On the Introduction of the Potatoe, §c. 9 



nature and produce of its soil, wrote an account of it, which 

 is printed in the first Volume of De Bry's Collection of Voy- 

 ages. In this account, under the article of roots, at page 17, 

 he describes a plant called Openawk : " These roots/' says he, 

 "are round, some as large as a walnut, others much larger; 

 they grow in damp soil, many hanging together, as if fixed 

 on ropes ; they are good food, either boiled or roasted." 



Gerard, in his Herbal, published in 1597, gives a figure 

 of the Potatoe, under the name of Potatoe of Virginia ; and 

 tells us that he received the roots from Virginia, otherwise 

 called Norembega. 



The manuscript minutes of the Royal Society, December 

 13, 1693, tells us, that Sir Robert Southwell, then Pre- 

 sident, informed the fellows, at a meeting, that his grandfa- 

 ther brought Potatoes into Ireland, who first had them from 

 Sir Walter Raleigh. 



This evidence proves, not unsatisfactorily, that the Potatoe 

 was first brought into England, either in the year 1586, or 

 very soon after, and sent from thence to Ireland, without 

 delay, by Sir Robert Southwell's ancestor, where it was 

 cherished and cultivated for food before the good people of 

 England knew its value; for Gerard, who had this plant 

 in his garden in 1597, recommends the roots to be eaten as 

 a delicate dish, not as common food. 



It appears, however, that it first came into Europe, at an 

 earlier period, and by a different channel; for Clusius, 

 who at that time resided at Vienna, first received the Pota- 

 toe in 1598, from the governor of Mons, in Hainault, who 

 had procured it the year before from one of the attendants 

 of the Pope's legate, under the name of Taratoufli ; and 



vol. i. C 



