The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1907-07-27
The HISTORY OF The
Valuable POTATO
First Eaten as Food in Peru
the Sixteenth
Century.
NOW USED GENERALLY
Sir Walter Raleigh Planted
Potatoes in Ireland
in 1886.
NOW USED GENERALLY


would find it very difficult to carry
forward its present strenuous evolu-
ton. These families seem to have been
created or evolved at about the same
time in biologic history. The whole SOL
anum genus abounds in plants pos
| sessed of toxic properties, but one
branch has developed a tuber upon
which more human beings are depend
ent than upon any other vegetable food
at least in the temperate zone. Its ex-
altation from a demipoisonous and in
| significant condition came about collat-
eral with the first stages Of interna-
tionalism.
The chronicle Of one Of the old Span
ish travellers, published in 1858, says.
| The people of Peru eat a tuberous
root which they call papas." The Span
| iards took this root to Spain, where
! it was grown as "the truffle root" The
Italians very quickly adopted 1t into
their gardens, and soon after the
Dutch were cultivating it with much
the same zeal that they displayed for
| tulips. OF it's introduction into England
all that we are sure Of is that, in 1886,
Sir Walter Raleigh was growing pota-
toes in his Irish garden. Thomas Hari-
OF, in his account Of Virginia. names
potatoes among the roots that were
| found growing there, saying that some
| OF them were as big as a walnut and
others considerably larger. This Wiz
| ginia potato seems to have been that
which Is now known as the Irish, while
that grown in Peru is more likely to
have been a sweet potato. Another
writer, describing the esculents of Vir-
ginia, says that the potato root is
thick, fat and tuberous, and differing
much In shape from the sweet potato,
except that the roots are not so great
or long, while some of them are round
as a ball. and others are oval, in the
egg fashion, "of which the knobble
roots are fastened with an infinite num-
Der Of threddie strings
| Early in the 18th century Raleighs
plantation of potatoes had been repeat
ed all over Ireland; but the farmers Of
England, moved by stubborn prejudice,
and possibly in part by Jealousy, de-
cided that they would have nothing to
| do with the tuber. Shakespeare makes
Falstaff imagine that the heavens are
raining potatoes upon him-an imag-
ination which could hardly have been
| delightful, unless the potatoes retained
their original small size. 1t was as late
| as the time of Charles III, certainly it
was after the Cromwellian episode, be-
fore the potato got any fair hold in
English SOIL
Gilbert White, writing in 177S says
THAT potatoes had prevailed in his dis
trict for about twenty years; and that
this had been brought about "only by
means of premiums, but that potatoes
were then much esteemed by the poorer
people, who would scarcely have ven
tured to taste them in the previous
reign. Another writer speaks of them
las a rather questionable product-pos-
sibly to become human food, although
rather fatulent and acid for the HUI
man stomach" He recommends boiling
them with dates and thinks that such a
coordination would keep soul and body
together for those who are too poor to
get anything better. 1t is probable that
the storage of this esculent was very
little understood, and so, being left in
the light after digging, they became
continuously less and less suitable for
food
The story of the Introduction of the
potato into France has been often told.
The country people were so convinced
of the poisonous nature Of the tuber
that they would not give 1t trial. Its
friends were actually mobbed for trying
to introduce a food that would poison
the people. The story goes In two ways
One of these tells us that King Louis
XIV wore potato blossoms in his but.
tenhole, and had potatoes on his royal
table, until they became popular with
the aristccratic classes Another story
recounts how a celebrated physician
and phil&nthropist planted a field Of
potatoes, about which he placed a
guard, with instructions to allow JUS
as much thieving as possible. The poor
er people, believing a vegetable that
deserved such watchful care must bt
of great value, stole nearly the whole
of them. In this way their prejudice
was overcome, and a valuable esculent
added to their dietary The planting il
Ireland went on so extensively tina
Goblet declared it was destined tt
ruin the whole country. The people
were turning aside from other articles
of food so generally to the culture OF
the potato that when the rot set in they
starved. This rot, which is so very diff,
hcult to control even at, the present
| day, spread all over Ireland just before
the middle of the nineteenth century
The whole world came to the rescue
with shipioads of cereals, and yet i
was one of the greatest disasters thai
lever overwhelmed any nation.
The sweet potato must not be under
stood as being close relation of tn
common potato 1t belongs in tn
morning glory family, which is mucl
more notable for its flowers than TO
! | its edible products. Its botanical sub
name is batata, and it certainly glori
fieS even the gorgeous floral family t
(which it belongs. The crop is in tn
| United States amounts annually t
over 5O,O0O.O0O bushels, and every yea
T. is coming more into general use, Tn
fortunately it does not adapt itself b
! that part of the northern States whfc
is included in the apple belt or IN
corn belt. 1t is a curious fact that tn
same sort of sweet potato is not popu
lar both at the North and the South
In the North dry and mealy tube
1 is preferred, but in the Southern State