78 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 
potato was to be found in Virginia at that time. It is not indigenous to that 
country, and if found there at all it must have been procured from Europe, which 
is contrary to both history and the requirements of the case. 
Peter Cieca, in his "Chronicle," printed in 1553, says that the inhabitants of 
Quito had, besides mays, a tuberous root which they called papas, and which 
was an article of diet with them. Clusius, a botanist of Vienna, supposed this to 
be the potato, specimens of which he had received both from South America and 
from Flanders. Thomas Henriot, a mathematician, describes the potato of 
Raleigh as follows: "These roots are round, some as large as a walnut, others 
much larger ; they grow in damp soil, many hanging together, as if fixed on ropes ; 
they are good for food either boiled or roasted." The first figure of the potato 
was given by Gerarde, in his "Herbal" in 1597. ' He calls it the Batata Vir- 
giniana. He states that "the root is thick, fat, tuberous, not much differing in 
shape, color and taste from the common potato, save that the roots hereof are not 
so great nor long; some of them are as a ball, some oval or egg-fashioned, some 
larger, some shorter, the which knobby roots are fastened into the stalks with an 
infinite number of thready strings. It groweth naturally in America, where it 
was first discovered, as report says, by Columbus, since which time I have 
received roots hereof from Virginia, otherwise called Nurenbega, which grow and 
prosper in my garden as in their own country. The Indians do call this plant 
'papas,' meaning ' the roots,' by which name also the common potatoes are called 
in those Indian countries. We have the name proper to it mentioned in the 
title, because it hath not only the shape and proportion of potatoes, but also the 
pleasant taste and virtues of the same, we may call it in English ' potatoes of 
America or Virginia.' " 
What is here called the "common potato," was the sweet potato, which was 
the root in common use previous to 1600. This was the plant alluded to by 
Shakespeare in the "Merry Wives of Windsor," where Falstaff is made to say, 
" Let it rain potatoes, and hail kissing comforts. 
Gerard speaks of the round potato as a great delicacy, and recommends that 
it be eaten as such, and not as a common dish. In 1630, Parkinson published a 
figure of the potato along with other roots that were eaten. It seems to have 
been quite rare in England for many years after its introduction. So little atten- 
tion was given to this plant that it was not mentioned by Loudon and Wise in 
the edition of their " Complete Gardener," published in 1719, Bradley, who 
wrote on horticulture about the same time, says that: "The potato is of less 
note than horse-radish, radish scorganers, beets, and skerret." During the reign 
of James I. they were furnished to the royal table at two shillings per pound. 
And during the succeeding reign, and the Commonwealth, the potato continued 
very scarce and high in price. So slowly did it come into use that it was only 
toward the close of the eighteenth century that it came into common use. Hence 
we find that in Essex County in 1796, 1,700 acres were planted to supply the 
London market. 
