722 [AssEraBLT 



Theophrastus. Cortusus, another Botanist, supposed that it was the 

 Pycnocomon of Dioscorides. Finally, it was not until 1590 that 

 Gaspard Bauhin received fiora Scholtz a colored drawing and recog- 

 nized it to be a Solannm He decided on introducing it into culti- 

 vation in some parts of Germany, Switzerland, Suabia in the vicini- 

 ty of Lyons, in the mountains of the Vosges, Sec. Mathioli after- 

 wards described it in his commentaries upon Dioscorides. 



It was then in Italy that potatoes were first cultivated, and from 

 thence were spread over Europe, about the year 1550. The Italians 

 called them Tartuffoli, or ground Trvffids. From this the Germans- ' 

 derived their name of the potatoe, Tartvffllen. 



About the end of the 16th century, potatoes began to be cultivat- 

 ed in the Low Countries, in Franche Compfe, and in Burgundy^ 

 while their culture was later almost every where except in Ireland, 

 which obtained there (as Spanish Historians say,) from the coast of 

 Gallicia> 



If we are to believe the English author, Holt, Captain Hawkins^ 

 who came from Santa Fe in 1565, carried to Ireland potatoes from 

 that region. Some writers say it was from Virginia, where the po- 

 tato grew in low wet soil, and that the native Indians of Virginia^ 

 called them Openatik. 



During one whole century the potato was disdained in Europe, and 

 repelled by all imaginable means. It was rejected by the greater part 

 of France. Prejudices which we cannot account for^ a long time pre- 

 vented a just appreciation of its value. It was called a dangerous food,, 

 at least a gross food, fit only for beasts, and it was accused of containing 

 the active poisons of the whole family of the Solanura. About the 

 year 1713, some French farmers undertook to raise it on a large 

 scale, but they found it unprofitable. Fifty years afterwards it was 

 seen on certam tables where it was confounded with the sweet pota- 

 to of the West Indies, and with the Topinamhom of Brazil. The 

 peasants of the Appenines had long eaten potatoes with their pork 

 and mutton, while the rest of Europe used them to fatten their stock 

 of animals. Such was the condition of the potato when Parmentier 

 began a series of theoretical and practical researches in order to in- 

 duce the cultivation of potatoes. By chemical examination, he de- 

 monstrated that man would find a delicate food in the starch contain- 

 ed in it. He established by experiments, that it did not impoverish, 

 the soil, as was supposed. He said it was a sure preservative froia 



