February  11,  19C4. 
JOURNAL  CF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
115 
searches  of  dealers.  It  has  lost  such  .species  as  the  Herb  Paris, 
tlie  Mezereuin,  tlie  fragrant  Orchis,  and  the  Osmund  Royal 
Fern.  Soma  order’s  are  well  reirresented,  the  Rosacese  is  an 
instance,  and  tlie  author  enumerates  no  fewer  than  sixty  species 
of  the  genus  Rubus.  Possibly  some  of  these  may  be  varieties 
mei’cly.  The  book  is  embellished  on  the  outside  with  a  figure 
of  R.  durescens,  a  rather  local  species,  first  observed  in  1887 ; 
and  two  excellent  maps  will  bo  helpful  to  the  student. 
“One  and  All  ’  Gardening,  1904. 
This  popular  annual  reaches  its  ninth  issue  this  year.  A  first 
edition  of  100,000  has  been  prepared  to  meet  the  growing  demand. 
There  are  200  profusely  illustrated  pages,  yet  the  price  is  con¬ 
tinued  at  twopence.  Amongst  the  notable  articles  are:  “The 
Garden  of  Consolation,”  by  the  editor  (Edward  Owen  Greening), 
“A  Policeman’s  Roof  Garden,”  “Board  School  Children’s 
Flowers,”  “  Floral  Evolution,”  “  Culture  of  Cabbages,  C'auli- 
flowers,  and  Broccoli,”  “  Onions,”  “  Cucumbers,”  “  Shakespeare’s 
Plants  and  Shakespeare  Weather  Lore,”  by  Hon.  H.  A.  Stanhope, 
and  numerous  illustrated  articles  by  Mr.  D.  S.  Fish.  Edinburgh. 
It  is  “  a  popular  annual  for  amateurs,  allotment  holdens,  and 
working  gardeners,”  and  is  published  at  92,  Long  Acre,  London, 
W.C. 
History  of  the  Potato. 
{Continued  from  ’page  70.) 
One  rea.son,  certainly,  that  the  plant  remained  so  long  in 
disrepute,  was  the  defective  mode  of  its  culture.  This,  and 
ignorance  of  the  pi’oper  mode  of  cooking  the  tubers,  would 
make  them  certainly  anything  but  a  tempting  article  of  food. 
The  following  anecdote  illmstrates  this: — “A  per, son  who  had 
been  invited  to  ta.ste  the  first  Potato  planted  in  the  county  of 
Forfar,  N.B.,  about  the  year  1730,  related  that  the  roots  had 
been  merely  heated,  and  that  they  adhered  to  the  teeth  like 
glue,  while  their  flavour  was  far  from  agreeable.  The  food 
was  thus  about  to  be  condemned,  when  the  accidental  arrival 
of  a  gentleman,  who  had  tasted  a  Potato  in  Lancashire,  cau.sed 
the  rejected  roots  to  be  remanded  back  to  the  hot  tui’f  ashes 
till  they  became  as  dainty  as  they  had  before  been  nauseous.” 
According  to  the  old  statistical  account  of  Scotland, 
Potatoes  were  first  cultivated  in  the  fields  thei’e  in  the  year  1739, 
in  the  county  of  Stirling  ;  and  Dr.  Walker  assures  us  that  they 
were  not  known  in  the  Highlands  and  Isles  till  1743.  It  is  .stated 
in  the  General  Report  of  Scotland  (vol.  ii.,  p.  3),  as  a  well 
ascertained  fact,  that  “  in  the  years  172o-G  the  few  Potato 
plants  then  existing  in  gardens  about  Edinhurgh  were  left  in 
the  same  spot  of  ground  from  year  to  year,  as  recommended 
by  Evelyn  ;  a  few  tubers  were  perhaps  removed  for  use  in  the 
autumn,  and  the  jiarent  plants  well  covered  with  litter,  to  save 
them  from  the  winter’s  fro.st.  Notwithstanding  the  succe:-;:- 
that,  after  this  period,  attended  the  culture  of  (he  Potato 
among  the  cottagers,  its  progre.ss  among  the  higher  clas.ses  i;i 
Scotland  was  retarded  by  the  opinions  of  different  writers  on 
agricultural  subjects,  already  mentioned;  and  also,  what  is  not 
a  little  singular,  a  mistaken  zeal  in  religious  matters  made 
some  of  the  Scots  folks  ho.stile  to  the  innovation.  ‘  Potatoes,’ 
said  they,  ‘are  not  mentioned  in  the  Bible!’  and  this  was 
deemed  (piite  a  sufficient  rea.son  for  rejecting  them.  Famine 
at  last  gave  the  great  impulse  to  the  cultivation  of  this  root, 
and  during  the  latter  iiart  of  the  eighteenth  century  its  excel¬ 
lent  qualities  became  generally  understood.”  (“  Quart.  .Journ. 
of  Agric.”) 
The  Netherlands  received  the  Potato  from  England,  and 
from  thence  it  found  its  way  into  different  parts  of  Germany. 
It  was  very  late  before  it  came  into  general  cultivation  in 
Sweden  and  Denmark,  and  even  Saxony,  but  in  all  these 
countries  it  is  universally  used  at  present.  In  Switzerland, 
Potatoes  seem  to  have  been  introduced  about  the  year  1720 ; 
thev  now  form  a  principal  article  of  food  theio.  Poland  is, 
perhai)s  as  remarkable  as  Ireland  for  their  extensive  cultivation. 
It  is  only  within  the  last  eighty  years  that  any  particular 
attention  has  been  paid  in  France  to  the  cultivation  of  Potatoes. 
They  were  long  regarded  as  an  unwholesome  plant,  and  only 
fit  to  be  eaten  by  cattle  and  the  mo.st  wretched  of  human 
lieings. 
In  1698  Dr.  Li.ster  remarks  that  the  Potato  had  then  become 
a  great  relief  to  the  people  of  England,  though  it  was  rai'ely  to 
be  met  with  iu  the  French  mai-kets.  (“Travels,  149.”)  It 
continued  in  France  to  be  e.steemed  as  food  fit  only  for  the 
lowe.st  classes  until  the  year  1749,  and  then  came  somewhat 
into  repute,  but  was  again  dismsed  by  the  aristocracy  until 
IMM.  Faiguet  and  Parmentier  caused  bread  and  bi.scuit  to  be 
made  of  its  meal. 
It  is  probable  that  the  French  had  only  cultivated  the 
inferior  .sorts,  and  did  not  know  that  better  kinds  could  be 
])rocured.  Parmeittier,  .so  distiugui.shed  by  his  zeal  for 
chemistry,  was  the  finst  who  made  any  markedly  successful 
exertion  in  behalf  of  this  decried  and  unpopular  plant.  He 
thought  that  the  best  jilan  to  introduce  it  into  general  use  was 
to  iiiji-ke  it  pojmlar  with  the  higher  oi’ders.  For  that  purpose, 
in  1785,  he  presented  Louis  XVI.  with  a  nosegay  made  with 
flowers  of  Die  Potato,  and  the  Sovereign  graciously  received  the 
emnlem  of  a  plant  the  mo.st  likely  of  any  to  guarantee  hi.s 
subjects  against  the  horrors  of  famine.  This  ingenious  mode 
of  bringing  a  plant,  which  had  hitherto  been  so  much  despised, 
into  fashion  was  eminently  successful.  The  courtiers,  always 
ready  to  flatter  the  ta.ste  and  wishes  of  their  monarch,  hastened 
to  cultivate  an  article  honoured  with  his  regard,  and  thus 
France,  in  a  great  measure,  owes  the  more  extensive  culture  of 
Potatoes  to  courtly  flattery.  (“  Mr.  McAdams.  Quart.  Journ. 
of  Agric.”) 
It  was  more  early  e.steemed  in  Germany,  for  Clusius  .saj’s, 
in  1601,  it  was  sufficiently  common  in  their  gardens ;  and  in 
1780  Dr.  Martjm  states  that  he  saw  it  exten.sively  cultivated  in 
Swabia. 
So  slow  has  been  the  progre.s.s  of  this  root  in  Norway  that 
Van  Buch  observes  it  was  scarcely  known  at  Bergen  in  1762, 
a  circumstance  the  more  remarkable,  as  a  century  and  a  half 
has  elap.sed  since  its  introduction  into  Iceland,  the  climate  of 
which  is  less  favourable  than  that  of  Norway.  In  about  twenty 
years  the  Potato  found  its  way  into  Nordland,  and  not  long 
afterwards  was  introduced  into  Finmark,  vhere  it  has  now 
become  pretty  general.  The  Potatoes  of  Alton,  though  .seldom 
exceeding  the  size  of  a  small  egg,  form,  neverthele.ss,  a  valuable 
addition  to  the  re.sources  of  the  inhabitants  of  Lapland.  Their 
produce  usually  averages  about  thirty-fold,  and  in  some 
instances  it  has  reached  to  forty-four.  The  price  is  usually 
from  3s.  6d.  to  5s.  the  barrel,  or  .sack,  of  four  English  bushels. 
The  Potatoes  grown  in  Finmark  are  remarkably  sweet  to  the 
ta.ste,  of  a  waxy  nature,  and  in  colour  of  a  deei)i.sh  yellow, 
(“  C.  Brookes’s  Trav.  in  Lapland,  203.”) 
In  other  quarters  of  the  globe  the  Potato  is  extensively 
cultivated,  e.specially  in  North  America,  and  in  some  parts  of 
its  .southern  latitudes.  It  has  spread  throughout  the  Lslands  of 
the  South  Seas,  and  in  Australia  and  New  Zealand  its  judicious 
culture  seems  to  have  preserved  it  from  the  di.sea.se  deva.stating 
it  in  all  other  countries.  At  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  and  St. 
Helena  I  have  eaten  them  in  as  great  perfection  as  in  Engffind, 
and  found  them  scarcely  inferioi’  in  the  still  more  torrid  latitude 
of  Bengal.  At  the  horticultural  show  in  Calcutta  during  1872, 
I  saw  Potatoes  exhiliited  vhich  would  not  have  shamed  the 
Potato-growers  of  Jjancashire,  if  mi.staken  for  their  produce. 
The.se  were  grown  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the  city,  but 
in  the  hills  of  Chirra  Poongie,  though  not  far  di.stant,  the 
Potatoes  are  grown  still  finer.  They  wei’e  an  object  of  cultiva¬ 
tion  there  during  the  Governor-Generalship  of  Warren  Hastings 
(1772-1785),  and,  alluding  to  that  period,  a  recent  writer 
observes:  “  Three.score  years  ago  a  ba.sket  of  Potatoes  weigh¬ 
ing  about  a  dozen  pounds,  was  occasionally  sent,  as  oppor¬ 
tunity  offered,  by  Warren  Hastings  to  the  Governor  of  Bombay, 
and  was  considered  a  very  acceptable  pre.sent.  On  reception, 
the  members  of  the  council  were  invited  to  dine  with  the 
Governor  to  partake  of  the  rare  vegetable.  Somehow  or  other, 
the  Potato  was  introduced  into  Guzerat,  and,  in  proce.ss  of 
time,  Bombay  became  well  supplied  with  it,  .so  well  that  the 
market  had  ever  an  abundance  at  a  low  price,  and  very  good. 
This  may  imply  a  lapse  of  twenty  years,  and  then,  when  the 
Bengal  and  Madras  armies  rendezvoused  at  Bombay,  on  their 
way  to  Egypt,  every  transport  was  supplied  with  as  many 
Potatoes  as  the  captains  Avould  take. 
The  General  then  in  command  of  the  army  of  Egypt,  who 
superintended  equipments,  although  he  did  not  go  with  it  (Sir 
Arthur  Wellesley),  was  much  .struck  with  the  resources  of 
Bombay,  and,  among  other  things,  with  this  unbounded  supply 
of  Potatoes;  and  it  struck  him  that  they  might  be  advan¬ 
tageously  grown  in  Mysore.  He  condescended  to  confer  with 
the  writer  of  this,  who  happened  to  know  something  of  the  soil 
and  climate  of  Mysore ;  and  the  result  was  sending,  at  Sir 
Arthur’s  expen.se,  500  baskets  of  Potatoes,  each  weighing  1411), 
to  the  President  of  iMysore,  with  instructions  as  to  the  distri¬ 
bution  of  them  for  .seed,  the  cultivation,  Ac.,  and  now  Potatoes 
are  as  good,  as  plentiful,  and  as  cheap  in  INIysore  as  in  Bombay, 
or  in  any  other  place.  (“  Gard.  Chron.,  1842,  621.”) 
Potatoes  are  largely  grown  also  in  the  Bermudas  and  other 
islands  of  the  We.st  Indies,  and  for  excellence  of  quality  they 
equal  any  known  in  Europe. — G.  \\  .  J. 
(To  be  continued.) 
- — - - - - 
IsA.\c  ]\L\.tthews  .\nd  Sons  (Nurserymen). — This  company 
has  been  registered  with  a  capital  of  £7,500,  in  £1  shares,  to 
adopt  an  agreement  with  I.  IMatthews,  H.  A.  Matthews,  and  G. 
Hibbert  for  the  acquisition  of  the  business  of  nurserymen, 
florists  and  seed  merchants  carried  on  by  them  at  Milton, 
Staffordshire,  a.s  “Isaac  Matthews  and  Son,”  and  to  carry  on  the 
business  of  nursei’j’inen,  landscape  and  market  gardeners,  fruit, 
plant,  ancl  flower  growers  and  salesmen,  fruit  and  vegetable 
preservers,  bulb  growers,  sc'C'chmen,  root  and  Potato  nui- 
chants,  Ac. 
