River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1882-09-28
The Classics of the Potato.

A correspondent writes as follows to
the London Times: Shakespear men
tons potato twice, once in the Merry
Wives of Windsor" and once in
''Trolius and Cressida." In the latter
play Thersites, and in the former
Falstaff, is the speaker of the word.
OF course, it is an anachroism, but
what root did Shakespear himself al
Jude to? The word potato, in 1902 and
1909, the dates of those plays respect.
full, designated two different plants
one our potato, a solanum, and the
other convelvulus, well known
plant at this day, but too tender for our
climate. 1t is grown under glass. This
latter root, batatas, was imported from
Spain, but merely as an article of food,
and was anterior in time here to the
Introduction of our now common
potato. There is no evidence, though
there is opinion, of the date on the in
PRODUCTION of this plant-our potato
into England. But, as it is figured in
'Gerad's Herbal" published in 1897,
though under the mistaken name OF
batatas, and must have been previous
ly known in England, Shakespear may
very we'll have known both roots. Now,
if we look at the context Of Falstaffs
speech, the allusion is plainly too COM
mon an error of that time as to the sup
posed provocation qualities of the
root. But, as such errors soop become
current, the imputatioa may have
arisen as to the latter in time, or it
may have fastened on the earlier and
have extended to both. 1t certainly
was so believed for a time
as to our common potato. The
context, then, does not really
help us. Both plants came to Europe
to Spain-from Spanish America
about century before 1909. As the
beauty of the plant could not have
been the motive, our potato must have
been introduced into Spain, whence it
spread into the low countries while
under Spain, as an article of food; but
it did not for many years become an
article of food in any of these coun-
tries, nor in Engla,d. 1t made slow
progress, and there is a general silence
about it. We may reasonably con,
clude that every grower of 1t who had
heard of its nature tried it once or
more as an edible tuber, since for that
purpose it was grown. The reasonable
conclusion is that it did not at first
please European palates. Ireland was
the first country in Europe in which it
became generally grown as an article
of food. Thence it extended to Ian
cashire, and the Lancastrians made it
known and brought it into use in other
English counties. 1t is my own recol-
lection that, no Cockney can boil po-
tato, was a common opinion in Ian
cashire. Sidney Smith gave it his
sanction when he said the first ques
ton to put to candidate cook is, "Can
you boil a potato?" do not in the
least question that Hawkins intro
duced the potato into Ireland. see
no improbabllity in that tradition.
But evidence we have none; at least,
none has fallen under my observation,
though / have searched for evidence
in all such works SIS l have at hand.
The early transactions of the royal So
ciety may possibly throw some light
on the subject. l can find nothing in
the diaries of Evelyn or of Pepys re-
lating to the potato. Had Pepys eaten
of it tentatively, think he would have
noted it, as he does tea and nettle por-
ridge.