274 



HISTORY OP THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 



it is add2d, that "the root is very near the nature 

 of the Jerusalem artichoke, although not so good 

 and wholesome, but that it may prove good for 

 swine." In the Complete Gardener, by the emi- 

 nent nurserymen, Loudon and Wise, the seventh 

 edition of which was published in 1719, no 

 mention is made of this root; and Bradley, who 

 wrote about the same time, and whose very ex- 

 tensive works on horticultural subjects treated 

 expressly on new improvements in the art, notices 

 it as if by compulsion. " They (potatoes) are," 

 says he, "of less note than horse-radish, radish, 

 scorzonera, beets, and skiiTet; but as they are 

 not without their admirers, I will not pass them 

 by in silence." 



These facts and extracts are curious, as they 

 serve to show that this most valuable article of 

 food was not brought into general use by the skill 

 and labour of professional men, but in defiance 

 of their prejudices, and the bad methods of cul- 

 ture which they promulgated. There can indeed 

 be little doubt that the imperfect modes of both 

 cultivating and preparing the potatoe as an es- 

 culent, were in a great measure the causes which 

 prevented its more speedy adoption as a whole- 

 some and substantial article of food; while this 

 very ignorance of its nature and management 

 produced the low estimation in which it was 

 held by writers about the beginning of the 

 eighteenth century. 



To those who know anything practically of 

 the cultivation of this plant, it must be evident 

 how much the early sowing, the late taking up, 

 and the leaving in the ground during winter 

 of the roots intended for propagation, tended to 

 deteriorate the quality of the potatoes. These 

 circumstances, together with the little culinary 

 skill exercised in its preparation, caused it to 

 appear under no very tempting form. A person 

 who had been invited to taste the first potatoes 

 which were planted in the county of Forfar, in 

 or about the year 1730, related that the roots had 

 been merely heated, and that they adhered to the 

 teeth like glue, while their flavour was far from 

 agreeable. The food was about to be condemned 

 through the ignorance of the cook, when the 

 accidental arrival of a gentleman vfho had tasted 

 a potato in Lancashire, caused the rejected roots 

 to be remanded back to the hot turf ashes, till 

 the)' became as dainty as they had before been 

 nauseous. 



We have no records of the early practice and 

 progress of potato husbandry in Ireland. The 

 more tardj' progress, and the less favourable re- 

 sults, attendant on this culture in England, might 

 induce a belief that it had been better conducted 

 in the former country; though no doubt the more 

 genial climate of Ireland, its humidity, and the 

 absence of those chilling winds from the east, 

 which are so often fatal to the tender spring 

 crops of England, gave to it a natural advantage. 



and might perhaps sufficiently account for the 

 superiority of this branch of husbandry in Ire- 

 land over England. 



The early practice in this country of plant- 

 ing potatoes in February was, in itself, an effec- 

 tual bar to their goodness as field culture, since 

 the young plants betray their origin to have been 

 fi'ora a warmer climate, by their inability to bear 

 the slightest degree of frost with impunity; so 

 that if they put forth their tender heads to the 

 nipping frosts of spring, a great part of the crop 

 is certain to fall a sacrifice. The better quality 

 of the potato grown in Ireland, and its excel- 

 lence as a substantial article of food among a 

 population sunk to the lowest state of poverty, 

 caused it to be brought into general use in that 

 country, finding its way even to the tables of the 

 rich, at a period when it was scarcely known in 

 the sister island. 



The introduction of this plant into Scotland 

 was probably earlier than into any part of 

 England, with the exception, perhaps, of Lanca- 

 shire. The people living in that county were 

 then distinguished by a marked difference of 

 habits, manners, and character from their neigh- 

 bours. A remnant of these peculiarities is even 

 still to be found, notwithstanding the singulari- 

 ties of the inhabitants, and local circumstances, 

 combined to render this a favourable situation for 

 the introduction and improvement of the potato. 



The land in Lancashire is rather poor, and the 

 climate rainy, so that wheat, with even the 

 present improved system of husbandry, cannot 

 be raised to very great advantage. Oats were 

 consequently, there, as in Ireland and the low- 

 lands of Scotland, the staple production. The 

 mechanics, who worked chiefly in iron and brass, 

 were all cottagers, who followed their respective 

 employments in the winter, and raised food for 

 themselves upon their little patches of land in 

 the summer. The population of Lancashire 

 then bore a great resemblance to the cotters of 

 Ireland. They were, however, more ingenious 

 in handicraft works, and still more resembled 

 the manufacturing peasantry in the centre and 

 south of Scotland, who grow the whole or the 

 greater part of their food upon their cottage 

 lands. Even the education of their children was 

 formerly often obtained out of the produce of 

 their little field; the school-master went thig- 

 ging, that is, collecting a portion of produce from 

 every cottager, in proportion to the wealth of 

 the individual, and to the number of pupils he 

 might have contributed to the school-room. The 

 poor likewise were relieved by a voluntary con- 

 tribution of produce, and it is probable that this 

 system worked as well as that of a compulsory 

 rate. Even in the smaller burghs of Scotland, 

 and in the villages where the lands are held on 

 feu or perpetual lease, the same system was, and 

 in many places still is, followed. The portion- 



