DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49977#0162
140
A HISTORY OF GARDENING IN ENGLAND.
was first brought to Europe by Sir Walter Raleigh, from Virginia,
but this is doubtful. There have been great discussions among
botanists on the subject of its native habitat. That Sir Walter
Raleigh and his companion, Thomas Herriott, brought the potato
back with them from the New'World, in 1585 or 1586, is a fact.
But it was also brought to Europe by the Spaniards between
1580 and 1585. The potato has been found in a wild state only in
Chili, but, it is probable, that before the arrival of the Spaniards
in America, the plant had spread by cultivation into Peru and
New Granada. From thence it was most likely introduced, in the
latter half of the sixteenth century, into that part of the United
States now known as Virginia and North Carolina, and there
discovered by Raleigh, unless he found it among the provisions of
some Spanish ship captured by him on its way from Chili or
Peru. Gerard gives a picture and account of the “ potatoe of
Virginia” (Solanum tuberosum) which “he had received” from
that place. The original species still exists in cultivation, in
Europe, and differs but slightly from the ordinary varieties now
grown. Gerard’s description of the flower and root is accurate.
He calls it “ a meate for pleasure,” being “ either rosted in the
embers, or boiled and eaten with oile, vinegar and pepper, or
dressed any other way by the hand of some cunning in cookery.”
He thus describes the tuber, “ Thicke, fat and tuberous, not
much differing either in shape, colour or taste from the common
potatoes, saving that the rootes thereof are not so great nor long,
some of them round as a ball, some ouall or egge fashion, some
longer and others shorter, which knobbie rootes are fastened into
the stalkes with an infinite number of threddie strings.” “ The
common potatoe ” he refers to, is at first sight puzzling, but he
really means the Batata or Sweet Potatoe, Ipomcea Batatas.
The origin of this plant is also a subject of discussion; America
and Eastern Asia both lay claim to it, but the strongest evidence
seems to point to its introduction from the New World.
Christopher Columbus is supposed to have brought the plant
back to Queen Isabella, and early in the sixteenth century it was
cultivated in Spain. Both Gerard and Parkinson grew it in their
gardens, but as it was always killed by the frost at the end of
September, they never saw it in flower. Sweet potatoes were
A HISTORY OF GARDENING IN ENGLAND.
was first brought to Europe by Sir Walter Raleigh, from Virginia,
but this is doubtful. There have been great discussions among
botanists on the subject of its native habitat. That Sir Walter
Raleigh and his companion, Thomas Herriott, brought the potato
back with them from the New'World, in 1585 or 1586, is a fact.
But it was also brought to Europe by the Spaniards between
1580 and 1585. The potato has been found in a wild state only in
Chili, but, it is probable, that before the arrival of the Spaniards
in America, the plant had spread by cultivation into Peru and
New Granada. From thence it was most likely introduced, in the
latter half of the sixteenth century, into that part of the United
States now known as Virginia and North Carolina, and there
discovered by Raleigh, unless he found it among the provisions of
some Spanish ship captured by him on its way from Chili or
Peru. Gerard gives a picture and account of the “ potatoe of
Virginia” (Solanum tuberosum) which “he had received” from
that place. The original species still exists in cultivation, in
Europe, and differs but slightly from the ordinary varieties now
grown. Gerard’s description of the flower and root is accurate.
He calls it “ a meate for pleasure,” being “ either rosted in the
embers, or boiled and eaten with oile, vinegar and pepper, or
dressed any other way by the hand of some cunning in cookery.”
He thus describes the tuber, “ Thicke, fat and tuberous, not
much differing either in shape, colour or taste from the common
potatoes, saving that the rootes thereof are not so great nor long,
some of them round as a ball, some ouall or egge fashion, some
longer and others shorter, which knobbie rootes are fastened into
the stalkes with an infinite number of threddie strings.” “ The
common potatoe ” he refers to, is at first sight puzzling, but he
really means the Batata or Sweet Potatoe, Ipomcea Batatas.
The origin of this plant is also a subject of discussion; America
and Eastern Asia both lay claim to it, but the strongest evidence
seems to point to its introduction from the New World.
Christopher Columbus is supposed to have brought the plant
back to Queen Isabella, and early in the sixteenth century it was
cultivated in Spain. Both Gerard and Parkinson grew it in their
gardens, but as it was always killed by the frost at the end of
September, they never saw it in flower. Sweet potatoes were