302 



DOMESTIC BOTANY. 



a native of Peru and Chili, and has also been found wild in 

 Mexico. It was first introduced into Spain about the be- 

 ginning of the sixteenth century, and into England from 

 Virginia by Sir Walter lialeigh, in 1586. Gerarde, in his 

 Herbal, published in 1597, gives a figure of a potato plant, 

 which he had growing in his garden in Holborn (London), 

 under the name of Batata virginiana. 



The cultivation of the potato spread very slowly. About 

 1G33 it was encouraged by the Eoyal Society; but it was 

 not until nearly a century had elapsed that it became plenti- 

 ful, and was successfully cultivated in Scotland. It is sin- 

 gular that in The Complete Gardener," published by 

 London and Wise in 1719, the potato is not mentioned : 

 and about the same time Bradley, an extensive writer on 

 horticultural subjects, speaks of it as being inferior to 

 skirrets and radishes. 



During the last hundred years, the cultivation of the 

 potato has greatly increased in importance, especially in poor 

 and densely populated districts. The ravages of a disease,* 

 which first appeared in 1845, produced a famine, especially 

 in Ireland, where potatoes had for years been almost the sole 

 article of food with the poorer class. Since that period, and 

 on account of this disease, the crop has been uncertain 

 throughout all countries. 



Besides the usual culinary purposes for which potatoes are 

 used, a large quantity of starch is manufactured from them, 

 equal to arrow root, and used for many domestic purposes. 

 It enters largely into the composition of the best wheaten 

 bread, sometimes even to excess. From the starch is ob- 

 tained a gum called Dextrine, which is used in the arts, and 

 constitutes the adhesive matter used for letter stamps and 

 envelopes. The potato yields by distillation a strong spirit, 

 and by fermentation a wine is obtained ; the spirit in flavour 

 resembles brandy. 



Egg-plant [Solarium melongena). A native of South 



* See page 102. 



