Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1871-03-28
Communicated.
The Home of the Potato.

DEAR HERALD In the second
week of January last, meeting Judge
Mills in Lancaster, and the converse
ton turning upon potatoes, the Judge
inquired, "Where is the native home
of the potato 2" / told him, among
the Andes" Eyes, but that is dis
puted," said the Judge "they say it
is not there" / remarked that l
had no personal knowledge Of the
subject that had regarded it as an
established point from boyhood that
the fact of its having been puted
did net amount to anything, that au-
dacity belonging alike to ignorance,
stupidity and the love of fame that
to dispute we'll received opinion or
an oft demonstrated fact was the
most eligible way in which small
minds could achieve notoriety, and
that l did not doubt for moment
that the native home of the potato
was on the elevated table lands
along the mountain ranges of South
America
Without making it special SUBJ
Ject of investigation since the above
conversation, have encountered the
following expressions of authority:
"The potato is indigenous to the
tropical mountain regions of South
America. 1t fourishes best upon
the table lands of the Andes. There
is no winter of cold there, and yet
the elevation makes the ground cool
and moist" Again, "The potato ESQ
tanum tuber0Sum) is a native of the
table lands of the Andes of South
America. Centuries ago it was found
by travellers growing wild in Chill,
at Cuzco in Peru, at Quito in Ecua-
dor, and in the forests of Bogota in
New Granada, 1864 feet above the
level of the sea. Potatoes have been
cultivated at Quito from time imme-
mortal, and are among the finest in
the world. This city is situated on
an extensive plain, at an elevation of
| 1928 feet. The main temperature
Of the climate throughout the year
is about 60o Fahrenheit, and varieS
from this but little at any particular
season. The country has the appear
ance of perpetual spring. There are
no sudden changes from heat to cold,
no Ui0tent storms Of rain and Wind
The land is refreshed by distiling
dews and gentle showers"
The first of these quotations is
from Henry Ward Beecher's Essay
on the Potato Mania" written for
Geo. w. Best's book on the potato
Outside of theology, we presume, no
one will question the authoritative
character of Mr.. Beecher's writings.
In statistics he is as accurate as in
oratory he is luminous, or in humor
mastery ; and he who fails to read
the essay from which we quote, fai Is
to enjoy one of the rarest gems OF
potato literature.
| The second quotation is from no
less an authority than HoraceCapron,
Commissioner of Agriculture. And
we make these quotations not in vim.
dication of what we said to Judge
Mills, and from which we did not
understand him to dissent, but we
make them for the purpose of giving
prominence to some facts that mu 81
be regarded in the production of the
potato as an exotic The facts in al
fusion are indicated by the empha
sized words in the quotations-tht
continuous low temperature and uni
form conditions Of growth, as con.
nected with moisture and the chemi
cal and mechanical peculiarities OF
soil. And the Judge, in the same
conversation, made very pertinent
commentary on them, saying, "Grant
County is not superlatively congen
ial to the growth of the potato not
equal to the western shore of Lake
Superior" Which, of course, we dis.
puted at once, just in the same way
that we would have disputed him on
law, ethics, rhetoric, philosophy OIL
anything else-to have him give uf
what he knew. There is nothing
like "arguin' the pint" to learn what
your opponent knows, or to be as
sured of what you know yourself
Yet, after all, we prefer the empha-
sized words in the quotations to the
Judges commentary, as the less in.
vidious exponent of what we desire
here to inculcate as a ganeral law oil
vegetable physiology, namely That
in the culture of exotics the leading
conditions of their indigenous devel-
opment and growth must be regard
ed. The potato has been grown so
long in this country that we are in
the habit of regarding it as a native,
or, at least, of having adapted itself
to the local conditions Of growth,
with the nice susceptibility of veget
able instinct. Yet, whenever releas-
ed from bondage and allowed to APP
proach the old pecuiarities of growth
upon the Andes, it shows its inveter-
ate proneness to traditional achieve
ment, This is more frequently H..
lustrated, hereabouts, of late years,
by negative than by affirmative ex-
perIence. Once in a great while we
have had a season or such low and
- SNAh PSA 0O0i as w OO - GOOu
potato season but sometimes, as last
year, we have hadsa season of torrid
heat, in which no variety Of potato
reaches its uniform standard Of ex-
cellence, except very late growers.
This experience in potato culture
comes not without its lessons Of use-
fulness. 1t does not suggest the idea
of falling back on late growers for
safety more than it suggests the
planting of earlier kinds sufficiently
late to bring their ripening into the
cool, moist Fall heather. The risk in
either case is the occurrence OF kill.
ing frost before the full ripening of
the tubers, in which event the results
are the well known peculiarities of
green potato. Such practice, how
ever, is incompatible with large crop
ping, in consequence of throwing the
digging too late in the season. 1t is
worthy of remark that high culture.