84 CULTIVATED VEGETABLES. 



Merry Wives of Windsor, (Act 5, scene 5.) 



" Let it rain Potatoes, and hail kissing comfits !" 



Gerard commences his next chapter with 

 the description of the common potatoe now 

 in use, and says, " Battata Virginiana, sive 

 Virginianorum, Sf Pappus, Potatoes of Vir- 

 ginia.'' After an accurate description of the 

 plant and flower, he adds, " The roote is 

 thicke, fat, and tuberous ; not much differing 

 either in shape, colour, or taste, from the 

 common potatoes, sauing that the rootes here- 

 of are not so great nor long ; some of them 

 round as a ball, some ouall or egge fashion, 

 some longer and others shorter. It groweth 

 naturally in America, where it was discovered, 

 as reporteth C. Clusius (who was born at 

 Arras in French Flanders, 1526); since which 

 time I haue received rootes hereof from Vir- 

 ginia, otherwise called Noremberga, which 

 grow and prosper in my garden as in their 

 owne natiue countrie. The Indians do call 

 this plant Papus (meaning the rootes), by 

 which name also the common potatoes are 

 called in those Indian countries. We haue 

 the name proper vnto it mentioned in the 

 title, bicause it hath not only the shape and 

 proportion of potatoes, but also the pleasant 



