HISTORY OP THE POTATO. 39 



Black or purple. . Fibre 9f Fecula. . 9| Water 80 = 100 

 Prince's beauty. . Ditto 15 Ditto . . 1 If Ditto 70f do. 

 Horses' legs Ditto 13 Ditto . . 15 Ditto 72 do. 



The proportion of fecula varies greatly, and as the 

 principle of nutriment is supposed to exist in this 

 matter, the value of each sort> if mere nutriment is 

 required, is indicated by this analysis. 



The potato may be considered as the most va>- 

 luable production that Europe has received from 

 the continent of America, and is now, as Bishop 

 Heber informs us, much esteemed in the East, and 

 regarded as the greatest benefit the country ever 

 received from its European masters. A plant that 

 can so climatise and preserve its valuable properties 

 in such different temperatures as northern Europe 

 and Bengal, where the thermometer ranges up to 

 90 or 100 degrees of heat, must be particularly en- 

 dowed, and in time will probably become natura- 

 lized to every region, and circulate its benefits 

 round the globe. The strenuous manner in which 

 I have lauded this root may, perhaps^ excite a smile 

 in some, who only know it as a table viand ; but 

 those who have witnessed the blessings which this 

 tuber confers, by affording a sufficiency of food to 

 man and beast, will not be disposed to regard 

 lightly such comforts obtainable by their poorer 

 neighbours. 



Our second crop to which I alluded, and which 

 some years we grow largely, is the teazle (dipsa- 

 cus fnllonum), a plant which is probably no native 

 of this country, but, like woad ; canary-grass, &c., 



