THE POTATO.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LX, Issue 17075, 31 August 1917, Page 6

THE POTATO.

EARLY HISTORY ASSOCIATED WITH THE ELIZABETHAN 0 PERIOD.

.When Sir Walter Raleigh decorated lua already over-decorated Elizabethan tunic witii a potato blossom, people suspected that back of it all there was a mud form of lunacy. But when he ate the tubers and also recommended others to do the same they changed their minds, that is they no longer considered it a mild form. " Ahe potato belongs to the same family oi plants as the deadly, nightshade, .vliich is extremely poisonous. We know it to be a common notion in mediaeval times that if one member of a •family, were guilty of crime the'whole lot were eligible for punishment. Consequently the potato was condemned. . Could Sir Walter have looked forward two or three hundred years and have seen his pet tuber taking: first place in popularity among vegetables, could he havo known that in the twentieth century it would furnish a quarter of the food eaten by the white race, .he would have based his hope of pos.thuraus fame not upon his ability to soothe the somewhat peppery temper,of his sovereign with shiploads of Spanish gold, but upon his potato patch.

USES OF THE POTATO

The potato is.put to a greater variety of uses than is any other vegetable. An Irishman once selected a bushel of them as a duelling weapon with the result that his antagonist ran away. At Mrs. Abbott's select boarding house they appear in various disguises three times a day. In tins case, of course, th&y are not used for belligerent purposes, this being considered the prerogative of the eggs and butter. Many thousands of bushels are used each year in the manufacture of alcohol. They are also fed to hogs and cattle and are an excellent fattening feed. Much of the starch used in the laundry business is furnished by th-> potato. Prince' Edward Island *is <-i important seat of this industry;

A NATIVE OF AMERICA

This vegetable, is a native of America. It grows wild in Colorado, and under similar conditions along the slopes of the Andes.

Its early history is not authentic. It was cultivated in Peru and Mexico when tho Spaniards visited America in the sixteenth century. In all probability these sailors introduced it into their own country. Some say it was introduced into Britain by Sir Thomas Herriot and not by Raleigh as is popularly supposed. However this may be, we know that it was the latter who advocated its use as human food and who first caused attention" to be directed towards it.

In 1586 potatoes were introduced into Ireland. In till at year a plot of them was planted near Cork. At first they'met with much opposition, but by those who did use them they were, like