128 
The Potato in Jersey. 
to this kingdom by Hawkins in 1565, and that it was known in 
Ireland previous to Sir Walter's expedition ; but writers on this 
subject seem to agree that to Sir Walter Raleigh is due the 
credit of having been among the first who cultivated the plant 
to serve for human food. At this period it was distinguished 
from the sweet Spanish j)otato — Discorea batata — by the name 
of Virginian potato ; this is mentioned by Gerarde, in his 
' Herbal,' 151)7. In the following century we find the Royal 
Society, at its Meeting, May ISth, 1662, taking measures to 
promote the planting of potatoes in all parts of the kingdom, so 
as to provide food for the people, should famine or a failure of 
corn visit the country ; Evelyn makes mention of this at the 
close of his ' Sylvia,' but thinks little of their culture, as he 
says, " plant potatoes in your worse ground." In England pota- 
toes were first extensively cultivated on the western coast of Lan- 
cashire, a locality still famous for their growth ; and it was not 
until forty years after their introduction, that they were grown 
in the neighbourhood of London, and even then with no idea of 
their utility. In Scotland we find the potato mentioned as 
being, in 17o2, one of the crops then in the common system of 
tillage ; but, through some mistaken superstitious notion, it was 
abandoned and condemned as a sinful plant, because no men- 
tion of it was made in the Bible. It does not, however, appear 
that these ideas extended themselves beyond that country, or yet 
that they continued long there. No doubt tlie superstitious 
notions gave way as the loss of the esculent became felt, and 
they were for ever dispelled when the importance of the plant 
placed it prominently on the rolls of agricultural produce, as 
one of the inost useful sources both of human and of animal food. 
With regard to the exact date of its first introduction to 
Jersey, we have no information other than that traditionally 
handed to us by the oldest growers of the present times, from 
whose accounts we gather that the first coming of the potato to 
this island must have been about the period I 772^ — 5 . In 1788 an 
article appeared in the ' Gazette of Jersey,' from the tenor of 
which it is clear that the potato was then taking root in this 
island, though it is equally credible that its earliest cultivation 
was only on a very small scale, in all probability rather as an 
object of curiosity than othervvfise. To those who understand 
how difficult it is at any time to introduce anything novel to the 
farmer, or, rather, that which he has not been wont to see prac- 
tised by others before him, it is easy to believe that the potato 
was not at once seized upon and cultivated by our farming 
ancestors, without at least some years of consideration. Still 
it would appear that the leading agriculturists of those days 
were not behindhand in bringing the potato into general culti- 
