October 5, 1889. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
69 
POTATO IMPROVEMENTS 
DURING THE PAST TWENTY-FIVE 
YEARS.* 
In dealing with this subject, it is worth starting with 
the proposition that the Potato, so far from becoming 
in any wav deposed from its pride of place amongst 
vegetables, remains still the premier, for its popularity 
has rather increased in the community, and high appre¬ 
ciation for it as an esculent is greater than ever. 
Emphatically the Potato is the most important of all 
our vegetables, using the term as employed generally at 
this conference. We never tire of it—we eat it all the 
year round, not because we have no other option, but 
because we love it. It is a very remarkable feature of 
the Potato as an edible product that it never satiates. 
We may tire of Peas, Beans, Cauliflowers, and all other 
of the rank and file of the vegetable army for a time at 
least ; but our fancy for good Potatos, like Tennyson’s 
brooklet, “ goes on for ever,” and if I may venture to 
prognosticate, I would aver that Potatos will still be 
good for man when the crack of doom shall come. 
Perhaps, in one respect, we are a little inconsistently 
fastidious, as whilst we prefer greatly to have Potatos 
starchy, we object to have them soapy—in other words, 
they may be floury, but must not be watery. We are 
not tied to one method of cooking Potatos either, to 
have them presentable, and therein again lies one 
element of the eternal popularity of the Potato. We 
can vary its method of dressing or serving up infinitesi¬ 
mally. It will bake, it will boil, it will fry, it will 
mash, it will fricasee, it will make cakes or pies, it 
will bear cooking in a score of fashions, and we never 
tire of the methods. Least of all, however, none tire 
of Potatos boiled or steamed and served up whole on 
the dinner table ; in fact, we make Potatos in this 
form as much a standing dish as we do the loaf of 
bread on our breakfast tables. We have many diverse 
uses for the Potato, such as converting it into that 
useful element in our underclothing, starch, wherewith 
to give us a little stiffness when we are naturally 
disposed to be limp. We convert it into alcohol, 
and help in that way to furnish the devil with a good 
share of the sons and daughters of Adam. We have 
worthier purposes, however, and dry and dessicate 
Potatos, so as to make them into a valuable healthy 
food for exportation or rrse for our soldiers and sailors 
under conditions of existence where green fresh foods 
are not obtainable. Whatsoever may be the response 
to the question to which I have to make reply, at least 
I have shown that the uses of the Potato are most 
varied, and probably considerably exceed those referred 
to. 
A Quarter of a Century ago. 
Twenty-five years ago we had no great wealth of 
variety in the Potato, and it is a significant fact that 
with the exception of the Ashleaf Kidney, a sort which 
has kept its place chiefly because hitherto there has 
been a lack of first early varieties, there is hardly to be 
found in seed Potato lists one then in ordinary culti¬ 
vation. It is still very much the fashion on the part 
of those who sigh after the days and years that are 
gone, to declare that none of the modern Potatos equal 
in quality the Regents, Lapstones, Forty folds, and 
other sorts of the past. Whenever I hear of the 
passing away of men of whom it may apparently be said 
their places cannot be filled, I am consoled with the 
reflection that the famous old proverb has never been 
belied, “ There’s as good fish in the sea as ever came 
out of it.” Just so is it in the Potato family. We 
have had since the date I refer to myriads of good 
Potatos introduced and plenty of bad ones. We have 
myriads of good Potatos now also, and a far less number 
of bad ones, and we have at least an abundance of 
varieties which, whilst equal in quality to the best of 
bygone days, do by far excel them in robustness and 
productiveness. Old age in man is apt to make many 
a good thing taste bitter in the mouth which seems 
sweet and pleasant to youth, and were I to aver that 
now to me there are no such Apples as I found in boyish 
days, I should fitly be laughed at, for we have now 
such Apples as could hardly have been dreamed of fifty 
years ago ; and yet my complaint would in part be true, 
because I have changed and become old and incapable 
of extracting from Apples that delight I found in the 
greenest fruit half a century since. That is, I believe, 
very much the case with those who condemn the Potato 
of to-day when compared with those of earlier years. 
The Potato really has improved—the eaters of them 
have become less capable of appreciating them. 
Then there has been no inconsiderable improvement 
18S9 Reaii at ^ lliswick Vegetable Conference, Sept. 26th, 
in form and beauty. Those who saw, and having seen, 
remember, the singularly beautiful tubers shown at the 
various exhibitions held under the auspices of the Inter¬ 
national Potato Show Committee, must in all honesty 
admit that in development of form wonders have been 
worked during the past twenty-five years. To aver 
that under the influence of those shows Potatos reached 
absolutely the perfection of form in their respective 
sections is to state a truism, and as a consequence, the 
committee, having accomplished all that was possible, 
retired from its labours satisfied with its results. “But,” 
exclaims the Potato pessimist, “Oh, beauty of form and 
smoothness of skin is no evidence of quality ! ” Perhaps 
not; but, on the other hand, neither is ugliness. If we 
have had some beautiful Potatos of bad quality we have 
also had myriads of good ones, and the efforts of the 
International Committee were specially directed to the 
elimination of the badj and the expansion of the good, 
not only at the Crystal Palace, but through the 
kindness of the Royal Horticultural Society in their 
gardens also. Form and beauty, beyond satisfying the 
requirements of the cultivators of refined tastes, have 
become marketable commodities also, for the hand¬ 
somest samples always secure the best prices. 
Introduction of the American Varieties. 
One of the chief factors in Potato development 
during the time previously named, however, was found 
in the introduction of American varieties. These 
came to us in myriads, generally characterised by 
similarity of appearance, but varying, perhaps, in 
colour. All were remarkable croppers, and if few 
possessed high quality or flavour, yet all did materially 
help to swell our Potato supplies. How many of these 
varieties introduced at the time with much flourish cf 
trumpets have now gone to the eternal Potato bourne 
our lists of to-day will serve to show. Just one or two 
remain to us in their natural form and goodness, chief 
amongst which is the favourite Beauty of Hebron; the 
best perhaps, as it has been the most permanent of all 
the family. But our home raisers awakened to the 
need of doing something to counteract the flooding of 
our trade with American sorts, and further, alive to 
the value of these strangers as parents of better strains, 
they utilised the best for seed-bearing purposes, fairly 
skimming the cream off them and casting the residue 
aside as worthless. 
Our esteemed friend, Mr. Robert Fenn, who had at 
Woodstock been raising varieties which were perfect in 
quality, but lacking in robustness and productiveness, 
was one of the first to utilise American varieties as 
parents. Many others presently followed suit, with 
the result, briefly put, that dispensing with all old 
sorts, and nearly all American varieties, we have a race 
of Potatos which is productive, robust, gives good 
quality, and supplies the tables of the poorest in the 
land cheaply and abundantly. But apart from the 
Americans, which in spite of their comparative 
robustness still succumbed wholesale to the deadly 
effects of the Peronospora, there was this very fungus 
with all its dire destructiveness constantly forcing 
upon Potato men the need for battling with it for the 
preservation of our Potato stocks. It is idle to regard 
it as other than a terrible and a disastrous visitation, 
and in years past when we had none other to depend 
upon but Regents, Fortyfolds, Victorias, and similar 
tender though delicious varieties, there was at times 
reason to fear that the Potato crops of the kingdom 
would be absolutely decimated. 
Here was opportunity for a display of that native 
force which makes the modern Briton the compeer of 
the ancient Roman. To comparatively conquer, if not 
absolutely to subdue the insidious foe, was a feat 
worthy of accomplishment, and I believe that, com¬ 
paratively, that great labour has, thanks to the per¬ 
sistent efforts of the Potato raisers, more than to any 
other body, been accomplished. Let it not be forgotten 
that no other vegetable has had such a deadly enemy 
to contend with as the Potato. Remembering still 
farther how deeply the tubers are associated with the 
feeding and the health of the community, there was 
found special stimulus for labour in the direction of 
subduing the disease. Scientists told us what it was 
they could do, but the more practical men have striven 
to battle with it, and the honours of victory, so far as 
they have been won, rest with the raisers of the varieties 
more than with any other class. 
The Anglo-American Crosses. 
One of the first products of the Anglo-American 
Potato crosses was that famous variety, Magnum 
Bonum. Its history is pretty well known ; but in 
referring to the improvements in Potatos during the 
past twenty-five years, it would be impossible to omit 
reference to a variety which has proved to be so im¬ 
portant a factor in the work of disease resisting, and 
practically of conquering. Raised from the seed 
produce of the Early Rose, assumedly crossed with the 
Victoria—a once famous Potato, but now rarely met 
with—by Mr. Clarke, of Christchurch, it became so 
widely known and grown in a few years that probably 
it made more noise than any other Potato ever intro¬ 
duced to commerce. Fortunately for Mr. Clarke and 
the community, tubers of it and other varieties were 
sent to that once famous trial ground at Stoke New¬ 
ington, over which Mr. Shirley Hibberd was the 
presiding genius ; and so much was that gentleman 
taken with the variety that he introduced it to the 
Messrs. Sutton & Sons, of Reading, who purchased the 
stock. It is said of the University of Utrecht that 
over its portals ran the inscription, “Utrecht planted 
me, Louvain watered me, and Ciesar gave the increase,” 
to which some wag is reported to have added, “God 
did nothing there.” Now of the Magnum Bonum it 
may be written, “Clarke raised me, Hibberd selected 
me, Suttons distributed me, and God gave a wonderful 
increase,” for is not this variety at the present moment 
more widely grown than any other to be found in 
commerce ? 
But even in raising a variety which presented so 
formidable a barrier to the progress of the Potato 
disease, there were not wanting critics who railed at its 
quality. If half a loaf be better than no bread, surely 
a whole one is better still, and that much did Magnum 
Bonum give to myriads of Potato consumers, to whom 
in previous years the tender old kinds of Potatos, 
under the deadly effects of the disease, gave no loaf 
whatever. It is, however, worthy of remark that in 
spite of the critics the Magnum Bonum is more largely 
eaten now than any other Potato. But having found 
so admirable a barrier against the tide of fungoid decay, 
raisers have not been slow to take advantage of it for 
the purpose of producing many other disease-resisting 
kinds, and possibly of much superior quality. We 
have now not one, but a wealth of disease resisters, and 
because of them have such an abundance of Potatos 
that they can hardly be disposed of at any price. 
Really, the salvation of the Potato, and of the con¬ 
sumer, has been the ruin almost of the trade, for with 
stocks so plentiful few want to purchase, and trade is 
almost unprofitable to growers. 
Why, in the old disease days, before Magnum Bonum 
and other fine sorts came to our aid, we imported 
thousands of tons of Potatos during the winter months 
from Germany, Belgium and elsewhere. That trade 
has been entirely suspended, for the excellent reason 
that we grow plenty of Potatos at home, not only for 
our consumption, but have an abundance to spare. It 
is true we import large quantities of early Potatos from 
France, the Channel Islands, &c., but their consump¬ 
tion in preference to good home-grown old tubers 
displays a sadly vitiated taste, as in most cases they 
are more fit for pigs than for intelligent men. Mr. 
C. Fidler, of Reading, one of our great dealers in 
Potatos, as well as an extensive grower, has informed 
me that the average price of Potatos now in the market 
is fully 30 to 40 per cent, lower than it was ten years 
ago—a fact which speaks volumes for the wonderful 
development of Potato production, the result of the 
possession of numerous disease-resisting varieties. 
The following list of sorts affords some evidence of 
the change which has been effected in Potatos within 
the past comparatively few years : —Beauty of Hebron 
and its white variety, Webber’s White Beauty, a 
distinct early sort ; Sutton’s Early White Kidney, 
Seedling, Satisfaction, and Abundance, all robust and 
great croppers; Snowdrop, Schoolmaster, Magnum 
Bonum, Vicar of Laleham, The Dean, Reading Russet, 
Prime Minister, Chancellor, Reading Giant, White 
Elephant, Imperator, The Daniels, Lye’s Conqueror 
and King of Russets, The Governor, The Bruce, Stour¬ 
bridge Glory, and many others, nearly all great 
croppers, and. creators of that wealth of Potatos which 
contrasts so wonderfully with the comparative dearth 
of twenty-five years since. 
