BOOT CEOPS. 



357 



truffle. It was received by Clusius, at Vienna, in 1598, in whose 

 time it spread rapidly in the South of Europe, and even into Gi-er- 

 many. It is said to have found its way to England by a different 

 route, having been brought from Virginia by B-aleigh colonists, 

 in 1586, which would seem improbable, as it was unknown in 

 North America at that time, either wild or cultivated ; and besides, 

 Gough, in his edition of Camden's " Britannia," says it was first 

 planted by Sir Walter E-aleigh, on his estate at Toughal, near 

 Cork, and that it was cultivated in Ireland before its value was 

 known in England. Gerarde, in his "Herbal," published in 1597, 

 gives a figure of this plant, under the name of Batata Virginiana, 

 to distinguish it from the Batata edidis, and recommends the root 

 to be eaten as a " delicate dish," but not as a common food. " The 

 sweet potato," says Sir Joseph Banks, " was used in England as a 

 delicacy, long before the introduction of our potatoes. It was 

 imported in considerable quantities from Spain and the Canaries, 

 and was supposed to possess the power of restoring decayed vigor." 

 It is related that the common potato was accidentally introduced 

 into England from Ireland, at a period somewhat earlier than that 

 noticed by Gerarde, in consequence of the wreck of a vessel on 

 the coast of Lancashire, which had a quantity on board. In 1663 

 the Royal Society of England took measures for the cultivation of 

 this vegetable, with the view of preventing famine. 



Notwithstanding its ntility as a food became better known, no 

 high character was attached to it ; and the writers on gardening 

 towards the end of the seventeenth century, a hundred years or 

 more after its introduction, treated of it rather indifferently. 

 " They are much used in Ireland and America as bread," says one 

 author, " and may be propagated with advantage to poor people." 



The famous nurserymen, Loudon and Wise, did not consider it 

 worthy of notice in their " Complete Gardener," published in 1719. 

 But its use gradually spread as its excellencies became better un- 

 derstood. It was near the middle of the last century before it was 

 generally known either in Britain or INorth America, since which 

 it has been most extensively cultivated. 



The period of the introduction of the common potato into the 

 British North American colonies, is not precisely known. It is 

 mentioned among the products of Carolina and Virginia in 1749, 

 and by Kalm as growing in New York the same year. 



The culture of this root extends through the whole of Europe, 

 a large portion of Asia, Australia, the southern and northern parts 

 of Africa, and the adjacent islands. On the American continent, 

 with the exception of some sections of the torrid zone, the culture 

 ranges from Labrador on the east, and Nootka Sound on the west, 

 to Cape Horn. It resists more effectually than the cereals the 

 frosts of the north. In the North American Union it is principally 

 confined to the Northern, Middle, and "Western States, where, 

 from the coolness of the climate it acquires a farinaceous consis- 

 tence highly conducive to the support of animal life. It has never 

 been extensively cultivated in Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and 



