The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1896-02-19
Centennial Of the Potato.


Centennial celebrations being one Of
our modern fashions, why should the
approaching iercentenary OF the intro
duciion Of that popular and valuable
article Of food, the potato, go unhonor-
cd? asks the London "News." Mr..
KiroimuG, the chairman Of the agri-
cultural bureau of south Australia, has
directed attention 90 ihe fsct that il
wa- in the year 1856 just upon three
centuries ago tim. the grca; English
bo3anist, Gerard, FIRST planted POTATOES
~ his garden at IIolburn, e pleasant
scmfural suburb In those days. 10 is
believed that he obtained tGbers or .
seeds from Sir Walter Raleigh, who
had then lately brought from South
America samples Of that hitherto uu-
known vegetable, and planted them on
his estate at Youghal, near Cork.
Gerard, however, recommended them
only - delicate dish, aud IL is recOrd-
eel that the tuOers were sometimes
roasted and stepped in sack-that Is,
sherry and sugar-or baked with mar
row and spices, and even preserved
and candied. Shakespeare twice men
| tious potatoes-in ''Fhe Merry Wive-
/ OF Windsor and ia .''rroilus and Cres
sida"-but ne seems 20 have regarde,.
/ them ~ a curiosity Of the Inaterii
/ medic. rather than a. an article of
food. 10 is curious now 10 note how
I slowly the potato made its way 10 the
tables either rici o. poJr. Ia house
keeping book kept by Anne Of Den
marx, wife Of King James l., an en-
try has been found Of the purchase Of a
small quality of potatoes, from which
We learn that the price was then two
shiliings "a pound.
( soon after the restoration the gov
ernment tried 20 push the cultivation
with the assistance Of the Royal socie-
~, but progress was slow. In English
books of gardening az the time Of
George /. potatoes are not even men
toned, and a. late as the year 1854 they
were chiefly found in the gardens Of
nOblemen and other rich men. Soon
after this however, the cultivation be-
gan tomake rapid strides, with good
effects upon the health Of the people,
who, till then, lived chiefly on saited
meat and coarse bread, varied By little
in the way of garden vegetables.
Thus in the year ITg5 100 acres OF
potatoes were planted in the countyof
Essax alone.
William Goblet, a. viii be remen-
bered, was a persistent opponent Of the
new food. In his English Gardener
published in ISIS, he denounced the
substitution Of the potato for bread,
urging that ii had been established by
evidence taken before committees Of
the house of commons that to raise po-
tatjes for the purpose would be a thing
mischiev0Us - the natiOu. In Scot
lani few plants could De found III
lS2J-chiefy in gardens around Edin-
burgh. After i56J they began 10 be-
more generally planted Frederick
the Great was more successful in III
ducing the Pomeranian cultivatoTs u
take to pO.ato-gr0wing than his father
had been. He had rec)ursc TO his
s0ldieTy, who had 70 force the farmers
to plant them: bat Mr.. kriehauT
thinks that If 1t had not been for the
famine in Germany in I7Tl-2 the
merits Of the potato would not have
been 50 generally Acknowledged.
France was decidedly behind her
neighbors, and even to this day the
qlantity of potatoes consumed in
France, althogsA very large, is con
siderabiy less than with u. For there
was a popular prejudice against them,
grounied on IA suspicion that the
were unwholesam' The potato,
never;hcless, was p,acei on the r1yai
table in France a. early n 1916, bu5 &
vas Parmentier, an appthecary, who,
more than a century and a half late,
first Impressed les value upon his
clJntrymeH. Pd-men,ier showed hs
poiatDe>. wlicl were then evidently
regarded in France n q novelty, 20
Louis XVI, wi1 gave him upward of
hundred acres orlanj for experiment.
al cultivation. TIs p-etty purple and
grange potato blossom, looking like al
enlarged variety Of the flowers Of the
bcllGdonna or deadly nigbt-shade-to
which terrible plant, oddly enough, il
is b3tanieIlly ailied-5ec1me a
fashionable aiofnmeut. The king
Wore il in his buttonhole; Queen
Marie Ant1niette twined it in her
beautiful hair, and princes. dukes and
high functioaaries fell in love with the
potato flower. All Paris talked of
Parmentier AMI the negv ''eaTth apples
pomm ss-ie-teFreI }, as they called them.
The king sail to the cIitivator:
France will thank you one day, for
YOU have found food for the poor"
'sAnd France" adds Mr. Kriehauff,
''has not forgotten Parmentier, for
saw myself, in lSS2, potatoes growing
on his grave in the grand cemetery of
| Pere Ia Chaise, and was assured that
they were planted there every year, 80
that his services might never be for
| gotten bV Freucameu.r