KATIVE COUNTRY OF THE POTATO* g^J 



I shall here examine the grounds, upon which the opinion Ground of sir 

 of sir Joseuh is founded. - J. BanksH 



r^, II t » opimon. 



•* The potato now in use (solanura tuberosuni) was 



brought to England by the colonists sent out by sir Walter 

 Raleigh, under the authority of his patent, granted by 

 queen Elizabeth, * for discovering and planting new couQ'> 

 tries, not possessed by christians,' which passed the great seal 

 in 1584. Some of sir Walter's ships sailed in the same 

 year ; others, on board of which was Th6mas Herriot, after- 

 ward known as a mathematician, in 1585 ; the whole, how 

 ever, returned, and probably brought with them the potato, 

 on the 27th of July, 1586." 



Sir Joseph continues : " This Mr. Thomas Herriot, who 

 was probably sent out to explore the country, and report to 

 his employers the nature and produce of its soil, wrote an 

 account of it, which is printed in De Bry's Collection of 

 Voyages, vol. 1. In this account, under the article of roots, 

 p. 17» he describes a plant called openawk. * These roots/ 

 says he, ' 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 food, either boiled or 

 roasted." 



Sir Joseph adds, that ** in the Herbal of Gerard, which 

 was published in 1597> there is a figure of the potato, under 

 the name of potato of Virginia ; and that this writer tells us, 

 that h^ received the roots from Virginia, otherwise call^ 

 Norembega." 



I shall now examine the different arguments, which sir Theargumeuts 

 Joseph has adduced to prove, that the potato was really in- ^*°*'"®*'- 

 digenous in Virginia, in the order in which he has mention- 

 ed them. 



1, He thinks it probable, that the potato was brought 

 home by sir Walter Raleigh's men, in the month < f July, 

 1586. We have here, however, no proof whatever, that the 

 root in question was brought into Britain at this time, ittid 

 in particular, that it was brought from Virginia, But sir 

 Joseph assumes it as a fact, that the plant, which Mr. Her- 

 riot met with in Virginia, and which he calls openawk^ is no The openawk 

 other than the solanum tuberosum. Nor vrill it be denied, brought from 

 1 1 1 • • r. 1 I n • Virginia, not 



that the description 01 the openawk, so tar as its roots are the pot2t», 



TJ 2 concerned, 



