THE POTATO. 137 



in Scotland than in England. Previously to this 

 general scarcity in 1743, some potatoes which were 

 growing in the county of Roxburgh were so uncom- 

 mon as to have been considered objects of curiosity. 

 But the state of things soon altered, and immediately 

 after ' the dear year ' the farmers of Lothian began 

 to make this a branch of field husbandry. 



In England, with the exception of Lancashire, the 

 progress of the cultivation of the potato continued at 

 an extremely slow pace. It was known in Yorkshire 

 only as garden produce down to 1760 ; and in Som- 

 ersetshire it was rare indeed to meet with a whole 

 acre under this culture so late as 1770. 



So little attention had been bestowed on this sub- 

 ject even by the most intelligent land-owners, that 

 Miller, in the quarto edition of his Gardener's Dic- 

 tionary, published in 1771, names only two varieties, 

 and founds the distinction of these not upon quality, 

 or time of coming to maturity, but on the trifling 

 accident of a red and of a white colour, which is 

 found to be productive of no other difference. At 

 present, however, the varieties are so numerous, with- 

 out any reference to colour, that it would be equally 

 vain to attempt their description within any limited 

 compass, as it is unnecessary to point out their uses 

 or enumerate their properties. 



Not many years atter the appearance of Miller's 

 valuable work, the potato began to form an important 

 article of English husbandry ; and in the year 1796 

 it was found that in the county of Essex alone seven- 

 teen hundred acres were planted with this root for 

 the supply of the London market.* 



The culture of the potato is now so extensive in 

 this country, that an abundant supply can be ob- 

 tained in all places throughout the year, and such 

 have been the improvements in the culture, and the 



* London's Encyc. of Gardening. 

 VOL. xv. 12* 



