131 



whole crops, and in some instances, as in Ireland, where the 

 potato is a principal article of food, it has brought the people 

 to the very point of starvation. Neither cause nor cure for 

 this disease has yet been satisfactorily discovered, though 

 many have been assigned. But it does not seem reasonable to 

 suppose, that a plant bearing seed can be propagated for a 

 long time without its being renewed fVom the seed. If other- 

 wise, for what purpose does the plant bear seed? For several 

 years in succession, immediately preceding the first appear- 

 ance of the potato rot in this country, the vines were loaded 

 down with seed balls as were never known before, and, in the 

 spring, plants sprang up from the seeds that had been scat- 

 tered on the field in the fall, as thick as weeds ; and, where 

 these plants were cared for, they brought new varieties in 

 abundance. This phenomenon was not without significance. 

 Potatoes, from their first introduction into this country, had 

 been propagated, mostly from the root, seldom being renewed 

 from the seed ; till at length, their power of propagation in 

 this manner had become nearly exhausted, and the only al- 

 ternative to save this most useful root from becoming extinct, 

 was its reproduction from the seed. Nature, therefore, caused 

 this superabundance of seed to be produced, as a premonition 

 to mankind, of this important means to preserve the existence 

 of this invaluable esculent. Virtually saying to mankind : 

 " See, I have done my part, do thine." 



The origin of the potato, and its use among civilized na- 

 tions. The potato was not in use among civilized nations till 

 late in the sixteenth century. It was first introduced into 

 Spain in 1583. The seed was brought from the Spanish col- 

 ony in South America, near Quito. In that mountainous 

 country, this plant is indigenous, not at the foot of the moun- 

 tains where the climate is intensoly hot, but on the high table- 

 lands of the Andes, where the climate is cool and salubrious 

 throughout the year like perpetual spring. Quito is elevated 



