Tabor City tribune. (Tabor City, N.C.) 1946-1991, 1948-11-17
E,arlv Sweet Potato History

W.. ara, Indebted to the May. l94T. issue OF Inc
,,,i,, official student publication OF Clemson
,ic,,,,,,r, College fuy the following article On
Ea,Iv Sweet rott;o History.
The article, written b. J. c. derions VAS i"'-
he'd The, Tribune by W. = EeaSonoEer. aoVef'iS'"S
MANAGER OF the I.umberton Voice and former eol'oF
of The A2garstn
1.b sweet po;ato originally OF South AMI S"n-
.,,l America has Developed many varieties At the
i'm, Of its discovery by Columbus Historical Am
,,n ,.av Re found OF Bltalas being cultivated in
iIo..,ur:s n 81. - ch iai' there we're nine
named varieties Orc writer III the year lo-o "'e'''
i,., SUM-, ro;.io,s N tie West Indies and state
,b.., rh.y h:.d oc.c or,c carried - Spain He nm
.rs had carried sweet .o,atne$ Avila in CASTLE
Tb. p,;a.o is referred Apchu OF four or
five different color, Peru. Colors mentioned we're
d ysflow white 2nl brown. The Camote oi
y.,.,. c,u.4 n ~, i:.:,ndS AXi and HatataS ''"S
mentioned IN accounts o. the fourth voyage OF ~oI-
,,u,h,S Chanca physician of the fleet of Columbus.
= letr,, dated 1874 referred to Ages as among the
products of HSpanioa.
Red purple. and white sweet p"ta'pes '"e
mrnti, ned rs having been cultivated in spain.
Notes refer to their attempted culture i'm Bel
yium These beginnings and attempts to grow
sweet potatoes in Europe took place between
l556 AID ISIS After 1876. mention OF SWEEP
POTATOES in the early botanie< "a, ,re'
sweet potato culture in Virginia was noted be-
Z re 1850 In 1850 there were ut least IL sorts
known in the Barbados
The sweet potato is me :toned growing in
HI, .a,dcn of writer in England in 1891 The same
year it was reported growing in India Baroarle'
Spain and other comparatively hot regions. Sweet
potato culture attempted in Italy at THAI time
hut with little success. The root reached st mo
mas off the African coast, before 1863 Portu-
guese pilot stated that the root which was called
Batata ty the In iarS Of Hi: ?anioia. Wa named
Ignanle at S. Thomas where il was one Of .he
most essential articles OF food, SpanardS carrie
tho veet ro.;:o t. Manila and the NoluccaS. AID
from there the Portuguese distributed it through The
Indian Arc'!ipeiiyn II WAS cultivated in Hin Il tan
and also l. Batavia by 1865. The of the
native Vegetables in cultivation in all parts
of India the plants producing pink flowers with a
tuNpe eye
seed w:,> never produced by the plant in
Chi"a. according I" early reference This ~
the first mention of the possible means OF
prupasatio., used i'm the early days. Whether /
was common practice in tropical countries to
collect the seed and reproduce plants by plant
ing is not known However. most references u
to the places the plant first found were in
TIN. tropical countries: where the plant may have
set seed.
Thr,y-;hrce varieties were mentioned grow
in in the Hawaiian SLAMS il early days. There is
also reference potatoes growing in New Zealand,
TAHITI and Fiji Islands In New Zealand there Is 4
tradition am"~ the natives that the Swe"; potato
tr:i brought the island in canoes made of
pieces of wood Sevte: together.
In Virginia. potatoes Of the
early cultivated crops. growing there in 1913 and
re.i.,os ,rrler. Jefferson in 1881 mentioned the
cultivation 0: this crop The sweet potato was in
PRODUCED generally through New England in 1854
AMI is sal to have into general Use. Early
writer's stated that sweet potatoes of excellent
quality could be crow around Boston. but there
have Uevcr been much planting in agricultural inn
portance in that region Plantations OF sweet pota-
observed about Indian villages in he
south il late l700'i.
1t il well u note thu. distinction between
the sweet potato and other plants with edible
l,rged and edible root. but not sweet potatoes.
Yam Is the ge"eral name given group Of
plants found in widely separated parts of the worl!
Such vans sometimes reach the enormous size of 50
to 80 rounds. Dioscorea Alata the white yam, IS
cultivated in the tropics throughout the world This
YAM originated in Southern India an: spread to
Africa and America where the name yam was.
derived by the Negroes. Il the Negro dialect Of
Guinea. the word yam" means ITO eat While the
name yam is often given to the sweet potato. this
Is an error. according Sturtevant. whose writings
are regarded as authoritative