Book VI. 



THE POTATOE. 



777 



4824. The nutritive products of these plants are thus given by Sir H. Davy : 



Sect. I. The Potatoe. Solanu7n tuberosum, Ij. Pentan. Monog. L. and Solanece, J. 

 Pomme de Terra, Fr. ; Cartoffel, Ger. ; Tartufflo or Porno di Terra, Ital. 



4825. The potatoe is supposed to be a native of South America ; but Humboldt is 

 very doubtful if that can be proved ; he admits, however, that it is naturalised there in 

 some situations. Sir J. Banks (Hort. Trans, vol. i. p. 8.) considers that the potatoe was 

 first brought into Euro|)e from the mountainous parts of South America, in the neigh- 

 borhood of Quito, where they were called papas, to Spain, in the early part of the sixteenth 

 century. From Spain, where they were called battatas, they appear to have found their 

 way first to Italy, where they received the same name with the truffle, taratoujli. The 

 potatoe was received by Clusius, at Vienna, in 1598, from the governor of Mons, in 

 Hainault, who had procured it the year before from one of the attendants of the Pope's 

 legate, under the name of taratoujio, and learned from him that it was then in use in 

 Italy. In Germany it received the name of cartoffel, and spread rapidly even in 

 Clusius's time. 



4826. To England the potatoe was brought from Virginia by th^ colonists sent out by 

 Sir Walter Raleigh in 1584, and which returned in July 1 586, and "probably," ac- 

 cording to Sir Joseph Banks, *' brought with them the potatoe." Thomas Herriot, in a 

 report on the country, published in De Bry's Collection of Voyages, (vol. i. p. 17.) de- 

 cribes a plant called openawk, with ** roots as large as a walnut, and others much larger ; 

 they grow in damp soil, many hanging together, as if fixed on ropes ; they are good food, 

 either boiled or roasted." Gerarde, in his Herbal, published in 1597, gives a figure of 

 the potatoe, under the name of the potatoe of Virginia, whence, he says, he received the 

 roots ; and this appellation it appears to have retained, in order to distinguish it from 

 the battatas, or sweet potatoe (Convolvulus baltatas), till the year 1640, if not longer. 

 ** The sweet potatoe," Sir Joseph Banks observes, "was used in England as a delicacy 

 long before the introduction of our potatoes : it was imported in considerable quantities 

 from Spain and the Canaries, and was supposed to possess the power of restoring decayed 

 vigor. The kissing comfits of FalstafF, and other confections of similar imaginary qua- 

 lities, with which our ancestors were duped, were principally made of these and of eringo 

 roots." 



4827. The jwtatoe was first planted by Sir William Raleigh on his estate of Youghall, 

 near Cork, and Gough says, was "cherished and cultivated for food" in that country 

 before its value was known in England ; for, though they were soon carried over from 

 Ireland into Lancashire, Gerarde, who had this plant in his garden in 1597, under the 

 name of Battata Virginiana, recommends the roots to be eaten as a delicate dish, not as 

 common food. Parkinson mentions, that the tubers were sometimes roastedj and steeped 

 in sack and sugar, or baked with marrow and spices, and even preserved and candied by 

 the comfit-makers. 



4826. For encouraging the cultivation of potatoes, with the view of preventing famine, 

 the Royal Society took some measures in 1633. Still, however, although their utility 

 as an article of food was better known, no high character was bestowed on them. In 

 books of gardening, published towards the end of the seventeenth century, a hundred 

 years after their introduction, they are spoken of rather slightingly. " 'I'hey are much 

 used in Ireland and America as bread," says one author, "and may be propagated with 

 advantage to poor people." " I do not hear that it hath been yet essayed," are the 

 words of another, " whether they may not be propagated in great quantities, for food for" 

 swine or other cattle." Even the enlightened Evelyn seems to have entertained a pre- 

 judice against them: "Plant potatoes," he says, writing in 1699, "in your worst 

 ground. Take them up in November for winter spending ; there will enough remain 

 for a stock, though ever so exactly gathered." But the use of potatoes gradually 

 spread, as their excellent qualities became better understood. It was near the middle of 

 the eighteenth century, how6ver, before they were generally known over the country : 

 since that time they have been most extensively cultivated. In 1796, it was found, that 

 in tlie county of Essex alone, about 1700 acres were planted with potatoes for the supply 



