624 PRACTICE OF GARDENING. Part III. 



the name of the potatoe of Virginia, whence, lie says, he received the roots ; and this ap- 

 pellation it appears to have retained, in order to distinguish it from the batatas, or sweet 

 potatoe {Convolvulus batatas), till the year 1640, if not longer. " The sweet potatoe," 

 Sir Joseph Banks observes, " was used in England as a delicacy long before the intro- 

 duction of our potatoes : it was imported in considerable quantities from Spain and the 

 Cananes, and was supposed to possess the power of restoring decayed vigor. The kissing 

 comfits of Falstaff, and other confections of similar imaginary qualities, with which our 

 ancestors were duped, were principally made of these and of eringo roots." 



3648. Gough, in his edition of Camdens Britannia, says, that the potatoe was first 

 planted by Sir Walter Raleigh on his estate of Youghall, near Cork, and that it was 

 " cherished and cultivated for food" in that country before its value was known in 

 England ; for, though they were soon carried over from Ireland into Lancashire, Gerarde, 

 who had this plant in his garden in 1597, under the name of Battata Virginiana, recom- 

 mends the roots to be eaten as a delicate dish, not as common food. Parkinson men- 

 tions, that the tubers were sometimes roasted, and steeped in sack and sugar, or baked 

 with marrow and spices, and even preserved and candied by the comfit-makers. 



3649. The Royal Society, in 1663, took some measures for encouraging the cultivation 

 of potatoes, with the view of preventing famine. Still, however, although their utility 

 as an article of food was better known, no high character was bestowed on them. In 

 books of gardening, published towards the end of the seventeenth century, a hundred 

 years after their introduction, they are spoken of rather slightingly. " They are much 

 used in Ireland and America as bread," says one author, "and may be propagated with 

 advantage to poor people." " I do not hear that it hath been yet essayed," are the words 

 of another, " whether they may not be propagated in great quantities, for food for swine 

 or other cattle." Even the enlightened Evelyn seems to have entertained a prejudice 

 against them : "Plant potatoes," he says, writing in 1699, "in your worst ground. 

 Take them up in November for winter spending ; there will enough remain for a stock, 

 though ever so exactly gathered." The famous nurserymen, London and Wise, did not 

 consider the potatoe as worthy of notice in their Complete Gardener, published in 1719; 

 and Bradley, who, about the same time, wrote so extensively on horticultural subjects, 

 speaks of them as inferior to skirrets and radishes. 



3650. The use of potatoes, however, gradually spread, as their excellent qualities became 

 better understood. But it was near the middle of the eighteenth century before they 

 were generally known over the country : since that time they have been most extensively 

 cultivated. In 1796, it was found, that in the county of Essex alone, about 1700 acres 

 were planted with potatoes for the supply of the London market. This must form, no 

 doubt, the principal supply ; but many fields of potatoes are to be seen in the other 

 counties bordering on the capital, and many ship-loads are annually imported from a dis- 

 tance. In every county in England, it is now more or less an object of field-culture. 

 The cultivation of potatoes in gardens in Scotland was very little understood till about 

 the year 1740; and it was not practised in fields till about twenty years after that pe- 

 riod. It is stated in the General Report of Scotland (vol. ii. p. 111.), as a well ascer- 

 tained fact, that in the year 1725-6, the few potatoe-plants then existing in gardens about 

 Edinburgh, were left in the same spot of ground from year to year, as recommended by 

 Evelyn ; a few tubers were perhaps removed for use in the autumn, and the parent-plants 

 were then well covered with litter to save them from the winter's frost. Since the middle 

 of the eighteenth century, the cultivation of potatoes has made rapid progress in that coun- 

 try ; so that they are now to be seen in almost every cottage garden. The potatoe is now 

 considered as the most useful esculent that is cultivated ; and who, Neill asks, " could, a 

 prriori, have expected to have found the most useful plant among the natural family of the 

 Luridce, L., several of which are deleterious, and all of which are forbidding in their aspect." 



3651. Use. The tubers of the potatoe, from having no peculiarity of taste, and con- 

 sisting chiefly of starch, approach nearer to the nature of the flower, or farina of grain, 

 than any vegetable root production ; and for this reason it is the most universally liked, 

 and can be used longer in constant succession by the same individual without becoming 

 unpalatable, than any other vegetable, the seeds of the grasses excepted. " So generally 

 is it relished, and so nutritious is it accounted," Neill observes, " that on many tables it 

 now appears almost every day in the year. It is commonly eaten plainly boiled, and in 

 this way it is excellent. When potatoes have been long kept, or in the spring months, 

 the best parts of each tuber are selected, and mashed before going to table. Potatoes are 

 also baked, roasted, and fried. With the flour of potatoes, puddings are made nearly 

 equal in flavor to those of millet ; with a moderate proportion of wheat-flour, bread of 

 excellent quality may be formed of it ; and potatoe starch, independently of its use in 

 the laundry, is considered an equally delicate food as sago or arrow-root." As starch and 

 sugar are so nearly the same, that the former is easily converted into the latter, hence the 

 potatoe yields a powerful spirit by distillation, and a strong wine by the fermentive process. 



3652. Varieties. These are very numerous, not only from the facility of procuring new 



