as many varieties, though not in as desirable ones, as there are or 
ever have been in cultivation. Darwin saw a related species on the 
sea-shore sands on these Chilean Islands growing to the height of 
four feet, and other travelers have found red and yellow tubered 
forms in the ravines in west central Chile and around Valparaiso. 
A wild form of the same species from which the cultivated varieties 
came occurs as far north as southern Colorado, but this form has 
not contributed anything to present day potato-growing, except 
the “potato-bugs”, for which it, along with other Solanaceous 
plants, long furnished a comfortable and acceptable home. For 
the tomato and the red pepper, both relatives of the potato and 
capable of being grafted upon it, we are indebted to the hot 
regions of north central South America, the former being consid- 
ered a variety of the small-fruited wild tomato of Peru ( Ly coper - 
sicum cerasiforvie ) , the latter a civilized descendant of Capsicinn 
cnmua of Brazil. Pumpkins and squashes were practically un- 
known as a vegetable a century and a half ago, except to the 
agricultural tribes of North American Indians; and in 1830, the 
American seedsmen listed about ten varieties of our common 
string bean, the wild ancestor of which is now generally credited 
to the west coast of South America— most probably Peru and 
Chile, The lima bean is supposed to have come from the game 
region. 
The favorite food of our southern population and one of the 
most delicious of our camp-fire delicacies — the sweet potato — is 
not a native of Africa, as one acquainted with colored people 
might suppose, but is generally credited to tropical America, 
though specifically where is still a disputed question, as it has 
nowhere been found unquestionably wild. 
One must not suppose, however, because I have mentioned 
vegetables of American origin first, that all or even the great bulk 
of the green grocer’s wares are by ancestry American, for such 
is decidedly not the case. Of forty-four common market vege- 
tables of New York City, thirty-five are European, Asiatic or 
African in origin, while one, the ordinary mushroom Agaricvs 
cavipestris , is a native of the whole northern hemisphere, although 
it was first introduced to our tables as an inviting dish by 
Europeans. Of these thirty-five old world vegetables, all but 
three or four came from Europe or Asia, so that the majority of 
our vegetables, as well indeed as our inhabitants, claim these con- 
tinents as their ancestral cradle. And it is worth noting that 
most of our vegetables are not from the tropics, where plant life 
appears to run riot in the form and coloring of its leaves, flowers 
and fruits. 
In a large number of cases, these vegetables have been cul- 
tivated by man so long that the finding of their wild ancestors is 
somewhat in the nature of a guess, especially when we try to dis- 
cover them through character comparisons. For, many of the 
variations among cultivated plants are so striking that with our 
