86 



CULTIVATED VEGETABLES. 



among the different articles provided for the 

 Queen's household. The quantity supplied 

 was extremely small, and the price high, 

 being at that time one shilling per pound. 



The success which now attends the rearing 

 of this root could not have been anticipated 

 by the most sanguine planters among our 

 forefathers, when it was first introduced to 

 our northern clime, from a country so many 

 degrees nearer the Equator. We should 

 not therefore despair of being able to rear to 

 perfection, in these kingdoms, many annual 

 plants that are natives of much warmer 

 countries ; for the potatoe still continues as 

 impatient of cold as almost any vegetable in 

 the garden, yet experience has taught us 

 that our summer is sufficiently long to bring 

 this root to perfection. 



It was long, however, before potatoes were 

 brought into general use ; for by some they 

 were reckoned not good for food, others 

 deemed them poisonous. The lower classes, 

 to whom this vegetable is now the greatest 

 blessing that the soil produces — forming flour 

 without a mill, and bread without an oven — 

 and at all seasons of the year an agreeable 

 and wholesome dish, unaided by expensive 

 or injurious condiments — were the last to 



