POTATO. The tubers of the Sola num tuberosum.—The potato, which is at present to be met with everywhere in Europe, and forms the principal part of the food of a large proportion of its inhabitants, was entirely unknown in that quarter of the world till the latter part of the 16th century. It is a native of America ; but whether of both di visions of this continent is doubtful. Some authors affirm that it was first intro duced into Europe by Sir John Hawkins, in 1545; others that it was introduced by Sir Francis Drake, in 1573 ; and others, again, that it was for the first time brought to England from Virginia by Sir Walter Raleigh, in 1586. But this discrepancy seems to have arisen from confounding the common or Virginian potato (the Solemum tuberosum of Linnteus) with the sweet potato (Convobsubus battatus). The latter was introduced into Europe long before the former, and it seems most probable that it was the species brought from New Grenada by Hawkins. Sweet potatoes require a warm climate, and do not succeed in England ; they were. how ever, introduced there in considerable quartities, during the 16th century, from Spain and the Canaries, and were sup posed to have some rather peculiar prop erties. Tho kissing comfits of Falstaff, and such like confections, were princi pally made of battatas and eringo roots. Potatoes were at first cultivated by a very few, and were looked upon as a great delicacy. In a manuscript account of the household expenses of Qaeen Anne, wife of James I., who died in 1618, and which is supposed to have been written in 1613, the purchase of a small quantity of potatoes is mentioned at the price of 28. a pound. Previously, however, to 1884, they were raised only in the gar dens of the nobility and gently ; but in that year they were planted for the first time, in the open fields in Lancashire—a county in which they have long been very extensively cultivated.
Potatoes, it is commonly thought, were not introduced into Ireland till 1610, when a small was sent by Sir Walter Raleigh to be planted in a garden in his estate in the vicinity of Youghal. Their cultivation extended far more readi ly than in England ; and have long fur nished from three-fifths to four-fifths of the entire food of the people of Ireland ! The extension of the potato cultivation has been particularly rapid during the last forty years. The quantity that is now raised in Scotland is supposed to be from 10 to 12 times as great as the quan tity raised in it at the end of the Ameri can war • and though the increase in England has not been nearly so great as in Scotland, it has been greater than at any previous period of equal duration.
The increase through Europe has been similar. Potatoes are now very largely cultivated in France, Italy, and Germa ny ; and, with the exception of the Irish, the Swiss have become their greatest con sumers. They were introduced into India some sixty or seventy years ago ; and are now successfully cultivated in Bengal, and have been introduced into the Madras provinces, Java, the Philip pines, and China. But the common po tato does not thrive within the tropics, unless it be raised at an elevation of 3000 or 4000 feet above the level of the sea, so that it can never come into very general use in these regions. This, however, is not the case with the sweet potato, which has also been introduced into tropical Asia ; and with such success, that it al ready forms a considerable portion of the food of the people of Java, and some other countries. So rapid an extension of the taste for, and the cultivation of an exotic, has no parallel in the history of industry ; it has bad, and will continue to have, the most powerful influence on the condition of mankind.
The sweet potato is the tuber of the Cbavavidus battatoa. It is a root of gene ral growth, and much cultivated in the middle seetions of the United States. Since the repeated failures and disease of the common potato, much attention has been turned to the raising this crop in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. They are generally planted in hills or drills on well rammed laud, and are fit for gather ing when the vines are dead. There are numerous varieties of the sweet potato— as the white, red, yellow, &c. Fine crops are generally raised in the South ern States. The general average crop of South Carolina is 50 bushels per acre, though near Charleston, 100, and even 150 bushels have been raised. Similar crops are raised in Georgia and Alabama. In Louisiana 100 bushels are a fair crop. It is grown equally with the common potato in Kentucky and Tennessee, and its cultivation is extending in Ohio. Over the entire States its cultivation is extend ing. It is hardier than the common po tato, and has not been subject to what has been called the potato rot.