Potato

POTATO. Solanum tuberosum. The potato is one of the most important of field crops, as food for man, ranking next to wheat, its limits of cultivation being carried further north than that of spring wheat and extending south to the equator. One of the singular circumstances in connection with the common name of the potato is that it should be called Irish. This was undoubtedly caused from the fact that early in this century it became the principal sustenance of the Irish peasantry. According to the younger Hooker, the wild species has passed into several varieties. The cultivated species are innumer able, and each year adds a host of new varieties as candidates for popular favor. In its wild state, the tubers never exceed two inches in length, and the flavor is insipid but not bitter. In Chili and Peru, it is peculiar to hilly or rocky soils, and found near the coast. The cultivated potato is a native of America, but tuberous solanums are found in the East and v% est Indies, having the ends of the stolons thickened into tubers, as S. rommersonii, S. .Maglia, and 8. immite. In Mexico, there are also tuberous solanums, as S. demissum, S. eardiophylkon, and & vernteosum. This latter variety produces small, but well flavored tubers. In the Argen tine Republic, in some of the mountain regions, a species of solanuin grows wild, and is also cultivated for its tubers. The natural history of the potato leaves us in some doubt as to its original nativity. It was carried to England, in 1565; by Sir John Wamkins, from Santa Fe de Bogota, where it was found growing wild, at an elevation of from 8,000 to 13,000 feet above the ocean, in elevated valleys surrounded by high mountains, and above the range of Indian corn. The climate is dry and cool, and, being near the equator, is not subject to great extremes of heat and cold. An attention to this fact will be of advantage to cultivators of this crop in climates not so vvell suited to it. It is said to have been known, at that early day, in various parts of North America; and after its introduction into England, from Virginia, by Sir Walter Raleigh, in 1586, it began to attract more and more notice, until, at this day, the potato, as one of the root crops, and maize among cereals, have been among the most valuable food-producing plants ever bestowed upon man. From a history of the potato, by Bonjean, published in 1836, we find that it came originally from the intertropical parts of the American continent; that it grows spontaneously from Carolina to Valparaiso, in Chili. The celebrated Joseph Pavon, one of the authors of the Peruvian Flora, found it growing wild in the vicinity of Lima, Peru, where the Indians cultivated it abundantly for their sub sistence. Lopez de Tomera, a Spanish priest, in bis general history of the Indies, published in 1553, mentions the Papas, the name by which it was known to the Indians. Joseph Acosta says that the Peruvians employed it in lieu of bread roots, which they called Chunno, or they ate them fresh and boiled. Before its introduction into England it had already been very exten sively diffused throughout the south of Europe. The botanist, Charles L'Ecluses (Clusius), about the year 1588, is said to have been the first European writer who mentions the potato. In 1631 he published a description of the root, and says that it wag then so common in some parts of Italy that it was eaten by meu and fed to hogs He doubts whether it was known to ancients; thinks that it may have been the Araehidna of Theoplirastus. Cortusus, another botanist, sup poses that it was the Pycnoconia of Dioscorides. In 1590 Gaspard Bonhin received frem Scholtz a colored drawing of the potato, and recognized it as a solanum. Mathiola afterwards described it in his commentaries upon Dioscorides. It was in Italy that potatoes were first cultivated to any extent, and from thence it began to be spread over Europe, about the year 1550. The Italians called them Tartoffoli, or ground truffles, and from this is said to have come the German name, Kartoffle. Parmentier, in 1783, succeeded in introducing the potato into general cultivation in France, and spent much time and research in demonstrating, by chemical experiments, that the potato was both a healthful and nutritious food. The following is a summing up of an analysis of the potato, by the author first quoted, Bonjean: Starch, peculiar animal matter, bitter aromatic resin, Parenchyma (fibrous matter), Solanin. Asparagine, colored Albumen, a sugar principle, a gum principle, citrate of lime, citrate of potash, phosphate of potash, phosphate of lime, free citric acid, Silica, Alumine, Magnesia, Manga nese, oxide of iron, Iocle, Brome and water of vegetation. An analysis of the Mercer potato, by Charles T. Jackson, M. D., of Boston, Mass., gives in 100 parts by weight: After its introduction into England, hy Sir Walter Raleigh, it was cultivated in Ireland in 1610, in Alsace in 1720, in Scotland in 1728. in Switzerland in 1730. Since this time its cultiva tion has been extended to every civilized country, and many barbarous ones, from the equator to the 64th parallel of north latitude, has added millions to the population of the earth, and has rendered almost unknown those famines which so often desolated the civilized world. Indeed, it has been said that if the sanguinary wars of the French Revolution bad occurred before the introduction of the potato, that Europe would have been decimated by famine. Very many theories have been, from time to time, promul gated relating to the deterioration of the potato, principal among which are degeneration, or a wearing out of its vital forces, which nature herself has disproved by recuperating, in a measure, this valuable esculent. Another themy is that the disease is produced by excessive culti vation and high manuring, thereby inducing an extremely succulent and watery growth, and consequently a greater liability to be affected by atmospheric and other changes which are con stantly taking place. That it is due to this cause, measurably, is more than probable, from the fact that the potato, when given its true, or normal condition, i.e. a cool and equable temper ature, allowing it to make its growth without subjecting it to violent atmospheric changes, it uniformly produces fair crops, as, for instance, if we plant early varieties early in the spring in the Northern States, upon new or fibrous soil, however well manured, we may confidently ex pect to harvest a good crop about the first of August; and also, if we plant in June, we may expect to gather a crop in September or October, if the season is proper, that is, not wet and hot; these are conditions that are not suitable to a healthful growth of the potato. In fact, a sea son that produces good wheat is apt to produce good potatoes, but a season that is subjected to violent extremes of heat and cold, eapecially upon highly manured soils, is sure to deteriorate and reduce the potato crop The effect of high cul tivation, and strong and especially green manures, is such as to induce an extremely succulent growth of vines, and while in this condition, if such weather occurs as would cause ruat in the wheat plant or rot in fruit, the cells, being gorged with sap, are ruptured, and decomposition taking place, it is immediately seized upon by micro- , scopic fungi, and unless seasonable weather succeed the poisonous matter is communicated to every part of the plant, and a total destruction of the plant ensues. That it is due to atmos pheric causes, in a great measure, there is no doubt, and it is also as true that a hot murky atmosphere is the superinducing cause. Indeed, the disease has not been confined exclusively to the potato, for about the same time, we have accounts of similarly affected bulbs and roots, as tulips, hyacinths, the sweet potato, various vege tables and fruits, as tomatoes, the yam, the cocoa, apples, peaches, pears and other fruits. That it is due to engorgement, or something analogous, is probable—the rupture of the plant cells pre senting a proper nidua for microscopic insects and fungi, the vitality of the plant is more and more impaired, until finally, as in the case of annuals, they are completely destroyed; but perennials may linger from year to year, until they finally- succumb, or, during more favorable seasons, eventually recover. This is a principal reason that we find certain pla,nts growing within certain isothermal lines, or where the temperature is natural to them, and it ia not strange that the potato, requiring as it does such peculiar con ditions for its normal development, being trans planted to such a variety of climates, should become diseased, and the seeds of that disease be carried, perhaps, to every country where it is cultivated. The potato requires a cool, equable climate. Michigan and Wisconsin are celebrated for their fine crops of potatoea, so are Maine and Nova Scotia. Now it is known that the climate of Michigan, nearly surrounded as it is by ex tremely deep water, and protected besides by dense forests, has a comparatively equal climate; it is warmer in winter and cooler in summer, not subject to so violent alter,nations of heat and cold as are the more open countries in the same lati tude lying west of lake Michigan. ln fact the

delicate Carter potato was, for many years after it ceased to be profitable elsewhere, successfully grown on the Eastern shore of lake Michigan, 200 miles north of Chicago, upon the clearings of the dense forests, for the reason that their sum mers, although short, are marked by a steady degree of heat and moisture, sufficient to mature the crop; so of Maine and Nova Scotia. Wis consin is subject to greater atmospheric varia tions, lies nearer the great treeleas prairies, but ia at the same time sufficiently protected to be exempt from the more violent extremes. Indian corn requires a mucb greater average heat to mature its crop than the potato, but at the same time it will stand greater extremes of heat and cold. The least frost blackens the potato vine, but the corn simply turns yellow, subse quently recovers, and under favorable conditiona as to moisture and heat matures its crop. The theory of degeneration as producing the potato rot, is essentially this, that reproduction, by exten sion as by layering, by cuttings and by eyes, tends ao to impoverish the vital energy of the plant from generation to generation, that it con tinually becomes more and more weakened, until finally it dies. Now plants, as well as aniMals, may be called both viviparous and oviparous, not scientifically, but, as a condensed illustration ; and some plants, aa the potato, dahlia, artichoke, etc., are both oviparous and viviparous—ovipar ous as reproducing themselves from seeds or ovules, and viviparous, reproducing themselvea by tubers, or offsets or buds. Now the seed, in order to reproduce the living organism, must firat undergo certain changes, must be placed in its nest and be hatched; but in reproduction from the bud, it is fed by the sap itself until it has put forth its roots and leaves and is enabled to draw from the earth its proper nourishment. It seems to be a law of nature that tbe higher we breed either the animal or plant, the more susceptible it becomes to climatic and other changes; that the more we refine the more delicate becomes the tissue; that the higher we feed the more liable are we to engorge, and with engorgement comes rupture, disease and death. We have forced the potato, by high feeding and extreme culture, into excessive growth ; under certain atmospheric or other conditions, engorgement ensues, the cel lular tissue is ruptured, the vitiated sap decom poses, fungi attack it, and unless assisted by other conditions favorable to the normal condition of the plant, finally ends in its complete destruc tion, or partial diaorganization, leaves it in so feeble a condition that it ia not able to fully elaborate its starch, and instead of the dry, mealy potato, we have the soggy, waxy and watery one. It is no argument, for it is only a theory, against the theory that reproduction frorn seed does not bring it back to a healthful condition, for the seed being. but a minute part of .he whole plant, may necessarily be diseased from the parent, and might, perhaps, continue so for gen erations, until it wears out just as fever and ague wears out upon the human patient. But under fortuitous circumstances, it may at last regain its original health and vigor. The history of potato -culture in the West shows plenty of failures, resulting from plantings in the month of May and early in June, for the reason before stated that the hot sun and dry atmosphere of July and August ; or else the sudden alternations of wet and dry, hot and cold, are uot conducive to the steady growth which the potato requires. But even under these circumstances, we may measurably -succeed, by mulching, when the conditions are such that early planted ones do not perfect their growth before the heat of summer ensues. Upon -clay or heavy loams, we advise planting as early in the spring as possible, upon deep fall plowing, by marking the land three feet apart, rnaking a deep narrow furrow, which will of course be left filled with the fine earth. If you plant in hills, mark the other way, two feet apart, and put two strong single eyes in each hill. If in drills, plant the eyes about ten or twelve inches apart, step ping upon each piece in order to press it firmly into the earth, or if two rows are planted at once, this must of course be omitted, in which case a roller may be passed over the land before covering by the cultivator or hiller. Notwith standing the assertion that it makes no difference whether the eye lies uppermost or not, it is bad -practice to allow some eyes to lie up and some down, since they do not appear above ground at one time. Have them lie in the furrow as they are to grow, the eye up; cover about four inches deep. As the weeds start, or frona rain, a crust forms, harrow thoroughly with a light drag, and continue to do so as often as necessary, until the rows can plainly be seen, then with any suitable implement, turn a light furrow away from the potatoes, and within four or five days turn it to them again. and continue to earth them from time to time, until at the time of blossoming the vines will be supported by a moderately broad and high hill. If the vines now grow so as to cover the ground and shade the ridges or hills, you may confidently expect to harvest a crop, unless the season is unfavorable, that is, wet and hot, or with alternations of heat and cold. We have gathered fine crops by fill ing between the hills with litter or fine manure, to obviate the effects of heat and drought. What the potato most craves is a moist, equable tem perature of the earth, which can only be obtained, in variable seasons, by having the ground cov ered with the vines or mulch. If these condi tions are secured you will hot be much troubled by weeds, but if so you must get them out by hand -or otherwise. Neither potatoes nor any other crop will thrive among weeds. In case blight attacks them severely cut the tops, but if slight leave them alone—they may recuperate; and in no case when attacked by disease should you dig them to save them, they are safer in the ground than out, unless the land is very wet, in whieh case, if tbey are dug, they should be spread thinly, and Borne absorbent, as lime, powdered charcoal, or dry muck, mixed with them. When thoroughly ripe they may be dug and placed in narrow piles to sweat and dry, after which they may be stored where they are to remain through the winter. More attention should be used in the storing of potatoes than is generally allowed. Those intended for eating should be kept as much as possible from the light and air, and all potatoes should be kept at such a temper ature as to prevent germination; but potatoes intended for planting certainly sprout more kindly and more quickly if they are exposed to the air sufficiently in the fall to become even greened before storing, on the same principle, perhaps, that the roots of trees dug in the autumn and healed in, get calloused and ready for growth in the spring. The planting of small potatoes can not be too much deprecated, and why otherwise intelligent farmers will practice planting inferior and small potatoes, and at the same time be so careful in saving seed of corn aud other cereals, is something wonderful. A crop may be reduced one-half in four years by the experiment. A single strong eye, with a liberal quantity of tuber attached, is as good as more. In planting whole potatoes none but the strongest eyes grow, while if all the apparent eyes are cut out there will still be latent eyes, which, under favorable circumstances will ger minate. The small potatoes, however, in this day of high prices, may be utilized thus: Select a certain portion of the best potatoes, sufficient for the seed of the next year to be saved from, and if you continue this practice from year to year, you may plant the small potatoes for the market crop; but in no case must seed be saved from the produce of these small potatoes. It is not necessary that we send long distances for change of seed. We have proved, from our own experience, that plants will not degenerate if care is taken to save seed from the best specimens, but will, bit the other hand, improve yearly. The potato is liable to the attacks of a niimber of insects. Those doing the most damage are cut worms eating the young shoots, the white grub which eats the roots to some extent, but whose principal mischief is in eating holes in the tubers. The most destructive insect, how ever, is the Colorado Potato Beetle. The cut above at 1, 1, shows the beetle and larva of Colorado potato beetle; 3, 3, D. juncta, of the South which feeds on the horse nettle: 2 shows an apparent cross between the two, in which the thick heavy line of the juncta is supple rnented with a yellowish line running partly through it longitudinally.