THE POTATO 



CHAPTER I 

 HISTORY AND BOTANY 



THE potato (Solatium tuberosum) , also called " white 

 potato," "Irish potato," "English potato," or 

 "round potato," is a native of the elevated valleys 

 of Chili, Peru, and Mexico, one form of it being found 

 as far north as Southern Colorado. The wild potatoes 

 of Chili differ from the cultivated form, in that they 

 produce seed-balls more freely. 



Tobacco, tomato, egg-plant, capsicum, henbane, and 

 belladonna all belong to the potato family, but of 

 this large family of 1 600 .species but six bear tubers. 

 Some of these latter as, Darwin's potato (Solatium 

 mag Ha) were thought to have some value for cross- 

 ing to produce a blight-proof new race, but so far 

 success has not been attained in the latter respect. A 

 variety of Solatium commersoni, another tuber-bearing 

 plant, is now being boomed in Europe as a substitute 

 for the common potato. The Arizona wild potato 

 (Solatium jamesU^ has been grown for many years in 

 this country in various places, but its tubers are small 

 and of little value. The Mexican or Central American 

 potato (Solatium tuberosum var. boreale) is found native 

 in Colorado. 



