Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1896-05-11

| OF the O'Brien, and as soon as the
O'Brien recovered he harried the lands
of the O'Brodar, doing his best to de-
stroy all the food within reach of the
O'Brodar family, that they might come
to proper understanding of their in
| iquities. The potato was hailed as a
preventer of famine. Neither OBrien
nor OBrodar could spare the time to
sift carefully all the earth under the
rule of the enemy, and nothing else
would remove the plant. Such was
the warlike beginning of the plant in
Ireland, the home of its adoption.
About the time that the O'Brien and
OBrodar found their occupations as
creators of famine taken from them
people began to write long and learned
| discourses upon the new plant, as they
do now on the y ray and other remark
able things. And they described it
carefully, so that those who had never
seen the plant could form some idea
of its wondrous nature.
The roOte is thicke, fat, and tuber-
Gus; some of them as round as a ball,
some Quail or cgge-fashion, some longer
and Others shorter; which knobbe
rootes are fastened unto the stalks with
an infinite number of threddie strings"
But though it attracted much atten-
tion, it was long before outside of Ire
land the potato began to receive popu-
lar approval. For more than century
it languished in obScurity in England
Little known and less priced, it was
confined to the gardens of botanists
and the curious, and when used at all
as food, only at the tables of the rich,
as rare vegetable rather than as n
standing dish. The potatoes furnished
TO the table of James |. bore the high
price of two shillings per pound. In
1857 Woodbridge writes of the tuberS
Il do not hear that it has yet been es-
sayed whether they may not be propa-
gated in greater quantities for the use
of swine and other cattle" Morti-
mer'S Garden Kalendar for 170S saws
slightingly, "The root is very near the
nature of the Jerusalem artichoke, al
though not so good and wholesome, but
it may prove good for swine" Several
reasons, besides prejudice. may be
given for this neglect. Cultivation had
not yet improved the wild stock to its
present perfection. The proper modes
of cooking had not yet been hit upon
And lastly, vegetable food of any
sort was less sought after, or rather
less within the reach of the mass of
the people, than it is now. At present
1t is the ubiquitous vegetable, without
which no meal is complete.
| Could member of the Royal Socie-
| ty which in 1868 adopted measures for
extending the cultivation of the Sol
anum Tuberosum, with a view to pre-
vention of famine in England and Ire
! land, have accompanied Il newspaper
representative through the wonderful
potato region of Colorado on recent
occasion he must have been satsfac-
| torily convinced that things do move"
| In the beginning of the sixteenth
century potatoes were brought from
America to Europe for cultivation in
gardens as curiosity. Last year
there was forwarded, from one section
| of Colorado alone, 5000 carloads of
"spuds," each car averaging 400 BUSH
els.
only few years ago, when some en-
| terprising farmers commenced the cul-
| tivation of potatoes, on what then ap-
peared to be n large scale, they were