The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1880-03-03
Origin of Vegetables:
POTATOES. PEAS. ANp BEANS.


Nobody knows precisely where the po-
tato came from originally. 1t has been
found apparently indigenous, in many
parts of the world. Mr. Darwin, for in
stance, found it wild in the Chonos
Archipelago Sir W. j. Hooker says that
it is common at Valparaiso, where it
grows abundantly on the sandy hills near
the sea. In Peru and other parts of
South America it appears to be at home,
and it is a noteworthy fact that Mr.. Oar
win should have noted it both In the
humid forests of the Chonos Archipelago
and among the central CHILEAN noun
tains where sometimes rain does not fall
for six months at a stretch. 1t was to
the colonists whom Sir Walter Raleigh
sent out, in Elizabeth reign, that we. are
indebted for our potatoes. Herriot, who
went out with these colonists, and who
wrote an account of his travels, makes
what may, perhaps, be regarded as the
earliest mention of this vegetable. I'm
der the heading of roots, he mentions
what he calls the "openawk. " These
roots, he says, are round, some large
as a walnut, others much larger they
grow on damp soils, some hanging to-
gether, as if fixed on ropes; they are
good food either boiled or roasted. At
the beginning of the seventeenth century
Phillips says that this root was planted,
as a curious exotic, in the gardens of the
nobility, but it was long ere it came into
general USE Many held them to be
poisonous, and it would seem not alto
gether unreasonably so, either The po-
tato is closely related to the deadly night
shade and the mandrake, and from its
stems and leaves may be extracted a very
powerful narcotic. In Burgundy the
adoption of the potato as food was for a
time forbidden by the law, being deemed
poisonous and mischievous root" In
England prejudice against it was very
strong, more especially among the poor.
1t was believed to occasion dysentery and
leprosy.
Our garden peas are said to have come
to us from France, and were first known
as Fulham pease, because the grounds
about Fulham, neere London, doe bring
them forward soonest" The introduce
ton was probably in the reign of Henry
VIII, whose honeymoon indulgence of his
brides desire for salad seems to have ex-
erted wonderful influence on English
horticulture. In the reign of Elizabeth.
however, they were still not grown to
any great extent, though they seem to
have been imported from Holland. Full
Ter says they were dainties for ladies,
they came SO far and cost so dear" Ge-
rard says that there is one kind of pea
indigenous to England. III
Beans we appear to have imported
from Morocco, and the authority last
quoted states that there is no difference
between the garden bean and the field
bean, except such as is to be attributed
to cultivation and good soil. The kidney
bean is also not native of England.
This, we are assured, was first introduced
into this country from the Netherlands in
l5O9-another importation, therefore. in
all probability due to Henry's horticul-
tural enthusiasm at the time when he was
a dotinng young spouse. 1t is curious
fact that the early introduction of the
scarlet-runners seems to have met with
no little prejudiced opposition, from an
idea that the color of the flowers was due
to blood.-LOndo11 Globe.