140 RESUME. 



work, caring for nothing but their dish of potatoes. If left 

 to itself, this fearful state of things would have remedied 

 itself; for, had the people the control of their own commu- 

 nity, and had the potatoe crop failed to the extent to which 

 it has this year, these people, having no relation with any 

 other, would have been left to their own resources, which, 

 being destroyed, would have left them without food. 



(547.) Millions of human beings, desperate with hunger 

 and untutored in laws, would have devastated the country ; 

 this would have aggravated the misery, and at last numbers 

 would have perished of starvation, and the mutual relations 

 of the survivors would have been re-established. Fortu- 

 nately for the Irish people, they have a rich and powerful 

 country to sympathize with and relieve them in their dis- 

 tress, and also desirous of alleviating their suffering. 



(548.) A lesson is here taught to mankind, to lay up 

 stores against the day of scarcity, and not to trust to so 

 uncertain a thing as a crop of potatoes for subsistence, but 

 always to cultivate a sufficiency of grain to be stored up 

 and preserved against a time of scarcity and famine. 



We thus find that the potatoe, from its containing every 

 element of nutrition, is a valuable food, and to be freely 

 cultivated, though considerable mischief may arise from 

 excessive and improper planting. 



RESUME. 

 (1.) A POTATOE plant consists of a root to take up water. 



