61 
Troceedings of Learned Societies, 
1811.] 
l;nown, because the potato never to¬ 
tally fails.'' 
In the department of Dordogne, an 
advantageous change in the rotation ol 
crops has been produced. The Indian 
corn was tried and failed; but the po- 
tatoe remained unknown to, or at least 
untried by^ a number of farmers, until 
the year 1785. The landed proprietors 
and the clergy had, within the last 
fifty years, introduced tins root into the 
department of Sarthe, and it now serves 
as an excellent article either to com¬ 
mence with for the purpose of fattening 
of oxen, or to complete the fattening of 
liogs. Every farmer plants one-twelftii 
of his land with it. 
‘ Under the beneficent administration 
of the great Turgot, this valuable article 
of food was introduced into various de¬ 
partments of Fiance, particularly the 
Haute-Vienne. “ The lower orders of 
the people at first disdained the new 
resource, as a kind of nourishment below 
the dignity of human nature, and would 
never adopt it until after the intendant 
of the province of Limousin had used 
it daily at his own table. It was then 
at first used by the superior classes of 
citizens, and, in a short time, began no 
longer to be considered as the humi¬ 
liating sign of the last degree of human 
misery. It has at length been recog¬ 
nized", we are informed, “ that the use 
and cultivation of the potato is essenti¬ 
ally connected with the public prosperity, 
whether it be considered as augmenting 
the means of subsistence, or aftording a 
facility to the multiplication of the most 
use,fill animals. Its production is easy, 
because all exposures, as well as all cli¬ 
mates, are suitable to it. Tl here is no 
spot of earth, however arid, but which 
with a little labour and care may be 
rendered proper for its vegetation, al¬ 
though light soils are, in general, most 
suitable to it. Every body too is now 
well convinced, that the culture of the 
potato, however considerable it may 
be, will never encroach in any sensible 
degree on the mass of lands destined 
to the ordinary productions, because a 
small portion of territory will produce a 
large quantity of this root, it returning 
in general after the rate of fifty tor one. 
In short it suffers but little from the in¬ 
temperance of the seasons; and what 
renders it particularly recommendahle, 
is the consideration that it increases thd 
4|uantity and improves the milk, not only 
♦f nurses, but of all females whatsoever,” 
Mi Louis Ordinaire, author of a Me¬ 
moir on this subject, after observing that 
the potato thrives in every kind of sod, 
on the sandy mountains as well as those 
th^t are calcareous and argillaceous, in tlie 
vailies and on the rising grounds, allows 
that new lands are more favourable and 
better adapted lor the purposes of rear¬ 
ing it, than any other. As to its qua¬ 
lities, we are told by him that it is both 
a strengthening and substantial food, 
conducive to the health, and admirably 
calculated to supply the place of other 
aliments. It may be consumed in a 
thousand ditferent ways, and neither 
men nor animals are ever disgusted with 
it. In the fervour of his enthusiasm 
he exclaims as follows: Honoured be 
those worthy agriculturists, who, by their 
example, their writings, their courageous 
intervention, have propagated the cuit3= 
vation of such a precious vegetable in 
Prance! Accept our thanks most re¬ 
spectable Parmentier, you who have prog¬ 
nosticated all the advantages to be derived 
from the cultivation of the potato!" 
About seventy years ago some speci« 
mens of this valuable edible were intro¬ 
duced into Alsace. It was at first cul¬ 
tivated merely as a rarity, but no one 
would make a trial on a large scale- 
The government, like all arbitrary ones, 
had immediately recourse to force, and 
the intendant commanded every village 
to plant a certain quantity of ground 
with it. So great on tlie other hand was 
the obstinacy of the inhabitants, that 
several mayors were punished for their 
neglect in enforcing this regulation. 
Such, however, has been the benefit of 
example, and such the effect arising from 
the propagation of knowledge, that 
writings, and verbal instructions have at 
length effected w'hat authority was ut¬ 
terly unable to obtain. Every cottager 
now cultivates the potato, which con¬ 
stitutes his habitual nourishment; it is 
eaten both morning and evening in soup, 
and with milk; it supplies the place of 
bread, and it constitutes not only the 
nourishment of the poor, but even of 
their cattle. This has been chiefly 
effected by one* member of the society 
of Ao^riculture, for the department of the 
Seine, after a struggle of half a century. 
It ought to be remarked, however, that 
in order to dress potatoes, fire becomes 
absolutely necessary ; and that France is 
now menaced with the want of wood. 
^ Parmentier. 
A 
