No. 1. 



The Potatoe. — Editorial Notices. 



37 



The Potatoe. 



Solarium tuberosum. 



This plant is a native of South America. 

 Two English travellers, Messrs. Caldcleugh 

 and Baldwin, were so fortunate as to meet 

 with it lately in the wild state in Chili, and 

 not far from Monte Video. It is probable 

 that the cultivation of the potatoe spread 

 from the mountains of Chili to the chain of 

 the Andes, proceeding northward and ob- 

 taining a footing successively in Peru, at 

 Quito, and upon the plateau of New Grana- 

 da. This, as Humboldt observes, is precisely 

 the course which the Incas took in their 

 conquests. The potatoe does not appear to 

 have been introduced into Mexico until after 

 the European invasion of that country; and 

 it is well ascertained that it was not known 

 there under the reign of Montezuma, al- 

 though there are not wanting some who 

 maintain that tlie potatoe was found in Vir- 

 ginia by the first colonists sent thither by 

 Sir Walter Raleigh. It is said that it was 

 then brought mto England by Drake; but it 

 seems well established that long before 

 Drake's time, namely, in 1545, a slave mer- 

 chant, John Hawkins by name, had intro- 

 duced tubers of the potatoe from the coasts 

 of New Granada into Ireland. From Ire- 

 land the new plant passed into Belgium in 

 1590. Its cultivation was at this time ne- 

 glected in Great Britain, until it was intro- 

 duced by Raleigh at the beginning of the 

 seventeenth century. When the potatoe 

 came from Virginia to England for the se- 

 cond time it was already disseminated over 

 Spain and Italy. It has been ascertained 

 that the potatoe has been cultivated on the 

 great scale in Lancashire since 1684; in 

 Saxony since 1717; in Scotland since 1728; 

 in Prussia since 1738. It was about the 

 year 1710 that the potatoe began to spread 

 in Germany, and that it there became a 

 plant in common use ; it had, indeed, before 

 this time been cultivated in gardens; and 

 had even made its appearance at the tables 

 of the rich some time previously. The se 

 vere dearth of the years 1771 and 1772, 

 seemed necessary to lead the Germans to 

 cultivate this useful plant upon the great 

 scale. From this time it was shown that it 

 was a substitute for bread ; and once fairly 

 introduced, men were not long of perceiving 

 the many recommendations which it pos- 

 sesses as an article of food. In fact, of all 

 the useful plants which the migrationsof com- 

 munities and distant voyages have brought to 

 light, says M. Humboldt, there is none since 

 the discovery of the cereals, that is to say, 

 from time immemorial, which has so decided 



an influence upon the well-being of man- 

 kind. In less than two centuries it may be 

 said literally to have overspread the earth, 

 or to have been welcomed in every country 

 suited to its cultivation, so that at the pre- 

 sent day it is found growing from the Cape 

 of Good Hope to Iceland and Lapland. "It 

 is an interesting spectacle," adds the illustri- 

 ous traveller quoted, " to see a plant, a na- 

 tive of mountains situated under the equa- 

 tor, advance towards the pole, and growmg 

 even more hardily than the grasses which 

 yield us grain, brave the inclemencies of the 

 North." The potatoe, like all other tubers, 

 is a collection, an exuberance which is 

 evolved upon the subterraneous stems. Its 

 varieties, which are very numerous, present 

 rather remarkable differences in reoard to 

 size, form, colour of the surface and" of the 

 interior, taste, and the time which they re- 

 quire to come to maturity. — BoussingauWs 

 Rural Economy. 



The Cincinnati Horticultural Society, at 

 the suggestion of N. Longworth, Esq., have 

 offered two prizes of )^1(J0 each, for a new 

 American seedling raspberry and strawberry, 

 which, afler thorough trial, shall prove supe- 

 rior to any now in cultivation. Mr. L. offers 

 to pay one half of the premiums. / 



THE FARMERS' CABINET, 



AND 



Philadelphia, Eighth Month, 1847. 



It is a very common observation founded upon the 

 experience of every man who has even bejjun to grow 

 grey headed, and whose days have passed with toler- 

 able comfort to himself, that as tho wheels of time 

 grow older, they increase in rapidity of motion. It 

 seems but yesterday that we closed the tenth volume 

 of our unpretending paper, and we find ourselves now 

 commencing the twelfth. Of our readers and subscrib- 

 ers, we would have an increased number; we cannot 

 afford to part with any. To them all we tender the 

 good wishes of a new year: good crops — good prices, 

 and good farming. We particularly invite our friends 

 to exercise their quills, and give us matter to add to 

 the originality, variety, and interest of our paper. 



A LA.TE number of the Southern Cultivator, published 

 at Augusta, Ga., brings to us the mournful intelligence 

 that James Camak, its Editor, died at his residence in 

 Athens, after a protracted illness, on the ICth of sixth 

 month last, in the prime of his life, being aged about 

 52 years. 



