The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1874-06-25
EOLANnM TURuRnSnm.
Date OF the introduction ana Use ot
the Taber IN Europe.

the TGbeE an Europe.
The potato (Sotdntin1 tub,tros,ty741 ia
a native of America, and is probably in
digenous from Chill to Mexico. The
wild plant differs little from the culti-
yated, except that its tubers are small
er. It was first introduced into
| Europe early in the sixteenth century.
! by the Spaniards, who discovered it in
| the vicinity of Quito. From Spain IL
spread into the Netherlands. Burgundy,
and Italy but was for many years cuI-
tivated as a curiosity, and not as an ar
ticle of diet. In 1865 it was carried
| from Spain to Ireland by Capt. Hawkins,
q sla7e-trader and IN 1855 It was taken
| to England by Sir Francis Drake but
| it attracted little notice until it was a
third time imported from America. by
Sir Walter Raleigh, in 1923. Thomas
Heriot, a mathematician, and one of the
adventurers who accompanied Sir Wal
ter Raleigh in his voyage of discovery
to this country, gives the following
description of the plant: 4" The roots
of this plant are round-some as large as
walnut, others much larger; they
grow IN damp ground, many hanging
together, as if fixed on ropes. They
are good food, either boiled or roasted" ="
The plant to which Shakespeare alludes
- LAC wives VI W AAu5OI,
where FdLstGG says:
Let it rain potatoes and hail kissing comforts
was the sweet potato, which was a great
dainty in the days of Elizabeth.
In his " Herball," published in 1897,
Gerarde mentions the potato, and re-
commends the root to be eaten as a del
icate dish, and not as everyday food,
In the time of James L, potatoes were
furnished for the royal table at the rate
of Is. per pound. Through the sue
ceeding reign and the commonwealth
they remained extremely scarce, nor
were they generally cultivated until
more than century after their importa-
tion from Virginia. So little was the
plant esteemed that London and Wise
do not mention it in the edition of their
"Complet, Gardener" published in
1719; and Bradley, an extensive writer
upon hor icultural subjects, states,
about the same time, that " the potato is
of less note than horseradish, radish scor-
goners, beets, and skirret."
Toward the close of the eighteenth
century the value of the potato came to
be appreciated in England and in Es-
sex county, in 1896, /, 700 acres were
planted with the tuber for the supply
of the London market. In Scotland the
Importance of the potato as an article
of diet was discovered much earlier. |
In 1728 the cottagers and small farmers
began to cultivate it generally. The |
severity of the year of 1742 stimulated |
its culture, and it soon thereafter was
relied upon as a serviceable crop. Some !
of the Scotch were at first hostile to the
use of the plant on religious grounds /;
for, said they, potatoes are not men
toned in the Bible"
The potato came into cultivation in
Germany and France about the same
time as in Great Britain. In some parts !
OF Germany tho government promoted
its culture by compulsory regulations,
The potato is closely allied to the |
wholesome eggplant and tomato, and |
also to the unwholesome tobacco, and |
to the deadly nightshade and henbane, |
and to stromonium, and belladonna, and |
the mandrake, of Scripture. These |
plants are all ranged together in the or
der Solanace@; and, though some are |
used as food or as an agreeable stimu-
liant, all possesses, in greater or less |
degree, the same poisonous properties. |
An extract of the leaves of the potato |
is powerful narcotic, ranking between |
belladonna and conium. Henbane is a |
dangerous narcotic at the time its seeds |
are forming, although comparatively |
inert at an earlier period. In some |
countries its leaves are dried and smok- |
ed in lieu of tobacco. The deadly quail
tiles of belladonna are we'll known.
Every part of the plant is poisonous. |
It is supposed that Shakespeare refers to |
this herb in the line, "The insane root |
that takes the reason prisoner" Oil of /
tobacco is one of the most violent of |
known poisons. The ground berries of
capsicum form the puDgent condiment !
known as Cayenne pepper.
The family Solonacese includes up /
wards of nine hundred species, which |
are scattered over most parts of the |
world, within the Arctic and Antarctic |
circles.