Republican vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1857, 1857-11-07
IN advance.
Tic Potato is lB.st9ry, 6.e,

called the irish Potato 10 answer tbi.
I question, il will be necessary, and parhlra
not Improbable, to give something Of il
/ history. The first potatoes ever grown IL
/ Europe, were raised On Sir Haltor Raleigh
estate, in Ireland lie seed Being taken ~
/ hin from 3ireiFa, about 1892. For lnans
years, although eaten, they were grown
more as O Gets of curiosity, than for profit
Their culture, however, seemed 70 incre case.
and during Che wars that devastated IRE
land towards the end Of tic saventaeth cen
t-fs, when tie growing graju was destrog
cd by the soldieIY, the potato crop sorvaa
to keep the inhaI:talts from starvation Il
could not to DESTROYED ~ ire, and ia fact.
nothing hut digging up tie crop could dess
troy it, which was altogetto4 100 much like
work, fJr soldiers. ana TO long a Job. aa3
so Tia not5t9a ware LEFT 70 The hungry paa=
pie, for which they were, no doubt very
thankful.
After this, the potato became very popu-
lar in Ireland, and, about the year 1905,
was introduced into tue county Of Lam
cashife, England, when it gradually spread
over the other adjoining COUNTIES, ard
through al England brit it vas lot until
about the middle Of the seventeenta centu-
~ chat the Scotch gave It trial. Previ-
GUS to this date, in England potatoes were
grown principally in vegetable gardens.
ard occupied no prominent place in field
culture. During the latter end Of the
eighteenth, and the beginning Of the nine.
teenth century, the potato increased in pop
uiarity, and there was consequent increase
in its culture But, even up to 1872. the
limited exter. e the crop, may be judged
from the fact, that during the year, wheu
breadstuiis were extremely dear and scarce,
the british Parliament were urged by agri.
cultural and political economists, and the
press, to recommend, or pass some law re
curing, that every farmer should grow one
acre Of potatoes for every hundred acres O.
cupied.
What the original variety first taken from
Virginia was, or whether more than one
variety, is net knoWn, and it was net until
about the year 1900, that we find much SAID
Of different sorts. At that time. nonal Il
son, in his -hoden Agrtcntate, enuInera-
ted thirty-seYen varieties as being eultiya-
ted in England. After it had been knowa
and cultivated for two hundred years, it was
thought necessary BY some Of the wisest and
best men, to encourage or enforce its growth
BY parliamentary action. II, twenty years
after this question was agitaiea, so popular
had i become, and So general It's ase, that
40 rect could compare with it, either in the
quantity raised, q in tic esteem In which
II wa5 held by tie people. TIE fa9t, there
lore. flat plant gains but slowly IN popu=
lar favor is no certain evidence ta,.g lis not
valuable, and we should be carotid how ~
cry eat "humbHgo at everything NV, be
cause of apparent failure at Il 81. Some Of
the new plants lately introduced may ult:z
ula;ely effect as great a moral, social. anl
political revolution in this country . d
the potato crop in Europe
1.-THE Chinese Sugar Cane shall enable
the farmers Of the North to manufacture
sugar AID molasses so rs to supply our
the mighty moral and social change that
viii be pe9eetally effected b. It. compared
With which The greatest political revolution
will sink into iaslgnitieanee ? Ne nay
learn, also, the folly OF growing one crop 50
exclusively as to make is success Or failure
a matter OF such serious mportaDce-almost
a question Of life and death, instead Of
mere matter OF pFeft or JOSS for aeason.---
We have always ergea or farmers to grow
Il University Of crops, even where one or tve
seemed for time to be the most profitable.
and the failure Of the 'Fheat crop in the &c
nesee VALLEY has proved the wisdom 81 tl.5
advice.
The potato with US IS an important crop
1t is toand every day Of the year upon the
tables Of the rich and poor, ana Is at once
luxury and necessity. In no part Of the
country is it grown 50 extensively, We
think, as aroQ41 Rochester. Immense
quantities are shipped ever. .Eear to New
York, as iar west as Chicago, and to most
ef the large cities of Canada West. No
crop Excepting frui0 pays as we'll. h
1901, they averaged one dollas per bushel :
in 1870, fifty cents; in 1886, enc dollar
and at the present time ar9 selling at from
three to four shillings. Those who grow
largely for Shipping, gsnarally keep thcir
crop over uuJil spring, when the demand is
greater, and the price higher, than in the
fall For keeping potatoes, nothing equals