SWEET-POTATO. 213 



leaves of the squash. The eggs are deposited in groups 

 on the under surface of the leaves. The color is dull 

 yellow with nineteen black spots on the thorax and wing 

 covers. Hand-picking is the remedy. 



CHAPTER XXVII. 



SWEET-POTATO (Ipomcea Batatas). 

 Ibtate, French ; Susze Kartoffel, German. 



The native country of the Sweet-potato is unknown, 

 some authors accrediting it to America, and others to the 

 East Indies. It was used as a delicacy in England, long 

 before the Irish potato was known, it having been im- 

 ported from Spain. The plant was introduced into Eng- 

 land by Gerarde in 1597. Were it not for the fact 

 that the taste for this potato and the manner of cooking 

 it at the North differ so much from that common at the 

 South, the sweet-potato could be made a very profit- 

 able crop. Here it is baked, while at the North it 

 is usually boiled. The most salable, and, in fact, the 

 only extensively marketable variety in any of the North- 

 ern markets, is the "Delaware," "Jersey," or, more 

 correctly, the (( Nansemond," (at one time called the 

 "Brimstone "), which at the South is regarded as a most 

 inferior sort, unfit for the table, unsalable in local mar- 

 kets, and, in consequence of its unproductiveness, un- 

 suitable for cultivation. While boiling will make any of 

 the Yam varieties mushy, baking renders the Nansemond 

 like so much dry flour. Although I have several times 

 received nine dollars and ten dollars per barrel for the 

 Nansemond of the first quality, in Boston and Baltimore, 



