276 GARDENING FOR THE SOUTH. 



also dried when ripe, and used for seasoning. Cayenne 

 and the other small kinds are ground for table use, or made 

 into pepper sauce by the addition of strong vinegar. 

 Peppers are often rubbed upon meat to drive away insects. 

 The daily use of this plant in hot climates is decidedly a 

 preventive of bowel complaints, for which reason it is so 

 universally cultivated in tropical regions. 



POTATO (IRISH.) (Solanum tuberosum.) 



The Irish potato is a perennial plant, with a tuberous, 

 subterranean stem, of the same genus with the egg- 

 plant, and nearly allied to the tomato. It is reported to 

 have been brought into England from Virginia by 

 Raleigh, in 1586, but as he never visited Virginia, he prob- 

 ably obtained it from some other portion of this conti- 

 nent. Though called the Irish potato, it is really a native 

 of the western coast of South America, where it is still 

 found wild, both " on dry, sterile mountains, and in damp 

 forests near the sea," whence roots have recently been ob- 

 tained differing very little from the cultivated varieties. 

 Notwithstanding its excellence and complete adaptation 

 to the English climate, it appears to have come slowly in- 

 to use. Raleigh planted it on his Irish estate near Cork, 

 but it is only within about a hundred years that its culture 

 has been general, even in Ireland. In 1780, very few indi- 

 viduals in America raised as large a crop as five bushels. 

 Of the numerous varieties at this time, the best, perhaps, 

 for garden culture we name below. Varieties, however, 

 run out after a few years' culture, and those newly raised 

 from seed take their place, and there are many the popu- 

 larity of which is local. 



