18 



or a curse. The late famine in Ireland has been 

 attributed, by certain writers, to the abandonment of 

 the cereal grains for the culture of the potato. Take, 

 on the other side, the lano-uao-e of the author I have 

 just quoted, M. Cuvier : — " Is it not evident to all the 

 world that the perseverance with which the propaga- 

 tion of the potato was urged [in France,] has fertilized 

 and rendered habitable entire districts formerly bar- 

 ren, and has saved us from the horrors of famine twice 

 within twenty years ?" 



It is a note-worthy fact that a similar, though not 

 equally violent opposition, has been made to the use 

 of our " great indigenous cereal," Indian corn, in Eu- 

 rope, this being pronounced not unhealthy, but only 

 not eatable. The other of the three great gifts of the 

 new to the old world was, so far as I know, accepted 

 without opposition, the flavor of the turkey being re- 

 garded as something more than an American notion. 

 But Indian corn the Irish could not without great diffi- 

 culty be induced to use during the famine. Some 

 of the central governments of the continent, convinced 

 of its value as an article of food, have labored to per- 

 suade the people that it may be made palatable. 'A 

 portion of their experiments are not a little amusing, 

 and the Prussian Report pronounces that " bread simi- 

 lar to the American would not be to the taste of our 

 public." They prefer rye and potatoes, the food of 

 the common people of Germany. Efforts to render 

 Indian corn acceptable, however, are not abandoned. 

 No doubt they will succeed in the end, and the more 

 northerly countries of Europe, where this cereal will 

 not ripen, will, at a future period, open a rich market 

 for the superfluous produce of the great corn-growing 

 regions of the United States. History teaches les- 

 sons of encouragement. Difficulties, as we see, are 



