OF THE POTATOE PLANT. 13 



sizes, a few as large or larger than a pigeon's egg, others 

 as small as the original ones, rather angular, but more 

 globular than oblong ; some are white, others marked with 

 blotches of pale red or white ; two of these were selected 

 to be drawn, and are represented (plate ix., fig. 3, Hort. 

 Trans., vol. 5). The flavor of them when boiled was 

 exactly that of a young potatoe. 



" The compost used in moulding up the plants was very 

 much saturated with manure, and to this circumstance I 

 attribute the excessive luxuriance of the growth of the 

 stems. Had common garden mould been applied, they 

 would not probably have grown so strong ; and I suppose, 

 that whilst the plants were thus rapidly making stems and 

 leaves, the formation of the tubers was delayed, for the 

 production of these has been the work of the latter part of 

 the season. They cannot be called fully ripe, nor have 

 they attained the size which they probably might have 

 done if they had been formed earlier." 



(46.) I am informed by Mr. Thompson that this wild 

 potatoe was lost from the Horticultural Gardens many 

 years ago. 



(47.) There is, at the Botanical Gardens, Chelsea, a 

 fine plant, said to be of the wild potatoe, which Mr. An- 

 derson informs me he obtained from Mr. Renegal, who 

 procured it, together with some nasturtiums, from Santa 

 Fe. 



(48.) This plant has been in the garden about ten years, 

 and bears tubers of a medium size, of a mottled white and 

 red color. When cooked they have a high flavor, and 

 are perhaps a little bitter : in other respects they some- 

 what resemble the new tubers of ordinary potatoes. When 

 the plant was removed from the ground, its total length 



