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XXX. On the Native Country of the Wild Potatoe, with an 

 Account of its Culture in the Garden of the Horticultu- 

 ral Society ; and Observations on the Importance of ob- 

 taining improved Varieties of the cultivated Plant. By 

 Joseph Sabine, Esq. F.R.S. fyc. Secretary. 



Read November 19, 1822. 



The possession of the plants of the Native Wild Potatoe 

 has been long a desideratum, and from the great importance 

 and extensive use of the cultivated root, the subject of course 

 became an object of attention to the Horticultural Society. 

 In my communications with the Society's correspondents, on 

 the other side of the Atlantic, this was pointed out as one of 

 the most interesting objects, to which their attention could be 

 directed ; and it is with no small satisfaction, that I am able 

 to state that our enquiries have been successful. 



Great doubts have existed as to what parts of the new 

 world the natural habitat of the Solanum tuberosum or Po- 

 tatoe, should be assigned ; and the question is even now a 

 matter of discussion among Botanists of the greatest emi- 

 nence. The vegetable in its cultivated state was first known 

 in this country as the Potatoe of Virginia ; I conceive, how- 

 ever, there can be little doubt that the plants which Sir 

 Walter Raleigh found in that colony, and transferred to 

 Ireland, had been previously introduced there from some of 

 the Spanish territories, in the more southern parts of that quar- 

 ter of the globe ; for had the Potatoe been a native of any dis- 



