The Ely miner., 1912-02-23

than that the good people there are very fond
OF it. The misnamed sweet" potato has no
right whatever to the title. That pleasant Vege-
table belongs to the morning-glory family,
botanically being known as Ipomoea batatas.
thus again betraying fictitious relationship
to the other family because the batata is a
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 it
masqueraded for some years as the genuine
South American food of contemporary ru-
NOR. 1t must be understood, however, that
the sweet potato is like wise native of Amer.
lea, but it's original home was probably the
West Indies and Central America At any
rate, It grows in the tropics and subtropics
and finds its 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-diosco-
reae-belong to a group of climbing plants.
A number Of varieties are found throughout
the tropics and subtropcs, 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, bt&. they
must not be confounded with the far better
known vegetable, which alone is entitled to the
name The commercial and domestic classif-
u,
and therefore no attempt should We made to
separate them in the popular mind
The common, or white or Irish potato Is un-
doubtedly American all through. It's prehis-
torc 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
Botanically, the potato IS solanum, one Of
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 well known. 1t Is
remarkable that only about 40 varieties have
pinnate leaves and rroduce tubers on the roots
beneath the ground, and that these special
varieties are chiefly of American origin. All
these tuberous, psunateleaved kinds of the
solanum 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 wake of poetic harmony as for
historic exactitSde, in Central America near
the home Of the primitive maize, but in all
fairness South America deserves and will hold
the honor.
The edible 3otato from which all the Euro
pean and American variations have been de-
veloped, wac undoubtedly cultivated by even
the inhabitants Of the west coast Of South
America who occupied the land before the ar
rival OF the Incas. When the Spanish conquer
ers arrived there. they found one great source
OF food Supply In this native vegetable. In
Peru, however, 1t 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
7,0a0 feet, back of Lima; it was small, round,
with a thin skin, and was yellowish inside
(Rapa amasilla). In southern Peru, not far
from Mcllendo. but among the foggy regions
tJune to September). up among the rocky hills
the potato has been found wild
Passing farther along the coast into Chile,
where the climate is quite temperate and con-
sequently Is suitable. even near the coast. for
such vegetables, there Is found that other form