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VII. PLANTS CULTIVATED FOR THEIR ROOTS, 

 TUBERS AND LEAVES. 



I. THE POTATO. 



THIS most important plant is a native of this country and 

 in view of its great value, Professor Low has very justly ob- 

 served, that it is considered as the most precious gift of the 

 New World to the Old, as it now forms a great portion of 

 the food of the inhabitants of Europe. It was first introduced 

 into England by the brave and unfortunate Sir WALTEB RA- 

 LEIGH. It is said to have been received in Spain from South 

 America, during the sixteenth century. The Spaniards called 

 it baltatas. It appears to have found its way first to Italy from 

 Spain, and in 1588 it was known in Vienna. 



The history of its introduction into the various countries of 

 Europe and Asia, is remarkable. When introduced into France, 

 and subject to the very imperfect methods of analysis of that 

 day, its cultivation was proscribed by the government, on ac- 

 count of the supposed deleterious matter it contained. It was 

 every where received with tardiness, distrust or contempt 

 while another plant of the same natural family, the Tobacco, 

 possessing merely the properties of a narcotic, was no sooner 

 made known than it was received with eagerness in every part 

 of the habitable world. 



It grows exempt from the hazards to which almost all other 

 crops are subject. Its tubers ripen under the earth, and so are 

 defended from the effects of winds and storms. It yields a 

 larger quantity of fecula, [starch or farina,] which can be ob- 

 tained separately from the tuber. It may be used in its natural 

 state, either directly as the food of man, or for the feeding of 

 domestic animals. In the latter case it should invariably be 

 steamed. 



The potato has a wider range of soils and climate than most 

 other cultivated plants. It grows on soils the lowest in the 

 scale of fertility, and is capable of supporting a greater number 

 of human beings upon the same extent of ground than any 

 other plant cultivated in the temperate regions. These pro- 

 perties,and its general consumption, has unquestionably lessened 

 the hazards of famine, but it has added immensely to the com- 

 forts of the labouring people hence we not unfrequently hear 

 emigrants speak of it as the manna of the poor. 



