176 



NA TURE 



{Dec. 



1886 



was formed by the help of Mr. Coote,of the Map Depart- 

 ment of the British Museum, Mr. C. R. Markham, Mr. 

 Henry Stevens, and others. For the section " Ralegh " 

 Dr. Brushfield, of Salterton, Devon, sent up his collection 

 of works, which, with some additions, were arranged by 

 Mr. H. B. Wheatley, F.S.A. ; while the " Drake " section 

 was mainly composed of an interesting series of illustra- 

 tions sent up from Plymouth by Mr. W. H. K. Wright, of 

 the Public Library. Mr. B. D. Jackson, Sec. L.S., con- 

 tributed the works illustrating the " Gerard" section ; but 

 no one could be found to supply any information about 

 Heriott, as that section was blank. 



It is worth noting that this Exhibition was not one in 

 which the list of sections followed what was sent in. 

 What ought to be shown was drawn up first, and where 

 the required works or maps, &c., could not be obtained 

 the blank was understood. 



Many unexpected curiosities arrived. Potatoes from 

 Youghal, CO. Cork, where it is said Ralegh planted his 

 first potatoes in Ireland, were sent, together with 

 views of his residence there where he conversed with 

 Spenser. Irish cooking-pots of the same type as those in 

 use 300 years ago, and rough garden, or possibly field, 

 tools, were also sent over. Potato-culture in every aspect 

 was represented, except in illustrations of the new methods 

 of artificially fertilising by removing pollen from one 

 flower to another. 



As regards the show of tubers, the judges, Messrs. 

 Shirley Hibberd, William Earley,and R. Dean, considered 

 them well worthy of the occasion. The especial aim was 

 that every known variety should be represented, and there 

 was a special section for new varieties, introduced within 

 the last two years, not yet in the market. The prize- 

 winners of the medals offered by the executive have 

 been made known in journals devoted to these subjects. 



The Exhibition itself dealt with the past, including in 

 that, history from the time of Ralegh and Drake down to 

 the recent past, — Mr. Baker's work on distinct wild 

 species of tuber-bearing Solanums, which he has reduced 

 from six to four since his paper at the Linnean Society 

 was read. 



The chief scientific importance of the celebration of 

 the tercentenary, however, lay in the Conferences. 



At the opening, Mr. W. Carruthers, P.L.S., took 

 the chair, and the first paper was read by Mr. W. Stephen 

 Mitchell, M.A., on " Historic Consideration of the 

 Question, whence came the Potato to England." Al- 

 luding to articles he had written, he said it was easy to 

 see how the mistake had arisen that the introduction of 

 the potato had been attributed to Ralegh, and that 

 Virginia had been regarded as its original home ; and he 

 expressed his belief that Drake brought it from Cartha- 

 gena in his 1586 expedition, on which expedition he had 

 asked his friend, Mr. W. H. Pollock, to contribute a paper. 

 This paper (read in the writer's absence by Sir Richard 

 Pollock) detailed the expedition, and showed that there 

 was opportunity for Drake to have taken on board the 

 potato as ship's-provenderat Carthagena. The supply at 

 Carthagena depended on native cultivation. Then in 

 due sequence followed Mr. Clements R. Markham's paper 

 on " The Cultivation by the Incas and other Andean 

 Nations." This paper proved to be the surprise for the 

 Conference. The cultivation by the Incas was already 

 fairly well known, as our article of May 6 showed, from 

 the writings of Garcillasso de la Vega, Acosta, and Cieza 

 de Leon. But the cultivation by the Chibchas was the 

 revelation. Not only have the people died out, but their 

 language has been lost. A vocabulario, however, has 

 preserved many of the words they used, and nine varie- 

 ties of potato are in it named. It is thus seen that before 

 the Old-World people (the Spaniards) reached the New 

 World, the potato had been so long cultivated, and that 

 distinct varieties were recognised. Mr. Markham most 

 eloquently described the high civilisation of the Incas, 



and with a large-scale lecture-map, belonging to the 

 Royal Geographical Society, showed the regions of 

 potato-cultivation as they can be inferred from early 

 writers. Following most appropriately on this was Mr. 

 J. G. Baker's paper on wild species of potatoes as 

 known to botanists at the present day. In the dis- 

 cussion which followed, there was naturally raised the ques- 

 tion. What are wild species, and what were cultivated by 

 the Incas and other neighbouring peoples .'' but, of course, 

 no definite answer could be given. This is one of our 

 troubles. Mr. Markham's paper was also of very con- 

 siderable interest. M. Henri de Vilmorin then gave 

 a brief account of what he had been able to ascertain 

 about the introduction of the potato into France, which 

 he hopes to be able to work out more fully. This 

 concluded the historic portion of the work of the Con- 

 ference. Then Mr. George Murray, F.L.S., of the British 

 Museum, gave an account of the history, of the study, 

 and of the present state of our knowledge of the potato- 

 disease. Tlie facts he mentioned have already appeared 

 in these columns. The day's work ended with a vote of 

 thanks to the Chair, proposed by Earl Cathcart. 



On the second day of the Conference, Mr. W. S. 

 Mitchell in the chair, the first paper read was by Dr. 

 Maxwell Masters, F.R.S., " On the Production of Varie- 

 ties by Cultivation." It embodied the thoughtful appre- 

 ciation of past work, and what has to be done in the 

 future. It is on hybridisation our hope must mainly rest, 

 on a cross by artificial fertilisation between two distinct 

 species, all other " cultivation " being but a continued 

 ringing of changes. It was, from a practical point of view, 

 the most important communication made to the Confer- 

 ence. The following papers by Mr. W. Earley, Mr. A. 

 Dean, and Mr. R. Dean took up the question of cultiva- 

 tion from the grower's point of view, and coming as they 

 did from such recognised practical men they were of 

 value. Mr. Hibberd criticised, from his own experiments, 

 the value of the Jensen system of earthing-up, and stated 

 his belief that it did not add to the crop, even if it might, 

 as asserted, prevent disease from spreading. He suggested, 

 and backed up his suggestions with reference to his own 

 experience, that the early raising of a crop showing signs 

 of disease was of use. The period for doing this, how- 

 ever, he did not mention, and to raise a crop before the 

 starch is formed in the tubers would be of little real value. 

 The suggestion, however, is one of importance for future 

 consideration. He detailed an unintended experiment 

 made during the last twelve months which is worth the 

 attention of practical men. It will reach them through 

 horticultural journals. Mr. R. Dean, in his paper, ad- 

 mitted that, although he had thought potato-culture was 

 thoroughly " threshed out," he had come to see much 

 remained to be done. The aim of the cultivator had been 

 to produce handsome table tubers. Sufficient attention had 

 not been paid to degeneracy and the causes of it. Again, 

 though it is very well to produce new varieties, the trouble 

 is to get them into general use. People will follow their 

 old lines. In the course of his paper he advocated deep 

 tilling. Mr. A. Dean, in reading on " Raising new varieties 

 of potatoes," referred to the fact that some cultivated 

 varieties do not produce any flowers, and some with 

 flowers do not mature pollen. He detailed several experi- 

 ments in crossing, and especially drew attention to varieties 

 that do or do not produce much haulm. As it is through 

 the leaves on the haulm that the disease reaches a plant, 

 this is a matter of importance. In the course of the dis- 

 cussion Mr. Ap Thomas gave some valuable information 

 about potatoes in South America, and Earl Cathcart ex- 

 pressed the hope that the information should be in some 

 form preserved. 



After the usual votes of thanks had been passed, the 

 generally expressed opinion in conversation was that the 

 Exhibition should have been open for four weeks instead 

 of four days. That the Conferences, by bringing together 



