 sent from Virginia, which he planted in his garden near London in 1597. 



Although then considered a great delicacy, and supposed to be possessed 

 of extraordinary powers of invigoration, it yet fell into disrepute, and its 

 progress, even in gardens, was so extremely slow, that a long period 

 elapsed ere it W'as adopted into our field-culture. Notwithstanding there 

 may be some truth, in a national point of view, in the severe observations 

 of the late Mr. Cobbett upon the pauperising effect which the great exten- 

 sion of its growth and its habitual use has occasioned among the peasantry 

 of Ireland, yet there can be no doubt that, in this country, where it is only 

 used in addition to other food, it comes materially in aid of the substantial 



* Suffolk Report, 3rd edit. p. 101. Cheshire ditto, p. 162. 



f Farmer's Magazine, vol. vi. p. 344. 



+ " Let the skye rain potatoes, and hail kissing-comfits." — Merry Wives of Windsor, 

 act V. scene 5. 



§ The roots are described by Heriot, who accompanied Raleigh, " as round, some as 

 large as walnuts, others much larger; they grow iu damp soils, many hanging together 

 as if fixed on ropes. They are good food either boiled or roasted, and the plant is called 

 hy the Indians •' openawk." '' — De Bry's Coll. of Voyages, vol. i. p. 17. This, however, 

 would apply equally to the Jerusalem artichoke. 



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