6 THE POTATO 



(which latter is vastly overestimated), we ought to 

 know what it is that produces such marvellous 

 results on foreign soils, which have been cropped 

 for a thousand years." 



Since this letter was written the senior author 

 has carefully studied the European potato situ- 

 ation, and the results of his investigations are 

 incorporated in the chapters which follow, being 

 given in detail in chapters XXXVII, XXXVIII, 

 XXXIX and XL. 



The attention that is given to this matter abroad, 

 and the esteem in which it is held, are shown by 

 the following extract from a very able address 

 by David Young, editor of the North British 

 Agriculturist, Edinburgh, Scotland, entitled "The 

 Potato Crop." He says: 



"The potato crop is one of the most important 

 of all in the rural economy of the United Kingdom. 

 The potato is an esculent which is largely used and 

 highly relished as an article of diet by rich and 

 poor alike. The very poorest of the population 

 find it one of the cheapest forms of sustenance they 

 can obtain, and no well-ordered banquet, however 

 sumptuous, would be considered complete without 

 the roti-boeuf and the poulet being flanked by the 

 pommes de terre. 



"The potato crop is practically the one farm 

 crop grown primarily for human food of which the 

 United Kingdom can in ordinarily favorable sea- 

 sons supply the wants of its teeming population." 



