142 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES. 



as it will not thrive in that island at any place except 

 at Candy, a town almost seventy miles in the in- 

 terior, and the only spot in the country where Eu- 

 ropean vegetables come to any degree of perfection. 

 A basket of these roots is sent every morning thence 

 for the supply of the governor's table, as all the in- 

 digenous vegetables are considered an inferior sub- 

 stitute for this necessary auxiliary to the English- 

 man's more substantial fare.* 



It would be superfluous to give any but a slight 

 description of a plant so welt known, as annually 

 forming new subterranean tubers, and rising with 

 weak, slender, and branching stems, from two to 

 three feet in height. The leaves are composed of 

 leaflets of unequal size, the flowers are white or of a 

 purple tinge, producing large berries, which are green 

 at first, but which change nearly to black when at 

 maturity, and contain numerous small white seeds. 

 The supposed root consists of many tubers connected 

 to the base of the stems by cords or fibres, and 

 having minute branchy rootlets which issue from 

 different parts of each tuber, and which serve to con- 

 vey nourishment to the plant. The several points 

 whence these are produced are usually called the eyes 

 of the potato, and each of them contains the germ of 

 a future plant. 



The uplands and the lighter soils are found to 

 be much better adapted than rich and strong lands 

 to the cultivation of the potato. This root has one 

 great advantage over all grain and leguminous crops, 

 in being perfectly secure against the late rains, 

 which often completely destroy the hopes of the 

 farmer. Rains which have no bad effects upon the 

 potato, injure the bloom upon the cerealia, or cause 

 them and the legumes to run so much to straw as 



* Heber's Journey, vol. iii. 



