Year: 1876

The Potato Rot.


AN Address DELIVERED AT THE ANNUAL FAIR


OF THE WASHINGTON INDUSTRIAL AssocIA-


TIoN, BY REV. D. N. UTTER.


Being a preacher, you will naturally
expect me to divide my subject into
three heads, and that nobody may be
disappointed, will proceed to speak
first of potato, second of rot, third of
g0tato-rOt.


We ought all to be interested in the
potato, not only on account of it's use
fulness, but because it is an American
" institution" 1t is pity that we
should call it the Irish potato, for of
all our domesticated plants, this and
maize are the only important ones that
are undeniably of American origin.
Yet there is little mystery concerning
the introduction of the potato into
England and the countries of Europe.
Sir Walter Raleigh carried the potato
from jamestown, Virginia, to England,
in 1856, but there is good reason for
believing that it had been in use in
Spain for some years previous to that
date. Moreover the plant does not
grow wild in North America at ell. In
the wild state, it is found in Chill and
Peru, but not even in Mexico. So it
seems probable that the Spaniards had
carried the potato from South America
to the settlement in Virginia before
Raleigh found it there. The aborigi-
nees did not then, and believe never
have, cultivated it.


We ought secondly to be interested
in the potato-rot because it comes of
good family-at any rate it is a sort of
high-toned family, the various members
of which, however long they may re-
main unknown, when they do come out
seem to take the world by storm. The
family name is, as you know, Solanacae;
potato is Solanuna Iuberoyuna. Belong
ing to this same family, we have the
following list of products from it's diff
ferent plants, hareaisj~ one of which but
has made it's mark in the world: Tobac-
co, stramonium, belladonna, henbane,
capsicum and the tomato. The leaves
and juices Of all the plants of this fam
lily are probably somewhat poisonous,
and the deadly nightshade and tobacco
are certainly SO. But like other fami-
lies, this family of plants, the Solanacae,


when it is good it is very good indeed,


And when it is bad it is horrid."


The esvine, as we sometimes strange
ly call the upper stems of the po4ato,
ore poisonous, but the tuber, grown
under ground, is as healthful and pal
atable as any food in use, and in our
country and in England, France and
Ireland, no article of food is in such
universal and constant use, except that
which we call the staff of Efe"-
bread-and to us who use potatoes ev-
cry day and hardly understand how
dinner can be complete without them,
it seems very strange that one hundred
years ago this tuber could not be said
to have come into general use in any
country, not even in Ireland. AS T
have stated, it was known to civilized
nations as an article of food three hun
dred years ago, but was probably known
and used for the first two centuries a
good deal as we know and use mush-
rooms in this country to-day-was
known to be delicious and easy grown
but looked upon with suspicion as COM
ing from a poisonous family. But
within the last hundred years it's prog
ress has been wonderful. The potato,
the tomato and tobacco, have taken
the world in the last hundred years,
with speed and completeness une-
qualed before in the history of any arti-
cles Of food or luxury. And the pota-
to, the best of the three and without
exaggeration, may be said to have
changed the current of human history,
for it is undeniable that nothing more
Immediately affects nations history
than its food supply. If food is abun-
dant and easily procured, the people
become contented, peaceful and lazy,
and population increases rapidly until
the point is reached where by reason
of the multiplied mouths, food is again
scarce, then by means of the struggle
for existence are developed the various
kinds of strength that make nation
enterprising and belligerent, or at least
industrious and self-reliant. Now no
plant ever did more towards making
food easy and abundant than the pota-
to has done in many countries within
the last hundred years. Almost any
soil or climate that will produce any
thing will produce potatoes, and with
a given amount of soil and labor the
the potato will give larger amount of
life-sustaining, brawa-producing food
than any known plant. One hundred
bushels to the acre is scarcely above
an average crop, while of any grain,
corn not excepted, the average over a
q whole State can seldom be brought
above fifty, of any grain beside not
above thirty, and bushel of potatoes
will sustain life almost as long as a