THE SOUTHERN PLANTER, 



IDebotcXJ to glgrfculturi, 2§ovtf culture, att$ tlie Jgttusdioltv girts. 



Agriculture is the nursing mother of the Arts. 



Xenopkon. 



Vol. V. 



THE TUCKAHOE PLANT. 

 The writer of the following article is remark- 

 able for his antiquarian lore, and his singular 

 devotion to every thing connected with the pri- 

 mitive history of Virginia. We have been pre- 

 sented by Mr. Campbell with a specimen of 

 what he conceives to be not the Tuckahoe root, 

 which we keep for the inspection of the curious. 



For the Southern Planter. 



Captain Smith, in his History of Virginia, 

 Book 2d, p. 122, says: " The chiefe root they 

 have for food is called Tockawhoughe. It 

 groweth like a flagge in marishes. In one day 

 a salvage will gather sufficient for a weeke. — 

 These rootes are much of the gfeatnesse and 

 taste of potatoes. They use to cover a great 

 many of them with oke leaves and feme and 

 then cover all with earth in the manner of a 

 colepir ; over it on each side they continue a 

 great fire twenty-four houres before they dare 

 eat it. Raw it is no better than poyson and being 

 rosterJ, except it be tender and the heat abated, 

 or sliced and dryed in the sunne, mixed with 

 sorrell and meale or such like, it will prickle 

 and torment the throat extreamely, and yet in 



i sommer they use this ordinarily for bread." . . . 

 Again, in Book 4, p. 228, Smith says of the 

 Jamestown colonists, "others would gather as 

 much Tockawhoughe roots in a day as would 

 make them bread for a week," &c* 



I have in my possession a tuberous root of 



I the species commonly called Tuckahoe, and upon 

 making inquiry respecting it of several country 

 people, I. am convinced that it is not the root 

 above described by Captain Smith. Smith has 

 it, " It groweth like a flagge in marishes ;" 

 whereas the root which I have is spoken of by 

 those who are acquainted with it as growing 

 without any stalk, vine, or leaf, whatever — 

 therefore, not " like a flagge," and instead of 



\ being indigenous to marshes, is commonly said 



* Beverley in his History of Virginia, Book 3d, p. 

 15, gives a similar account: "Out of the ground, they 

 (the Indians) dig trubbs, earth-nuts, wild onions, and 

 a tuberous root they call Tuckahoe, which while crude 

 is of a very hot and virulent quality; but they can 

 manage it so as in case of necessity to make bread 

 of it, just as the East Indians are said to do of Colo- 

 cassia. It grows like a flagg in the miry marshes, 

 having roots of the magnitude and taste of Irish po- 

 tatoes, which are easy to be dug up." 

 Vol. V.— 13 



Tillage and Pasturage are the two breasts of the 

 State. — Sully. 



No. 5. 



by farmers to be found in "new grounds" and 

 on high lands. The following notice of the 

 Tuckahoe root is found in a note appended to 

 an article in the Farmers' Register for April, 

 1839, written by the late James M. Garnett, 

 Esq. 



11 Would you believe it ? There are hundreds 

 of native-born Virginians so ignorant of the 

 early history of their own State as not to know 

 that a root called ' Tuckahoe' was a common 

 article of food among the Indians when Virginia 

 was first settled by the English. It is indeed a 

 great botanical curiosity, (now very scarce,) for 

 it has neither root in the ground, nor stem above, 

 but it grows a few inches below the surface, ap- 

 parently as unconnected with the soil as a bu- 

 ried cannon-ball would be. It is oval in shape, 

 and varies in size from that of a goose- egg to 

 that of a man's head. The coat is rough and 

 of a dark brown color— the inner substance is 

 very white, similar in texture to that of the 

 yam, and of an insipid taste. I believe it is 

 found in the Carolinas as well as in Virginia." 

 There is, however, a diversity of opinion about 

 it. Perhaps some of your readers can throw 

 some light on the question, and give an account 

 of the real Tuckahoe, which " groweth like a 

 flagge in marishes." 



In the Fanners' Register, vol. 9, p. 3, C. B. 

 Hayden, Esq., of Smithfield, Virginia, gives an 

 account of the " Tockawhoughe," erroneously, 

 as he thinks, called " Tuckahoe," a corruption 

 of the Indian word " Tuckahowe," which liter- 

 ally signifies "the place where deer are shy." 

 He classes it under genus tuber, of which there 

 are two species, cibarium and albidum. Mr. H. 

 thinks the " Tockawhoughe," the albidum. It 

 is subterranean, destitute of roots, stem and 

 leaves. This is the truffle. 



Mr. Jefferson in his Notes on Virginia, p. 35, 

 classes ,the Tuckahoe as the " Lycoperdon tu- 

 ber"— the " puff ball," which is as different from 

 the truffle as from the Tockawhoughe of Smith, 

 or the Tuckahoe described by Mr. Garnett.— 

 Mr. Jefferson's classification is undoubtedly er- 

 roneous. This description corresponds with the 

 specimen which I have. It differs fiom Smith's 

 account of it in several particulars. The ano- 

 malous tuber described by Mr. G. may have 

 been used by the Indians as an article of food. 

 It is certainly farinaceous— is readily eaten by 

 I hogs, it is said, and is sometimes styled "Indian 



C* T. BOTTS, Editor. 

 RICHMOND, MAY, 1845. 



