THE VEGETABLE GARDEN 297 



hence it is a logical inference that accords it 

 patriarchal honors among all the tribes that 

 have been drawn upon to contribute to our food 

 supply — whether we individually cherish a taste 

 for it in any of its forms, or not. And it is 

 further one of the most important vegetable 

 families of the present; and will always so re- 

 main beyond peradventure. 



The introduction of the potato, this hemi- 

 sphere's great sixteenth-century contribution to 

 the world's food sources, did of course reduce 

 the almost complete dependence of Europeans 

 upon the turnip as a staple of their own diet, 

 however much they still required it for their 

 stock. Yet while John Winthrop was Governor 

 of the New England Colony it was the latter 

 that still held first place. And as a matter of 

 fact the potato did not come into general use 

 until about 1800, in the northern part of the 

 world, at any rate. Native to South America, 

 as is the sweet potato also, it is surely one of the 

 whims of fate that brought it to these shores by 

 way of the Spanish adventurers, who first took 

 both kinds home to Spain! And "Spanish po- 

 tatoes" they were, these good white potatoes 

 loved by all the world to-day, for a long time; 

 and for long were a "despised root" according 

 to one old authority. 



