The Potato Industry oe Colorado. i i 
The Origin of Many Varieties. —By bud variation White Pearl 
potatoes came from Blue Victors,* White Ohios from Red Early 
Ohios, and Red Peachblows from the old spotted Jersey Peach- 
blow. Thus, of the above Colorado standard varieties, three came 
“mixed in the hill,” although they did not mix there, and only our 
Rural came to be what it is without this factor. The Rural came 
direct from the seed ball and so did the regular Early Ohio—the 
latter a cross between the Hebron and the Peachblow—“mixed,” 
or crossed in the seed ball. 
HISTORY OE THE POTATO IN COMMERCE. 
The Potato Was Discovered in 1532 by the expedition of 
Pizarro near Quito in Peru, where it was cultivated at an elevation, 
they thought, greater than the line of eternal snow in Europe, and 
was found growing wild still higher above the tilled lands of the 
Incas. 
Spain, Italy, and France soon saw specimens of the tubers, 
first as botanical curiosities and then as a possible source of food 
for peasants. In 1586 the plant was brought to the attention of 
Queen Elizabeth of England. As late as 1719 the potato was not 
listed in a garden manual in England which purported to be com¬ 
plete. Somewhat over 200 years ago, interest had been shown by 
English landlords in the growing of potatoes for food for their 
Irish tenantry and the crop soon thereafter became important 
throughout Europe. 
Germany, Russia, Austria, and Prance, in the order named, lead 
the world in the total production of potatoes. Their use as food for 
stock, as a source of alcohol for mechanical and household purposes, 
and as a source of starch for cloth makers and laundries, is now a 
great factor in the consumption of the potato. 
Why Grown. —Climate and the cheapness of the potato as a 
food (with no process of manufacture needed) among people where 
cheapness is desired or imperative, together with the small knowl¬ 
edge required for moderate success with the crop, have been the 
chief factors in the extensions of potato culture. The appreciation 
of good potatoes as a staple food is a later factor. 
*In a field of White Pearls in 1908 we found in different hills two 
potatoes which had small purple spots covering eyes. These tubers were 
planted that winter in the college greenhouse, the purple and white eyes 
separately. The potatoes grown from these pieces came true in color 
to the color of the eyes planted, and they were planted in the field at 
Greeley in 1909, again coming true in color except for some white streaks 
on the purple variety. This stock was planted in 1910 at Del Norte and 
again came true each to its color. These are the “White-Eye Pearls,” 
and “Purple-Eye Pearls,” noted in the Del Norte Tables. 
