The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1912-03-08

than that the good people there are very fond
oft The misnamed Sweet potato has no
right whatever to the title, That pleasant vege-
table belongs to the morning-glory family,
botan1cally being known as 1pomoea batatas.
thus again betraying fictitious relationship
to the other family, because the batata is
native term for the real potato as we'll.
Again. 1t is unjustly suspected that this sweet
potato is the vegetable actually brought by
Drake and Hawkins into England where 1t
masqueraded for some years the genuine
South American food of contemporary ru-
NOR 1t must be understood, however, that
the sweet potato is likewise native Of Amer
lea, but it's original home probably the
West Indies and Central America At any
rate 1t grows in the tropics and subtropics
and finds it's climatic limitations at about the
temperature and altitude at which the Irish
potato begins to thrive. The yam is another
appellation of the sweet potato, although
that, too is an error, for the yams-dioscor
reae-belong to a group Of climbing plants.
number of varieties are found throughout
the tropics and subtropics, and they are cul-
tivated in both the East and the West Indies.
Other roots and tubers may resemble the pO-
tato, and the tomato Is related to it, but they
must not be COMPOUNDED with the far better
known vegetable, which alone Is entitled to the
name. The commercial and domestic classif1-
cation is stronger however, than the scientific.
and therefore no attempt should We made to
separate them in the popular n@nd.
The common, or white, or Irish potato is un-
doubtedly American all through. It's prehis-
toric and aboriginal habitat was the western
slopes of the southern continent, from the
neighborhood of Quito in Ecuador, or as some
claim even from that of BoSota in Colombia. to
the central region OF Chile.
Botanicaly the potato IS a solanum, one of
the most diversified plants of the vegetable
kingdom Something lik, 1000 varieties have
ben described, but, assuming that several of
these are not substantially accurate, there re-
main at least 500 which are we'll known. 1t is
remarkable that only about 40 varieties have
pinnate leaves and produce tubers on the roots
beneath the groun3, and that these special
varieties are chiefly of American origin. All
these tuberous p>unateleaved kinds of the
soanum are nearly related and very probably
have common virgin. This first habitat Of
the potato has been laid by some students, quite
as much for the sake of poetic harmony as for
historic exactit~de, in Central America near
the home of the primitive maize, but in all
fairness Sout-. America deserves and will hold
the honor.
The edible potato, from which all the Euro
pean and American variations have been de-
veloped, was undoubtedly cultivated by even
the inhabit>nts Of the west coast Of South
America who occupied the land before the ar
rival Of the 1ncas. When the Spanish conquer
ers arrived there, they found one great source
Of food >upply in this native vegetable. In
Peru, however, it was not coast product, for
the climate there semed unfavorable, and
what happened to grow on the lower levels
were small insignificant and watery. The
best kind of potato grew at an altitude OF about
7,oao feet. back of Lima; it was snail, round
with thin skin. and was yellowish inside
(papa ama.illa). In southern Peru, not far
from Mollendo, but among the foggy regions
tJune to September), up among the rocky hills.
the potato has been found wild.
7assing farther along the coast into Chile,
where the climate is quite temperate and con-
~equently is suitable, even near the coast, for
such vegetables there is found that other form