The stems of the kidney-bean are, in all the varieties, more or less voluble, and contrary to the ordinary law of Nature, instead of turning in the direction of the sun, turn in a contrary direction. To account for this, it has been supposed that the native place of this plant is on the southern side of the equator, and that the plant, though through so many generations removed to the north," is still obedient to the course originally assigned to it, turning in a direction which, in its native climate, would be towards the sun.' ."* Should this prove to be the case, which the analogy of nature renders very probable, it furnishes a remarkable confirmation of a fact supported by many proofs, that the Creator has impressed, not merely a certain constitution, but certain habits on plants, corresponding to the localities in which they were intended to grow, originally independent of external stimuli, and sometimes, as in the present instance, unaffectable by them.

ELEVENTH WEEK-FRIDAY.

ESCULENT ROOTS.-THE POTATO.

THERE is a great variety of roots and tubers, fit for the use of man, and domestic animals, several of which are extensively cultivated, such as turnips, onions, carrots, parsnips, and beets. The most remarkable, however, and useful of them all, is the potato, to which, on this branch of our subject, I shall at present confine my

attention.

The same mystery which hangs over the native place of most of the other plants, made use of by man as objects of cultivation, long attached also to the potato ; but it appears now to be satisfactorily proved, that it is

VOL. II.

* Louden's Encyclopedia of Gardening, p. 694.

Y

indigenous in the west coast of South America. In Chili and Peru it is found growing wild among the rocks, in remote places where it is not probable that the seed could have been carried by the hand of man ; and what seems to confirm the idea that it is there in its uncultivated state, is, that the flowers are always pure white, without any of that purple tint which exists in the cultivated varieties.*

The potato plant seems first to have been introduced into Britain by Sir Walter Raleigh, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth; but, for more than a century, its cultivation was exceedingly confined, owing probably to erroneous modes of cultivation, and to an improper manner of preparing it for food. In the reign of James I. this root was considered a great rarity, and sold so dear as two shillings per pound; and even so late as the beginning of last century, it seems not to have entered into the lists of agricultural produce. Bradley, who wrote about the year 1720, and who treated expressly of new improvements in horticulture, says of potatoes," They are of less note than horse-radish, radish, scorzonera, beets, and skerrit; but as they are not without their admirers, I will not pass them by in silence."

The district of England, where the potato was first generally cultivated, seems to have been Lancashire; and, about the same time, it was introduced to general use in Scotland. In 1728, a day-labourer of the name of Prentice, living near Kilsyth, in Stirlingshire, successfully raised a crop of potatoes, on a little plot of ground attached to his cottage, and was fortunate enough to call the attention of his neighbours to the value of this hitherto neglected vegetable. By the annual sale of his produce, he soon realized, what was to him a fortune, the sum of L. 200; and, meanwhile, the public attention being called to the plant, it gradually made its

* Account by Mr Cruickshank, published in Dr Hooker's "Botanical Miscellany," and quoted in the "Journal of the Royal Institution," for December, 1831.

way. It was not, however, till after the year 1743, which was remarkable as a season of scarcity, that it came to be generally cultivated as a regular branch of field husbandry. I very well remember a near relative of mine mentioning an anecdote, which showed that, so late as the year 1755, or 1756, the potato was still a great rarity in Wigtonshire.*

In England, with the exception of Lancashire, the progress of this esculent into general cultivation was still slower. It was known in Yorkshire only as a garden plant, down to 1760; and, in Somersetshire, we must date its introduction, as an article of farm produce, at least ten years later. After this period, however, the value of the potato came to be very generally appreciated; and, in the year 1796, in the county of Essex alone, no fewer than 1700 acres were planted with this root, for the supply of the London market.

Potatoes seem to have found their way into the Continent of Europe, at a considerably later period than into England; but they came more rapidly into common use, and we may date their general cultivation there, from about the middle of last century.

This root, when first introduced as an article of husbandry, was acknowledged to possess more vigorous powers of reproduction than almost any other vegetable. In the potato itself, are comprised the germs of numerous plants, which are situated in indentations called the eyes; and the usual mode of propagating the plant has been by cutting the tuber into several sections, or sets, each containing one or more eyes. In this way good varieties are extended and preserved when once obtained.

The proper seed, however, is contained in the apple, a large green berry, which succeeds the flower. In this

This incident was, that a lady had brought some potatoes in her pocket to church, on Sunday, to present to a friend, as something quite new; but the string of her pocket breaking, as she was in the act of going out, on the dismissal of the congregation, she lost her burden in the passage, which created considerable speculation.

apple are found numerous white seeds, which, when sown, produce, like similar seeds, numerous varieties of the plant;* but the tubers obtained immediately from the seeds are at first very few and small, and it is not till the third year that these tubers come into full bearing, a circumstance which renders it unprofitable to the farmer to propagate the potato in this way.

It appears, however, from experience, that when potatoes are raised in the usual way, they gradually lose their vegetative energy, and become liable to diseases, and injurious influences, which, in their more vigorous state, they were able to resist. A tendency in the plant to degenerate, under the present mode of culture, has long been observed, and some farmers have been careful to renew it at intervals, by having recourse to propagation from the seed. But this useful practice has not been so generally attended to as it ought to have been; and, at the present time (1837), in consequence of this neglect, much distress is occasioned among the lower classes, in various districts, by the failure of the crops. The history of the propagating power of the tuber seems to be as follows:-At the third reproduction from a tuber, produced by a seed, the reproductive power, as has already been stated, is in full activity. Then the produce is greatest; but the potato being, at this stage, in general watery, and what is called waxy, is not esteemed so palatable for food. In a few years, however, by constantly reproducing from the tuber, the potatoes

* The Rohan potato, a variety raised on the Continent a few years ago, from the seed, is remarkable for the size of its stalks, and its prolific powers. Prince Charles de Rohan, from whom it takes its name, writing of it from Geneva, in 1834, states that the stalks, reach six or seven feet in height, and require to be supported on transverse stakes; and that the tubers sometimes increase to such enormous size, that a single potato will weigh more than 13 lb.; and, as to the quantity of produce, he mentions the following example :-" The attorney of the Abbey of Auterive, Canton of Fribourg, to whom I had given two tubers, two years ago, and who, delighted with his first harvest, after having eaten, and given some to his friends, planted the rest, obtained last autumn, six double horse-loads, and eight scuttlefulls." Le Cultivateur, Journal de Progres Agricolis, January 1835, quoted in the Journal of Agriculture, vol. vi. p. 145.

become less productive, but more dry and mealy. This progress goes on, year after year, the root always improving in quality, but diminishing in quantity, till, at length, it should seem that the vigour of the living principle, by this mode of treatment, wears out, and the plant first becomes subject to disease, and alive to all unfavourable influences of soil and weather, and finally ceases to reproduce.

This subject has not hitherto been attended to by scientific, or even practical men, as it deserves. A crisis in the history of this valuable esculent seems, however, at last to have arrived, which must force the subject on public observation. The curl, a well known disease, first alarmed cultivators. It began in Lancashire, where the potato was early cultivated, and soon spread over all the richest districts of the country. This seems to have been the earliest indication of decay in the reproductive powers, and the precursor of that more general failure with which the community is threatened. What would be the consequence of the extermination of a crop on which has depended so much of the comfort of the poor, and to the introduction of which so much of the rapid increase of our population during the last century may be traced, it is dreadful to contemplate.

The whole subject, indeed, connected with the history of the potato plant, is full of varied interest. The religious mind especially, will find food for deep reflection on the ways of Him, whose providence acts always with such consummate wisdom, but frequently so mysteriously. By the discovery of this additional means of aliment, so salubrious, so plentiful, and so cheaply propagated, at a time when manufactures and the arts were, from other causes, in such rapid progress, it should seem to have been the intention of Providence that society should receive an additional impulse, and that the population, constantly pressing against the means of subsistence, should obtain a temporary relief. But this, it is obvious, could only be available to a certain point; and,