1G8 



THE POTATO TEECENTENAEY. 



This passage seems at first sight conclusive as to the fact 

 of Hawkins having at least seen potatoes, whether he 

 brought any homo or not ; but, for reasons which will 

 appear presently, it is questionable whether the roots which 

 he calls potatoes were potatoes in our sense of the term. 



The evidence in favour of Sir Francis Drake having intro- 

 flnced the potato into England in 158C is considered by Mr. 

 Mitchell, one of the speakers at the conference, as sufficiently 

 conclusive. It was in that year that Drake brought back 

 from Virginia the colonists whom Raleigh had established 

 there in the previous year, and who had been unable to hold 

 their ground against the hostility of the Indians. 



The association of Sir Walter Raleigh's name with the 

 introduction of the potato appears to rest on no bettor foun- 

 dation than the two following facts — one assumed, the other 

 established : first, that it was in connection with the return 

 of Raleigh's colonists from Virginia that the introduction 

 took place ; and, secondly, that Raleigh himself, if he was 

 not the first to introduce the plant into Ireland, at all events 

 cultivated it successfully in his garden at youghal. 



Assuming what seems extremely probable, that the same 

 ship which brought back the Virginian colonists brought 

 also the first potatoes to this country, the credit of the in- 

 troduction may, perhaps, fairly bo divided. To Raleigh a 

 portion may bo assigned, as the organiser of the Virginian 

 settlement, and to Drake another portion, as the commander 

 of the ship. But, as it seems to me, a good third of the 

 credit should bo given to a man whoso name has seldom 

 been heard in the controversy, one Thomas Harriot. 



Thomas Harriot, who was an eminent mathematician and 

 astronomei', formed one of the party of colonists sent out by 

 Raleigh to Virginia, and ho has left on record an interesting 

 account of the productions of that country. I quote what 



