STAIRCASE FARMS OF THE ANCIENTS 



513 



The instinctive prejudice against new 

 food plants prevented any general utili- 

 zation of the potato in Europe for over 

 two centuries, and it did not begin to be 

 grown as a crop until the period of the 

 French Revolution. Even then it had to 

 be forced on the public by the persistent 

 efforts of the French philanthropist, Par- 

 mentier, who demonstrated its food pos- 

 sibilities by establishing a large number 

 of soup kitchens for the poor of Paris. 

 Potato soup still bears the name Parmen- 

 tier — a homely memorial, but one that 

 might not be ungrateful to a philanthro- 

 pist. 



Historically speaking, the general utili- 

 zation of the potato is still relatively re- 

 cent. Less than a century ago it was still 

 considered as something of a novelty 

 among the farmers of the United States. 

 Thus, in 1856, we find in the American 

 Agriculturist the following statement : 



"I have worked a farm over fifty years, 

 •and have cultivated potatoes more or less 

 every year. Fifty years ago little was 

 thought of this root. A row or two were 

 planted on the outside of corn-fields, or 

 in some corner of a lot unfit for anything 

 else. Ten to fifteen bushels was an ample 

 supply for a family. There is a great 

 difference between then and now as re- 

 gards this crop, for potatoes are now one 

 of the most important branches of agri- 

 culture" (Vol. 15, p. 256). 



Contrast with this statement the fact 

 that about 400,000,000 bushels of pota- 

 toes are produced annually in the United 

 States. The world's crop of potatoes 

 must be more than 6,000,000,000 bushels. 

 The statistics of production for 1912 

 showed 5,931,493,000 bushels, but in- 

 cluded no returns for the ancient centers 

 of production in the table-land regions of 

 Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia, and 

 Venezuela, nor for Central America or 

 Mexico. As the potato-growing districts 

 are the chief centers of population in all 

 these countries, many millions of bushels 

 must be produced by them. 



The world total of six billion bushels 

 means that if the potato crop of the 

 world were to be divided equally, there 

 would be enough to give each inhabitant 

 of the earth about four bushels of pota- 

 toes. The value of a single potato crop 



probably much exceeds that of all the 

 gold that the conquerors took from the 

 Incas. 



THE HOME OF THE POTATO CAN GIVE US 

 OTHER VALUABLE FOODS 



As the home of the potato, Peru may 

 be looked upon as the source or fountain 

 head from which must come new stocks 

 to strengthen and maintain the varieties 

 of this great food staple. Just as con- 

 tinued importation of live-stock breeds is 

 necessary to renew our American strains, 

 it is now beginning to be urged that new 

 and vigorous varieties of potatoes be 

 found to offset the gradually waning 

 virility of old and run-out stocks. 



Other possibilities lie in the direction 

 of securing varieties that are really su- 

 perior to any that we now have. Not- 

 withstanding the enormous importance 

 that has been attained by the potato in 

 the agriculture of Europe and the United 

 States, no adequate attempt has been 

 made to secure the besf forms for our 

 use. 



Peru has many kinds of potatoes su- 

 perior in quality to those that we culti- 

 vate, but most of them would not be con- 

 sidered promising with us, because the 

 tubers would be hard to peel on account 

 of irregular form and very deep eyes 

 (page 524). Breeders of potato varieties 

 have been influenced very largely by the 

 size and form of the tubers, with quality 

 and flavor left largely out of account. 

 But, with such an infinity of forms to 

 draw upon in South America, it should 

 be possible to combine all of the desirable 

 features. Some of the Peruvian varie- 

 ties are almost ideal in form (page 524). 



It seems very strange, in view of the 

 importance attained by the potato, that 

 there should not have been a more gen- 

 eral appreciation of this and the other 

 plant treasures that South America has 

 bestowed upon the other continents. Not 

 only the Peruvian varieties of potatoes, 

 but many of the agricultural plants of 

 Peru, are still entirely unknown in other 

 countries. Much less has there been any 

 systematic effort to gain what might be 

 described as an agricultural cognizance 

 of these treasures — that is, a practical 

 knowledge of the nature, habits, and uses 



