SUGAR-BEET. POTATOE. 121 



cially in France ; namely, the sugar-beet. This plant, originally 

 from the southern parts of Europe, is annual or biennial ; it has 

 a spindle-shaped, fleshy root, sometimes as thick as one's leg, 

 which contains a considerable quantity of sugar, precisely like 

 that of the sugar-cane ; the leaves of the sugar-beet constitute 

 an abundant and wholesome food for cattle, but it is especially 

 cultivated in France for its sugar. 



MONOPE'TALOUS DICOTY'LEDONS. 



68. This division, which is much more numerous than the 

 preceding, is characterized by having a corolla distinct from the 

 calyx, and composed of a single piece. In it we place the 

 Sola'neti), Primula'ceae, Jasmi'nea?, Labia'tae, Synanthe'reae, and 

 Rubia'cece, &c. 



69. The FAMILY OF SOLA'NE^E is composed of monope'talous, 

 dicotyle'donous plants with hypogy'nous stamens, the flowers of 

 which have a monose'palous, persistent calyx, with five lobes, a 

 regular corolla, divided into from four to five lobes, four or five 

 stamens, and a style bearing a stigma with two lobes, the fruit 

 of which is a capsule or n berry containing a great many seeds, 

 and the leaves are commonly alternate. Most of the Sola'neje 

 contain a narcotic (stupifying) substance, which sometimes 

 renders them very dangerous; tobacco, henbane, stramonium 

 (Jamestown weed), are of this kind ; we find it even in the leaves 

 of the common night-shade, and the Solanum tubcrosum. This 

 last plant, the stem of which is herbaceous, and the flowers white 

 or slightly violet, has at irregular intervals on its long, fibrous 

 roots, large tubers, which are ordinarily rounded or oblong, 

 which contain an immense quantity of fecula, and are known 

 under the name of potatoes. 



The potatoe is originally from America (growing- at this time wild in 

 Mexico and Peru), and was first introduced to Europe by Sir Walter 

 Raleigh, about the year 1587, who carried it to England, whence it was 

 soon spread upon the continent ; it is now cultivated in almost every part 

 of the world. This plant may be reproduced, multiplied in two ways ; 

 namely, by the seed, or by the development of the root-buds or eyes, which 

 we see on the surface of the tubers. By sowing the seed we obtain a great 

 variety; but the multiplication by the root-buds produces, without any 

 alteration in the form or colour, potatoes like those from which the tuber- 

 cles were taken. This last mode of culture is most generally used, and to 

 succeed, it is only necessary to place entire tubers in the ground ; we may 

 divide them into several pieces, provided each fragment has one or more 

 root-buds upon it, for the development of which the feculent matter of the 



68. How are the Monopeta'lese characterized ? 



69. What are the general characters of the Sola'neoj ? What plant pro- 

 duces potatoes ? Where were potatoes originally found ? How are they 

 cultivated ? 



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