The Portland daily press., 1896-03-21
TRl-cENTARY OF THE POTATO.
The Useful Tuber Was Introduced Into
Great Britain by Raleigh in 1896.
(From the New York Herald

centuries ago, that Sir Walter Raleigh
planted the first Irish potato in his estate.
at Youghal, near Cork. A month later
his example was followed in Holborn,
England. 1t is singular fact that an
insignificant plant, with no beauty of
| leaves or flowers, with nauseous odor
and juice Of a poisonous quality, grow
ing wild among the erevioes of the rocks
| which bound the shores Of Peru and
Chilli, unknown to the world at large,
and all but neglected by the rude natives
should have been transferred three GEN.
turtles ago to Europe, eventually to be-
come one Of the most important articles
of human diet and largely influence the
population of half the globe.
The potato belongs to a family Of
plants botanically known as the 'Solan-
| aceae, which includes the deadly night
shade and other POISONOUS plants. The
juice OF its own leaves and stems, and
even OF the skins of its tubers, is slightly
| poisonous. In it's native state the plant
| Is small, and the tubers rarely exceed the
size OF walnut or common chestnut.
They are also of moist, waxy consist
ence, and have a slightly bttterish taste.
The color of the blossoms is generally
white, instead Of the red and purple hues
of the cultivated sorts.
| The tubers are not the roots Of the
plant, but are true underground stems
and their use in nature appears to be to
afford another means of propagating the
plants beside that of the seeds, which are
contained in the fruit or apple. The tu-
bers contain terminating points or eyes,
| just as aerial stems have leaf buds, from
which young shoots spring forth These
| tubers after their maturity are washed
l mt nf no hp rofY ND mol ind hvr
the torrents along the crevices of the
rocks and into the intervening valleys,
where they take root and give rise to
new plants.
By the careful cultivation of man,
however, new use has been developed
in them. These small waxy and bitter
tubers have been swelled out into large
farinaceous, palatable potatoes, one sim
gle stem producing many pounds weight
of IA sort Of food nearly resembling and
little inferior to that Of wheat or oats or
barley. Never was such gift bestowed
on man since Ceres is tabled first to have
brought the grains from heaven.
But though moro than three centuries
have elapsed since the introduction of
the potato in Europe, strange to say the
name of him who first introd uced the
root rests upon nearly as doub tful au-
thority as that of the planters of the CO.
realia more than 1900 years ago. AS to
| Us luUEOuucUlUu lubO 0f6dU bfltdlDs now
ever, there is less doubt. Tt is certain
that the expedition sent out by Sir Wal
ter Raleigh in 1854 first brought the tu-
| Der to England. 1t is almost equally
certain that Sir Walter Raleigh himself
was the first person to plant it 10 British
soil in the year 1886. But 1t would ap-
pear that before this period the potato,
Europe.
| New ertheless, neither in Great Britain
nor the continent did it become :mmedi-
ately popular. For more than century.
it languished in obscurity in England
Little known and less priced, it was con
fined to the gardens of botanists and the
curious, and when used at all as food,
only at the tables of the rich, as a rare
vegetable rather than as a standing dish
The potatoes furnished to the table of
James I. bore the high price of two shil-
lings per pound. In 1857 Woodbridge
writes of the tuber: 81 do not hear that
it has yet been essayed whether they may
not be propagated in great quantities for
the use of swine and other CATTLE" Nor
timers Garden Kalendar for l70S says,
slightingly 1.-THE root is very near the
nature of the Jerusalem artiohoke, al
though not SO good and wholesome, but
it may prove good for swine"
be given for this neglect. Cultivation
had not yet improved the wildstock 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. In time. however, the grand dis.
covery began to be made that this escu-
lent was primarily the poor mans food
and comfort. In Ireland. in Lancaster
and the western districts of England, and
in Scotland, where the land was por-
TONED out in small parts on the cotter
system, the potato culture, once begun,
rapidly advanced and spread over the
whole country, and even to the Amerl-
can colonies Of Great britain.
| In France the potato was placed on the
royal table as early as 1916. But it was
an apothecarys named Parmentier who
really introduced it and did all he could
to have it generally cultivated more than
a century and half later. In 1771 prize
was offered by the academy of Besancon
for the discovery of q new food which
should fill the place of cereals in case of
q famine. Parmentier exhibited his po-
tatoes Louis XVI gave him 80 morgen
Of land wherein to plant them. His maj
esty also stuck the flowers of the potato
| in his buttonhole as bouquet. Marie
Antoinette placed them in her hair in
the evening Fashion ran wild after
similar decorations. Parmentier's place
was inundated by princess dukes and
high functionaries. All Paris talked on :
ly of potatoes and Parmentier. The king
said TO the latter: France will thank
you some time hence, because you have
found bread for the poor.
1t is a curious and noteworthy fact
] that the residence of Sir Walter Raleigh
in Ireland, where he first planted the his
torio potato, Is still extant and in good
repair, and the other houses connected
with his name have gone. Kilcoman cas-
tie, in Cork. is roofiess ivy-clad ruin
Oh ths estate of a descendant of the Bar
ry with whom Raleigh had bitter feud.
No alders are now to be seen on the banks
of the Mulla, once celebrated by Spenser
The manor house at East Budleigh has
disappeared But the warden's house of
the college of Youghal, to which Raleigh
took Il fancy because Of its resemblance
to the Bndleigh manor, and which he OBJ
tanned after the conf1scation of the Earl
Of Desmond's property, still preserves
his memory.
The garden in which the potato was
planted comprises five acres, backed by
the ancient town of Youghal. The house
and garden were about 90 years ago pur-
chased by Sir John Pope Hennessey, au-
thor OF life Of Raleigh, and remained In
his possession until his death in 1898.
| Then IT. INV xui1o xph had