126 [VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES. 



round, some as large as a walnut, others much 

 larger they grow in damp soils, many hanging 

 together as if fixed on ropes. They are good food 

 either boiled or roasted.' The introduction of this 

 plant into Ireland by Sir Walter Raleigh, on his 

 return from Virginia, is indeed well authenticated by 

 corroborative testimony. In the manuscript minutes 

 of the Royal Society we find that Sir R. Southwell 

 distinctly stated to the fellows, that his grandfather 

 was the first who cultivated the potato in Ireland, 

 and that for this valuable root he was indebted to Sir 

 Walter Raleigh.'; Among the anecdotes told of this 

 enterprising voyager, it is said that when his gardener 

 at Youghall, in the county of Cork, had reared to 

 the full maturity of ' apples' the potatoes which he 

 had received from the knight, as a fine fruit from 

 America, the man brought to his master one of the 

 apples and asked if that were the fine fruit. Sir 

 Walter having examined it, was, or feigned to be, so 

 dissatisfied, that he ordered the ' weed ' to be rooted 

 out. The gardener obeyed, and in rooting out the 

 weeds found a bushel of potatoes. 



In contradiction to the above account, Dr Camp- 

 bell, in his Political Survey, states that this plant was 

 not introduced into Ireland until the year 1610; while 

 some writers affirm that the people of that country 

 were in possession of the potato at a period prior to 

 the one just assigned. One supposition is, that this 

 root was brought from Santa Fe into Ireland in the 

 year 1565 ; and another, that it is of so very ancient 

 a date in that island as to make it equally probable 

 that it is a native vegetable of the country. It is 

 found, however, that the plant carried to Ireland by 

 Captain Hawkins, in 1565, was the Spanish batata, 

 or sweet potato. The claim to its greater antiquity 

 in that country was made by Sir Lucius O'Brien, 



