136 A HISTORY OF GARDENING IN ENGLAND. 



was first brought to Europe by Sir Walter Raleigh, from Virginia, 

 but this is doubtful. There have been great discussions among 

 botanists on the subject of its native habitat. That Sir Walter 

 Raleigh and his companion, Thomas Herriott, brought the potato 

 back with them from the New World, in 1585 or 1586, is a fact. 

 But it was also brought to Europe by the Spaniards between 

 1580 and 1585. The potato has been found in a wild state only in 

 Chili, but, it is probable, that before the arrival of the Spaniards 

 in America, the plant had spread by cultivation into Peru and 

 New Granada. From thence it was most likely introduced, in the 

 latter half of the sixteenth centur}-, into that part of the United 

 States now knowm as Virginia and North Carolina, and there 

 discovered by Raleigh, unless he found it among the provisions of 

 some Spanish ship captured by him on its way from Chili or 

 Peru. Gerard gives a picture and account of the " potatoe of 

 Virginia" {Solannm tuberosum) which "he had received" from 

 that place. The original species still exists in cultivation, in 

 Europe, and differs but slightly from the ordinary varieties now 

 grown. Gerard's description of the flower and root is accurate. 

 He calls it " a meate for pleasure," being " either rosted in the 

 embers, or boiled and eaten with oile, vinegar and pepper, or 

 dressed an}' other way by the hand of some cunning in cookery." 

 He thus describes the tuber, " Thicke, fat and tuberous, not 

 much differing either in shape, colour or taste fi-om the common 

 potatoes, saving that the rootes thereof are not so great nor long, 

 some of them round as a ball, some ouall or egge fashion, some 

 longer and others shorter, which knobbie rootes are fastened into 

 the stalkes with, an infinite number of threddie strings." " The 

 common potatoe " he refers to, is at first sight puzzling, but he 

 really means the Batata or Sweet Potatoe, Ipomcea Batatas. 

 The origin of this plant is also a subject of discussion ; America 

 and Eastern Asia both lay claim to it, but the strongest evidence 

 seems to point to its introduction firom the New World. 

 Christopher Columbus is supposed to have brought the plant 

 back to Queen Isabella, and early in the sixteenth century it was 

 cultivated in Spain. Both Gerard and Parkinson grew it in their 

 gardens, but as it was always killed by the frost at the end of 

 September, they never saw it in flower. Sweet potatoes were 



