ta
or roasted.” Gerard, in his Herbal pxihlished in 1597, gives a figure of the potato under
tlie name of the potato o f Virginia, ivhencc, he says, ho rcccivccl the roots; and this appellation
it appears to have retained, in order to distinguish it from the hatatas, or sweet
potato (Convolvulus Batatas), till the year 1640, if not longer. “ The sweet potato,”
Sir Joseph Banks observes, “ was used in England as a delicacy long before the introduction
of our potatoes: it was imported in considcrahlc quantities from Spain and the
Canaries, and was supposed to possess the power of restoring decayed vigour. The
kissing comfits of Ealstaff, and other confections of similar imaginary qualities, with
which our ancestors were duped, were principally made of these aud of criiigo roots.”
Gough, in his edition of Camderis Britannia, says, that the potato was first planted by
Sir ‘Walter Raleigh on his estate of Youghail, near Cork, and that it was “ cherished
and cultivated for food” in that country before its value was known in England; for,
though they were soon carried over from Ireland into Lancashire, Gcrarde, who had
this plant in his garden in 1597, under the name of Battdta virginiána, recommends the
roots to be eaten as a delicate dish, not as common food. Parkinson mentions, that tho
tubers were sometimes roasted, and steeped in sack and sugar, or baked with maiTow
and spices, and even preserved and candied by the comfit-makcrs. The Royal Society,
in 1663, took some measures for encouraging the cultivation of potatoes, with the view of
preventing famine. Still, however, although thcir utility as an article of food was better
known, no high character was bestowed on them. In books of gardening, published
towards the end of the seirantccnth centmy, a hundred years after their introduction,
they are spoken of rather slightingly. “ They are much used in Ireland and America
as bread,” says one author, “ and may he propagated with advantage to poor people.”
“ I do not hear that it hath heen yet essayed,” iu-c tho words of another, “ whether they
may not he propagated in gi'cat quantities, for food for swine or other cattle.” Even the
enlightened Evelyn seems to have entertained a ’prejudice against them: “ Plant potatoes,”
he says, writing in 1699, “ in your worst ground. Take them up in November
for winter spending; there will enough remain for a stock, though ever so exactly
gathered.” The famous mtrscrymcn, London and Wise, did not consider the potato as
worthy of notice in thcir Complete Gardener, published in 1719 ; and Bradley, who
about the same time, wrote so extensively on horticultural subjects, speaks of them as
inferior to skirrcts and radishes. The ttse of potatoes, however, gradually spread, as
their excellent qualities became better understood. But it was near the middle of the
eighteenth century before they were generally known over the country: since that time
they have been most extensively cultivated. In 1796, it was found, that in the county of
Essex alone, ahout 1700 acres were planted with potatoes for the supply of the London
market. Tliis must foi-m, no doubt, the principal supply ; but many fields of potatoes
arc to be seen in the other counties bordering on the capital, and many ship-loads are
annually imported from a distance. In every county in England, it is now more or less
an object of field cultnre. The cultivation of potatoes in gardens in Scotland was very
little understood till about the year 1740 ; and it was not practised in fields till about
twenty years after that period. It is stated in the General Report o f Scotland (vol. ii.
p. 111.), as a well ascertained fact, that in the year 1725-6, the few potato plants then
existing in gardens about Edinhurgh, were left in the same spot of ground from year to
yeai-, as recommended by Evelyn; a few tubers were perhaps removed for use in the
autumn, and the parent-plants were then well covered with litter to save them from the
winter’s frost. Since the middle of the eighteenth century, the cultivation of potatoes
has made rapid progress in that country; so that they are now to he seen in almost every
cottage garden. The potato is now considered as the most useful esculent that is cultivated
; and who, Neill asks, “ could, dpriori, have expected to have found the most
useful plant among the natural family of the Luridm L., several of which arc deleterious,
and all of which arc forbidding in their aspect?”
3599. Use. Tho tubers of the potato, from having no peculiarity of taste, and consisting chiefly of
starch, approach nearer to the nature of flour or th e farina of grain, than any vegetable root production;
and for this reason it is the most universally liked, and can bo used longer in constant succession by the
same individual without becoming unpalatable, than any other vegetable, th e seeds of th e grasses excepted.
“ It is commonly eaten plainly boiled, and in this way it is excellent. The tender tops of potato
stalks are used both in Canada and Kamtchatcha as spinach. Potatoes are also baked, roasted, ai ’ " ' '
starch and sugar are so nearly the same, th a t th e former is easily converted into the latter, hence the
potato yields a powerful spirit by distillation, and a strong wine by the fermentive process. Thirty-one
different uses of potatoes will be found noticed in th e Ga rd . M a g ., vol. i. p. 438.
3600. Varie tie s. These are very numerous, not only from the facility of procuring new sorts by rais-
any variety cultivated fo r a few years in the same soil and situation, as in
[Uires a peculiarity of character or habit, which distinguishes the same garden or farm, acqui it from the
same variety in a different soil and situation.
3601. T he varie tie s o f potatoes are innumerable, and th e y a re continually undergoing change. The
same variety also bears many different names in different parts of the country. In general, every town
and district has its peculiar and favourite varieties, early as well as l a te ; so th at, excepting as to the
best early kinds, and the best for a general crop in all soils, any list, however extended, could be of
POTATO. 837
little use. There are some exccdlent sorts of party-coloured potatoes in Scotland, which degenerate
when removed from one district to another ; and most of the Scotch and Irish varieties degenerate in
England. The best mode, therefore, to order potatoes for planting, is to give a general description
of th e size, colour, form, and quality wanted, and whether for an early or late crop. In the following
selection, we have adopted the names known to the London, Edinburgh, Dublin, Bristol, and Liverpool
seedsmen.
11. Devonshire apple; round, red, and
mealy.
12. Prince’s beauty ; prolific and mealy.
15. -Binci ifein, or dark purple; middle
Early Potatoes.
1. The ash-leuved kidney; one ofthe best
for forcing, as well as for tho first
crop in the open air,
2. The lady’s finger, OT lUifford kidney;
highly prized in Ixancashire as the
earliest variety, mealy, aud of excellent
flavour.
3. The ash-leaved round, or early round;
mealy,
4. Eox’s seedling, or Foxlcy; round,
yellowish-white, and '
ultivat
growers for t
c London market.
C. The early Champion; very prolific,
iargc, round, white, and in general
culture for the London market.
Summer Potatoes.
7. The purple eye; large, round, and
mealy.
8. lied-nosed kidney; mealy, aud of a
peculiar flavour.
9. i/ajicfw/ttre or Scotch red.
Winter Potatoes.
10. Prussian ; red, mealy, and an excellent
bearer.
mealy; much grown in Wiltshire,
Somersetshire, and Gloucestershire.
15. Wkite long keepers ; good.
10. Manchester blues ; a strong growing,
lirolific, round potato, wliich does
not require eartliing up, and which
will keep a yearwithoutinjury. (See
Capper, in Card. Mag., vol. x.)
3602. Estimalt: o f so rts. The following list, by one of the best practical gardeners in England, will
give a succession of good potatoes throughout the year, without forcing:
September,October,andNovember.—Prussian.
November,December, and January.—Devonshire
apple, l^rince’s beauty.
May, June, and July. —Ash-lcavcd, red,
aud other kidneys.
July, and August. —Purple eye.
February, March,April, and May.—Red
colliers and Wliite long keepers.
(Gard. Mag., vol. vi. p. 00.)
3603. P ro p agation. The potato may be propagated from seed, cuttings or layers of the green shoots,
sprouts from tlie eyes of the tubers, or portions of the tubers containing a bud or eye. Tho object of the
first method is, to procure new or improved varieties ; of the second, little more than curiosity, or to
multiply as quickly as possible a rare s o r t; and of the third, to save th e tubers for food. The method
by portions of the tubers is the best, and th a t almost universally practised for the general purposes, both
o f field and garden culture.
3604. B p seed. Gather some of the ripest apples in September or October, take out and preserve the
seed till spring, and then sow it thinly in small drills. When the plants are up 2 in. or 3 in., thin them
to 5 in. or 6 in. distance, and suffer them to grow to the end of October, when the roots wil! furnish a
supply of small potatoes, which must then be taken up, and a portion of the best reserved for planting
next spring in the usual way. Plant these, and let them have th e ensuing summer’s full growth till
October, a t which time the tubers will be of a proper size to determine thcir properties. Having considered
not merely the flavour of each new variety, but the size, shape, aud colour, the comparative
fertility and healthiness, earliness or lateness, reject or retain it for permanent culture accordingly.
(A be rc rombie .)
3605. To p ro d u c e seeds on ea rly potatoes. The earliest varieties of potatoes, it has been already remarked,
do not produce flowers or seeds. Knight, desirous of saving seed from one of these sorts, took
a very ingenious method of inducing the plants to produce flowers. “ I suspected the cause,” he says,
“ of the constant failure of the early potato to produce seeds, to be the preternaturally early formation
o f the tuberous ro o t; which draws off for its support that portion of the sap which, in other plants of the
same species, affords nutriment to the blossoms and seeds ; and experiment soon satisfied me that my
conjectures were perfectly well founded. 1 took several methods of placing the plants to grow in such a
situation as enabled me readily to prevent th e formation of tuberous ro o ts ; but the following appearing
th e best, it is unnecessary to trouble the Society with an account of any other. Having fixed strong
stakes in th e ground, I raised the mould in a heap round the bases of them, and in contact with the
stakes; on thcir south sides I planted the potatoes from which I wished to obtain seeds. When the
young plants were about 4 in. high, they were secured to the stakes with shreds, and nails, and the mould
was then washed away, by a strong current of water, from the bases of their stems, so th at th e fibrous
roots only of th e plants entered into the soil. The fibrous roots of this plant are perfectly distinct organs
from the runners, which give existence, and subsequently convey nutriment to the tuberous roots ; and
as the runners spring from the stems only of the plants, which are, in the mode of culture I have described,
placed wholly out of the soil, the fonnation of tuberous roots is easily prevented; ancl whenever
this is done, numerous blossoms will soon appear, and almost every blossom will afford fruit and seeds.”
Knight considering that the above facts, which are more fully explained in the Philosophical T ra n sa c tio
n s for 1806, were suflicient to prove, that the same fluid or sap gives existence alike to the tuber, and
th e blossom, and seeds, ancl that, whenever a plant of the potato affords either seeds or blossoms, a
diminution o fth e crop of tubers, or an increased expenditure of the riches o fth e soil, must necessarily
take place, succeeded in producing varieties of sufficiently luxuriant growth and largo produce for genera
l culture which never produced blossoms. (H o r t. T ra n s ., vol. i. p. 188.)
3606. B y c uttings, or the laijcrs o fth e stalks, o r suckers. Make cuttings of the young stalks or branches,
of 5 in. or 6 in. in length, in May or June ; attending to the general directions for forming cuttings.
Choose, if possible, showery weatficr ; or strike them under a hand-glass, or in a half-empty pot covered
with a pane of glass, as in striking cucumber-cuttings.
3607. L a y e r s . In June or July, when the potato-stalks are advanced 1 ft. or 2 ft. long, choose such
plants as stand somewhat detached, ancl lay down the shoots on the ground with or without cutting, in
thecommon mode of layering. Cover them with earth about 3 in., leaving the points of the shoots
exposed. These shoots will emit roots a t every leaf, and produce full-grown potatoes the same year,
attaining perfection in autumn.
3608. S uc k e rs. Remove in June offset sucker shoots, with a few roots to each ; plant them carefully,
and they will produce a late crop like th e layers.
3609. B y sprouts o r shoots f r o m the tu b e rs. In default of genuine early sorts, or to save the tubers for
use in seasons of scarcity, the sprouts which are generally found on store-potatoes in spring, and pickc'd
off and thrown away as useless, may, when carefully planted in loose well-prepared soil, be made to yield
a crop ; and this crop will be fit for use a little sooner than one produced from cuttings or sections of
th e same tubers, in which the buds are not advanced. Almost every thing, however, depends on the
fine tilth, and good state of the ground. t , • a, a
3610. B y p o r tio n s o fth e tube rs. This is the only method fit for general purposes. In making the sets
o r sections, reject the extreme or watery end of the tuber, as apt to run too much to haulm, and having
the eves small, and in a c lu s te r; reject also th e root or dry end, as more likely to be tardy in growth,
and as, according to some, producing the curl. Then divide the middle of the potato so as to h ^ e not
more than one good eye in each set. Where the potato scoop is used, take care to apply it so that the
eye or bud may be in the centre of each set, which this instrument produces, of a semi-globulur lorni.
The larger the portion of tuber left to each eye, so much the greater will be the progress of the young
p._l_a_n_t. The _sc_o_o,p_ _i_s _o_n^ly. ..t.o.. ..b..e... .u..s..e..d.. in se ason. s of scarcoittyy,, when the portion of tuber saved by it may
be used for soups for the poor, or for feeding cattle. See Encyc.
^ § 2493., and figs. 231 nnd 232.
- - - • K i ............................. ’ ■
.3611. S ize o f the se ts. Knight has found th a t for a late crop small sets may be nsed, because the plants
of late varieties always acquire a considerable age before they begin to generate tu b e rs ; but for an early
crop he recommends the largest tubers, and he has found th a t these not only uniformly afford very strong
plants, but also such as readily recover when injured by frost: for being fed by a copious reservoir
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