1 9 1 i-i 9 1 2.] On the Potato. 415 



real potato, which, according to the Spanish historians, was 

 found in cultivation on the arrival of the Spaniards in Chili 

 and Peru. We are informed that the inhabitants of Quito 

 and vicinity ate a tuberous root which they call Papas. In 

 1553, Molina records that the plant is indigenous there 

 describing two species, one wild with small bitter roots, the 

 other under cultivation, both appearing to be originally the 

 same. Cultivation had rendered the one sweet and succulent, 

 exactly as in the case of our carrot. The Spaniards intro- 

 duced this plant without the name, calling it after the other 

 Batatas, into Italy, where it was known by the same name as 

 truffles {taratoufli). We next have the German botanist, 

 Clusius, receiving, in 1588, two roots, as he calls them, from 

 the Governor of Mons, who procured them from the attendant 

 of the Pope's legate. We now turn to Ireland, where Sir 

 Walter Ealeigh either brought or had sent the plant from 

 Virginia which he planted in his garden in Cork. His gar- 

 dener brought to him the fruit, and it is recorded that his 

 orders were to cast out these weeds. But shortly after the 

 tubers were discovered to be good food, and the plant 

 found a place in Ireland long before it was known in England. 

 In James the First's reign, in 1 6 1 9, it was considered a great 

 delicacy, and Gerard describes this new fruit plant which he 

 grew. In 1663, Mr Buckland wrote to the Royal Society 

 urging its cultivation in all parts. Experiments were tried, 

 and resulted in its favour. But it is declared that the needs 

 of the Irish did more to establish the plant than the recom- 

 mendations of the learned. Several writers about 1719 

 declared them inferior to radishes. Little method was applied 

 in growing and cooking it. In Scotland, in 1730, they were 

 first tried in Forfar, but were found tasteless until a gentle- 

 man who knew how to cook them turned them into a dainty. 

 Supposed to find its way to the fields first in Stirling in 

 1739, and appearing in the Highlands in 1743, it may be 

 said to have become established in Scotland by 1800. Belgium 

 and Germany seem to have got their first plants from us. In 

 Norway and Sweden, about 1720, the exertions of Linnaeus 

 had no great success until, in 1764, a Royal edict was pub- 

 lished in its favour. The Swiss took it up about this time, 



