KITCHEN-GARDEN 
The Gladstone.—About 5 feet high. Pods usually in 
pairs, long, nearly straight, containing eight to eleven 
seeds, which are very large, compressed, wrinkled, of 
Fig. 1251.—Pea—Perfection. 
superb quality and flavour. 
August 8. 
Sown May 1, fit for use 
Very heavy cropper. 
The following selection was considered by 
Mr. N. N. Sherwood (of Messrs. Hurst & Sons) 
to be the leading varieties of Garden Peas in 
1899 :— 
WRINKLED PEAS FOR GARDENS. 
First Early. 
Dr. Hogg. May Queen. 
Exonian. Sutton’s Al. 
Gradus. 
Very Dwarf. 
Chelsea. Sutton’s Favourite 
English Wonder. William Hurst. 
Notts’ Excelsior. 
Second Early and Early Main Crop. 
Duke of Albany. | Prince of Wales. 
Duke of York. Triumph. 
Empress of India. | 
Main Crop and Late. 
Autocrat. Ne Plus Ultra. 
Captain Cuttle. Sharpe’s Queen. 
Daisy. Stratagem. 
Magnum Bonum. Veitch’s Perfection. 
VEGETABLES. 487 
RounlD PEAS FOR MARKET. 
First Early. 
Sanyster’s Improved. 
Ameer (Laxton). | : 
William I. 
Eclipse or Alaska. 
Second Early. 
Lye’s Favourite | Telegraph. 
Main Crop. 
Gladiator. | Pride of the Market. 
Potato (Solanum tuberosum).—A perennial 
with tuber-like stems, popularly known as tubers, 
native of Peru, Colombia, Chili, and possibly 
Mexico. It is said to have been first introduced 
into Europe about 1580 by the Spaniards, al- 
though the popular belief is that it was first 
brought by Sir Walter Raleigh in 1586 from 
Virginia.t Gerarde, the English botanist, cer- 
tainly grew the Potato in his garden at Hol- 
born in 1596. It was, however, only as a 
curiosity or delicacy that the Potato was then 
cultivated, for some reason a prejudice against 
its use as food prevailing for many years. In 
the eighteenth century it became better known 
and more cultivated in England; and in 1796 
no less than 1700 acres in Essex were planted 
with Potatoes for the London market. 
The following particulars of the cultivation 
and improvement of the Potato in Europe are 
from a paper published in the Journal of the 
Royal Horticultural Society, vol. xix (1896) by 
Mr. A. W. Sutton, F.L.S., the senior member 
of Messrs. Sutton & Sons, Reading. 
It may be interesting to note that the area 
of Potatoes planted in the United Kingdom in 
1894 amounted to 1,232,055 acres, averaging 
3 tons, 15 cwts., 2 quarters, 20 lbs. per acre, or 
a totai of 4,662,147 tons grown in the United 
Kingdom,” besides a large quantity imported 
(for 1893 the figures were 14,140 tons). Ree- 
koning the entire population as 37,880,764, 
this would allow about 24 cwts. for every man, 
woman, and child per annum; but these figures 
make no allowance for the quantity annually 
consumed in feeding cattle, which is always 
considerable, and varies in proportion to the 
market value of Potatoes; nor do they take 
into account the tubers planted as seed. 
Monsieur H. de Vilmorin has very kindly 
sent me the figures for France, and he tells me 
1 See B. D. Jackson on ‘‘The Introduction of the Potato into 
England ”.—Gardener’s Chronicle, 1900, xxvii, 161, 178. 
2 In 1900 the figures were :— 
Great Britain,...... 2,735,000 
Trelandy saeced. 0-6 - 1,841,000 
Totalvecs csi: 4,576,000. 
These figures are nearly 1,000,000 less than the total for 1899. 
