520 



POTATO 



POTATO 



ate leaflets. The flowers are in clusters and have a 

 five-pointed, wheel-shaped corolla, one to one and a 

 half inches in diameter and varying in color from 

 white to purple. (Pig. 741.) Stamens 5 ; pistil 1, 

 2-celled. The fine fibrous roots penetrate the soil 

 to the depth of two to four feet, and frequently ex- 

 tend horizontally two feet distant from the stems. 

 The fruits or seed-balls are globular, three-fourths 

 to one and one-half inches in diameter, and green, 

 yellowish or purple in color. (Fig. 762.) The tuber 

 is an underground stem ; it bears buds, and, when 

 planted, tends to produce plants similar to its 

 parent; hence tubers are used for perpetuating a 

 variety, and such are generally designated "seed 

 tubers " or " seed." 



Varieties vary considerably in composition ; an 

 average of many analyses is: Water, 75 per cent; 

 protein, 2.5 per cent; ether extract, .08 per cent; 

 starch, 19.87 per cent ; fiber, .33 per cent ; other 

 non-nitrogenous materials, .77 per cent ; ash, 1 

 per cent ; undetermined, .45 per cent ; 85 to 95 per 

 cent of the total dry matter is digestible. 



History. 



The potato was thought by De Candolle to have 

 been in cultivation in Peru for probably 2,000 

 years. G. de la Vega found the Peruvians cul- 

 tivating it in 1.542. He sent tubers to Europe. 

 Various importations were made by the Spanish, 

 and the potato became known in parts of Europe 

 before it was introduced into Ireland in 1586 by 



Fig. 743. Potato, to show manner of growth. 



Thomas Herriot, who was a member of the expe- 

 dition sent to America by Sir Walter Raleigh. 

 The Virginian colonists probably secured potatoes 

 from the Spanish, and they soon proved a valuable 

 acquisition. 



It is a common opinion that the aborigines of 

 Virginia cultivated the potato at the time of the 



Fig. 



Phyllobtxy of po- 

 tato. The in- 

 serted tacks 

 show the loca- 

 tion of the 

 buds. 



discovery. W. R. Gerard asserts, however ("Scien- 

 tific American," September 15, 1906), that the 

 openauk of Thomas Herriot (a product much 

 quoted or discussed in the later writings on the 

 potato), supposed to have been the potato, is 

 really the ground-nut, Apios tuberosa. He contends 

 that the potato was secured by 

 Raleigh's expedition, under his 

 cousin Sir Richard Grenville, on the 

 return voyage, from a Spanish ship 

 hailing from St. Domingo and cap- 

 tured in mid-ocean. The potato was 

 cultivated in Ireland long before it 

 was known in England. Probably 

 the potato was served as an exotic 

 rarity at a Harvard installation 

 dinner in 1707 ; but the tuber was 

 not brought into cultivation in New 

 England till the arrival of the 

 Presbyterian immigrants from Ire- 

 land in 1718.- The potato of Shake- 

 speare was what we now know as 

 the sweet-potato, which derived its 

 name from the aboriginal word 

 botata or batata ; this word or its 

 derivative was later applied to our 

 common or Irish potato. The abo- 

 riginal word is still preserved to us 

 in the Latin name of the sweet- 

 potato, Ipomma (or Convolvulus) 

 Batatas. 



Gerarde's Herball, published in 1597, describes 

 the potato, and the edition published in 1636 con- 

 tains a woodcut of it. Many of the other works of 

 like nature contain descriptions of it. In 1663, the 

 Royal Society of England tried to popularize the 

 plant, especially in Ireland. So late as 1699 Evelyn 

 barely mentioned the potato, and in 1719 London 

 and Wise did not consider the plant worthy of 

 listing in their Complete Gardener. Only two 

 varieties were listed in 1771, yet by the end of the 

 eighteenth century they were numerous. 



Potato-culture spread slowly in Europe but more 

 rapidly in the south of Ireland, because the peas- 

 ants realized that it was a useful food and planted 

 it everywhere ; and with this as their commis- 

 sary they were able to maintain the opposition to 

 English rule. Two and a half centuries of reliance 

 on this crop led to the neglect of other crops, and, 

 when the blight* occurred in Ireland in 1846, it was 

 attended by one of the worst famines known in 

 Europe. The potato has been more highly devel- 

 oped in Europe than in America, and much higher 

 average yields are secured in the United Kingdom 

 and northern Europe than in this country. 



Geographical distribution and extent. 



Next to rice, the potato is probably the most 

 extensively grown and most valuable crop in the 

 world. The annual yield of the world is nearly 

 five billion bushels. The potato crop of Europe in 

 value and volume exceeds the tabulated wheat 

 crop of the world. One acre of potatoes fre- 

 quently furnishes as much human food as ten 

 acres of wheat, and wherever wheat is a preca- 



