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47YERIC54 S
EDIBLE TUBB
ITU corn nml potatoes
Aiiicrlr.i litis fed tho world.
The term "corn" Is com
monly used In tho west
ern hemisphere to mean
"mnlze," or Indian corn.
nml not tho rather generic,
expression under whlrh nil
grains nro Included, ac
cording to English noinori
clnture. Indian corn has
Hpread over tho whole
earth, till now It In a Bta-
bio crop In Africa, In many partH of Europe,
and even In AhIii, where tho original Indiana
cultlvnto It without knowing or perhaps caring
whence It cnino. If It Iiiih nut displaced It hns
tit lenst supplemented rice, tho great life-sup-porting
grain, which from tltno Immemorial
has been grown In tho far east; but Indian
corn Ib an antipodal product, having conic, as
history leaches us, fioni tho neighborhood of
tho Isthmus of Tehuantcpec, In North America.
Tho potato cnuto originally from South
America. Hut hero it in necessary to pause a
moment to state that what la really meant by
tho word potato Is tho plant and tuber vulgarly
called tho Irish or whlto potato, although tt
has no more relation to tho Emerald Islo
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than that tho good people there arc very fond
of It. Tho misnamed "sweet" potato has no
right whatever to tho title. Thnt pleasant vege
table belongs to tho morning-glory family,
botanlcally being known as Ipomoea batatas,
thus again betraying a fictitious relationship
to tho other family, because, tho batata Is ft
native term for tho real potato as well.
Again, It Is unjustly suspected that this sweet
potato Is tho vegetable actually brought by
Drako and Hawkins Into England, where It
masqueraded for some years as tho genuine
South American food of contemporary ru
mor. It must be understood, however, thnt
tho sweet potato is likewise a natlvo of 'Amer
ica, but Its original homo was probably the
West Indies and Central Amerlcn. At any
rate, It grows In tho tropics nml subtroplcs
And finds Its climatic limitations nt about the
lomperaturo and altltudo at which tho Irish
potato bcglnn to thrive. The yam Is another
appellation of tho sweet potato, 'although
that, too, Is an error, for tho yams dlosco
reae belong to n group of climbing plants.
A number of varieties aro found throughout
tho tropics and subtroplcs, and they nro cul
tivated In both tho East and the WeBt Indies.
Other roots and tubers may rcsnmblo tho po
tato, and the tomato is related to It, but they
must not bo confounded with tho far better
known vegetable, which nlono Is entitled to the
name. Tho commercial nnd domestic chisslfl
cation Is stronger, however, than tho scientific,
nnd therefore no attempt should be mado to
tseparato them In the popular mind.
The common, or white, or Irish potato Is un
doubtedly American nil through. Its prehis
toric and aboriginal habitat was tho western
slopes of the southern continent, from the
neighborhood of Quito In Ecuador, or as some
claim oven from that of Bogota In Colombia, to
the central region of Chllo.
Botanlcally, the potato Is a solnnum, ono of
tho most diversified plnnts of tho vegetable
kingdom. Something like 1,000 varieties havo
ben described, but, assuming thnt several of
these aro not substantially accurate, there re
main at least S00 which are well known. It Is
remnrkablo that only about 40 varieties havo
pinnate leaves nnd produce tubers on tho roots
beneath tho ground, and that theso special
varieties aro chiefly of American origin. All
theso tuberous, plunato-lcnvcd kinds of tho
solnnum nro nearly related and very probably
have a common origin. This first habitat of
the potnto has been laid by some htudonts, qulto
as much for tho sake of poetic hnrmony as for
hlBtorlc exactitude, in Central America near
tho homo of tho prlmltivo mnlze, but In all
fairness South America deserves and will hold
the honor.
Tho edible potato, from which all the Euro
pean and American variations havo been de
veloped, was undoubtedly cultivated bj even
tho Inhabitants of the west conBt of South
America who occupied tho land before the ar
rival of the Incas. When the Spanish conquer
ers arrived there, they found ono grcnt source
of food supply In this nntlvo vegetable In
Peru, however, It was not a coast product, for
tho cllmnto thcro somed unfavorable, and
what happened to grow on tho lower levels
were small, Irndgnlticnnt and wntery. The
best kind of potnto grow at an altltudo of about
7.000 feet, back of Lima; it was small, round,
with a thin skin, and was yellowish Inside
(pnpa amarllla). In southern Peru, not far
from Mollendo, but among tho foggy regions
(.luno to September), up nmong the rocky hills,
the potnto has been found wild.
Passing farther along tho coast Into Chile,
where the cllmnto Is quite temperate and con
sequent'.y is suitable, even noar tho coast, for
such vegetables, there la found tiict other form
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of the Indigenous potato, the Maglln, which so at
tracted tho attention of Dnrwln when ho made
his famous voyage In the Beagle. As far
south as the Cnonos Archipelago (about 45
degrees south) this plant grows wild near the
sea. Tho potatoes from It resemble English po
tatoes, and have the snme smell, but do not
stand cooking so well. Little effort seems to
have been made to develop the original tubers,
although they form a good part of the food
of the people, yet in this neighborhood the Is
land of Chlloo alone has about 25,000 acres un
der cultivation, of the 123,000 acres devoted to
potatoes In all Chile. That the Europeans
found potatoes in Quito and Bogota need not
bo denied, but there Is no strong reason for
supposing that It was more than the same
plant already mentioned, transported tblthor
before they came.
Quito another story is uncovered along the
coast of South Amerlcn. Thoro tho potato Is
considered n Europoan vegetable nnd Is culti
vated only by those whoso experiences nro
derived from tho old world. No tradition con
nects tho few remaining natives with a pnst In
which tho potnto flourished, nnd In the minor
instances In which tHfc "wild potato" has boon
found, experiment shows that it is Inedible nnd
perhaps even poisonous.
ThlB Is tho enso In tho "wild potato" of Par
aguay. Such a plant has for years been
known to exist in tho basin of .tho Htvcr
Parana. It grows on the plates, budding In
March and April, and ripening during the win
ter months of May to August. Tho tubers are
about tho sire of a walnut and sometimes
larger, soft nnd wntery, full of irritating so
lanla (tho active alkaloid of tho potnto), and
of a poor taste. They are not eaten nor are
they cultivated; tho so-called edible potnto la
considered an Imported vegetable foreign to
native experience nnd judgment, while the veg
etable that takes tho place of potato In all na
tive dietary is tho "mandloca," which has been
prepared ns a food from time Immemorial by
the pr olumblnn Inhabitants.
Tho food potato of commerce mado Its way,
therefore, from Its prehistoric homo In tho
Andes to North Amerlcn nnd via Europe to the
eastern shores of South America.
(rent credit belongs also to sir Francis
Drake, who learned of the potato about 1578,
. el titer In Peru itself or In some near-by Is
land. He took spoclmctiB back with him, stop
plug first in Virginia, where he helped to plnnt
them In 1585. In 15SC ho arrived In England,
currying potatoes among his treasures, and
thus tho story arose that potatoes came fram
North America. Closoly allied to this error
that other, which contused the South American
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potato with what Is now known us
the sweet potato, tho "batuta," sam
ples of which surely camo from
Virginia somewhat earlier than
this time. It Is probable that Drake
gave potatoes to Kalelgh. At any
rate, It Ib an accepted stntenieut
that Sir Walter Italclgh was re
sponsible for their uso In Ireland,
because he gave several to tho
grandfather of Sir Robert South
well, who, to check tho famine
spreading In that Island after tho
dlsnstrous failure of tho grain
crop, cultivated them at once
there, nnd populnrlzed their use to
his eternal credit.
John Gerard, a celebrated Eng
lish botanist, grew them In Eng
land, following the example of Ita
lclgh, who ordered hla own garden
er, with a utilitarian purpose, to
cultivate them along with other
vegetables. Tho story runs that
this man, whoso curiosity was In
tensely aroused by the new plant
from America, watched Ub growth
carefully, and when tho fruit
(bIc) was ripe, gleefully plucked It
from tho stem and tnstod
il As he found this part
of tho plant merely Insipid,
ho spat It out In disgust,
and complained to Sir Wal
ter that ho had wasted so
much tlmo upon the miser
able thing: "Is this, then,
your dcllcloiiB fruit from
America?" Tho reply star
tied the gardoncr, for ho
was told to drag up tho of
fender by the roots, for
fear that tho other plants
might bo contaminated. On
doing so, howovor, ho was
astonished to discover
umoug them a mnss of ex
actly the sumo kind of tu
bers ho hnd planted In tho
spring. "Cook them," said
Sir Walter Kalelgh, "and then give mo your
opinion." At the Orat flavor of this strange
vegetoblo he was delighted, and ever after
wards gave particular attention to Increasing
his supply of tho wonderful potato.
By such experlonceB tho potuto was spread
over Europe. In France It was a rare but
prized vegetable In 1610; In Germany it waB
recognized In 1650, and from that tlmo on, Eu
rope as well as other parts of the world, grad
ually accepted It as an addition to the food
supply of all peoples. It is unwise to dlscusB
here the mooted point about the so-called In
digenous potato of Mexico and Arizona;
about the origin of thu S. commeraonll in
Uruguay and Argentina; for the settlement of
It cannot disturb tho fact that tho Solnnum
tuberosum, the common potato of today, camo
from tho west const of South America, and
thnt tho nativeB of theso regions must bo
given credit of having recognized Its food
vnluo long before they were discovered by Eu
ropeans. The widespread botanical order of tho solan
aceao, to which our potato belongs, em
braces plants of little aparent similarity. Thero
are, ub members of tho great family, among
medicinal plants, for example, tho hyoscyamus,
dulcnmarn, belladonna, and datura; among
food supplies aro the thorn npplo (a tree, In
this case), the artichoke, und the tomato; and
adding to man's enjoyment If not to his vital
sustenance, tho capsicum or tho chllo of com
merccj nnd tho American tobacco. Not many
of thorn have tubers, howovor, und of the tu
vbers, the potnto holds tho prize for Ub useful
ness In human economy. The tuber of tho
plant wo nrc Interested In is the common po
tato. Now, the tuber Is a curious provision of na
ture which by propagation can be carried on
by means of tho regular and normal plant ac
tivity of the seed above ground, and also by
anomalous stems, enlarged by tho develop
ment, to nn unusual degree, of cellular tissue,
which ure below the ground. Potatoes havo
veeds and fruit like any other member of the
botanic kingdom, but when left to thomselves
Il may happen that more energy Ib expended
In storing up food In tho tubers, so thut flow
ers and seeds aro Imperfect. Theoretically It
makes little difference which element tuber
or seed Is used for perpetuation of tho potato,
but practically so much encouragement has
been given to the tuber that the scod Is habit
ually ignored. Incidentally it deserves men
tion that the popular Burbnnk potato, tho
spread of which was ono of the earliest demon
strations of the genluB of the botanical wizard,
Luther Ourbank, was propagated from the
-sr Ttc&SYiscw jp&zxtro jvzi&z
seed, us ho hnd noticed what splendid fruit cer
tain plnnts were showing, and reasoned cor
rectly thnt the product must equnl the parent.
Exactly whnt the tuber Is, Is another ques
tion. By some Its production lo ascribed to a
rungous Irttntlon, although this Is not proved.
As has been said, not all tho solnnncenc havo
tubers, nor aro till tubers members of the fam
ily. Bo the cause what It may, the tuber Ib not
it truo root, but a lenllcss branch, usually bo
low yot sometime!! nbovo the ground; tho eyes
on n tuber nrc leaf buds which In duo tlmo
lengthen Into shoots nnd form stems. The
contents of a tuber nro a rcservo supply of
food, supporting the young growth until It
can put forth roots of Ub own.
The food supply In the potato, Is shown by
aanlysls to bo about as follows:
Parts.
Starch, etc 18.8
Nitrogenous matters 2.1
Sugar 3.2
Eat 0.2
Salines -7
Water 75.0
Total 100.0
although of course arlatlons In theso propor
tions, depending upon soil, cllmnto and meth
ods of cultivation, nro to be expected. It is
evident, therefore, that the potnto Is not a per
fect food, and that It lacks sufficient nitro
genous matter while having a superabun
dance of starch nnd sugar. That does not de
stroy Its vnluo nor Its usefulness, by any
means, nor Its popularity, for next to In
dian corn and rice, tho potnto Is tho most wide
ly used vegetable in tho world.
Today no hopeful settler, after trccklng Into
a virgin wilderness, thinks his Itttlo garden
complete without the pretty patch of potatoes;
no domestic or public meal is served without
Its tuberous embellishment, und after master
ing the art of boiling eggs, the next step of
the young housewife la to learn how to prepare
potatoes.
The grand total of potato production for one
year amounts to about 6,500,000,000 bushels,
and this gigantic crop comes from every con
tinent In tho world. Over one-fourth of tho
output Is grown In Germany; not quite one
eighth from Russia; usually a little less even
than that, from Austria-Hungary; about one
ninth from France; about one-sixteenth from
Poland, and a slightly less quantity from (con
tiguous) United States.
In the United States, almost one-third of the
year's crop Is grown in the North Atlantic
states, but the group of North Central states
east of the Mississippi river runs n closo sec
ond; of the other subdivisions, tho Central
states west of the Mississippi are next In Im
portance, and the far Western states are fourth.
This illustrates one fact about tho potnto;
it Is very susceptible to climate and cultivation.
I.ft to nature, It Is only a moderately pro
lific plant, nnd cannot thrive in n country too
hot or too cold, but has Its habitat essentially
in tho tempcrato zone; on the other hand, It
responds readily to good care, so thnt the
more It Ib nursed tho better does It grow.
The few rules to follow in successful potato
growing can bo learned by uny farmer. First
the soil must bo suitable, but this is not hard
to find. It must be light, so as to offer no
great resistance to the enlargement of the tu
bers; well supplied with organic matter, yet no
more than moist, and containing abundance of
natural fertilizing Ingredients. Well drained
sandy loam Is excellent; clay should be avoid
ed. Crop rotation Ib advisable, as the potato
bears well after certain preceding crops, but
may wither If succeeding Itself too regularly.
Liberal manure Is necessary, but of the right
kind. The rows should bo laid off aa close to
gether as practicable without Interfering with
horso cultivation, nnd generally speaking the
seed pieces should bo dropped about 12 inches
apart in furrows made In the level field and
not on the ridges, yet deep enough say four
inchesto afford ample cover to them. It must
be mentioned that 1n speaking of potatoes the
word "seed" means tho tuber or portions cut
from it in which an "eye" has formed; the
botanical seed may be used, but no benefit is
derived from that method; caro must bo
taken, however, that tho sprouts from tho eye
aro not injured, and It Is best, therefore to use
eyes from which sprouts havo not appeared.
The useB of tho potnto as a food havo long
ago been vindicated. Nothing can dislodge it.
Not oven tho latest discovered dashen, a Jap
anese nnd Chlneso claimant to tuberous popu
larity, will tako Its place, even though It
may be proved to possess moro protein than
tho South Amerlcnn predecessor. Whole books
have been written on tho culinary art of cook
ing the potato. Boiled, baked, stowed, or
fried, It has been a garnishment to the more
aristocratic dishes of every feast since It was
discovered, and has supplied many a full meal
to the humble masses who do tho world's
work. Nothing but a poem could tell Its
praises, nnd a sonnet Is the least trlbuto
through which our gratitude to Peru should be
expressed.
As a sou.co of Industrial alcohol, especially
that substance which Ib commercially known ns
denatured alcohol, potatoes are being regarded
as of Increasing value.
Next to food, however, the greatest vnluo to
mankind of tho Amerlcnn potntp Is a source
of starch. In this, too, It vies with corn. Po
tato starch Is every year proving Its merit
and whatevor can provldo starch, has a long
popularity ahead of itself, starch Is one of
tho essentials of civilization. Ub uses are pro
tean, the demand for It Is unceasing, and for
both art and Industry tho supply must bo con
slant. With such a varied field for Its activ
Ity, therefore, no ono should doubt that few
blessings to humanity can surpass that which
came to the world through the famous potato
HEART REPAIRED WITH WIRE
How Six Feet of Golden Thread
Colled In a Man's Aorta Made It
Strong Again.
Philadelphia. With tho walls of hla
heart reinforced by a coll of wlro
through which electricity passes, just
as It follown nn electrlc-llght wire,
John Brnden restG nt the University
hosnltal, nnd expcctB to resume hia
usual routine in life in n few weks.
The heart Is the pump which keeps
nil the machinery of the human body
In motion. It hns valves Just ns nil
other putupB have, and when nn engi
neer finds a vnlvo leaking in a pump
under his caro ho stopn tho engine
and Introduces a now valvo If the de
fective ono Is beyond repair. The
main valve In tho heart of John Bra
den leaked. All through tho day ho
was disturbed by Its unnatural noise,
and at night it kept him awake.
Finally tho pressuro becamo so very
severe and tho peril to his life so im
mediately grave that he was removed
to tho University hospital, whero Dr.
Coll of Gold Wire Inserted In Heart's
Aorta.
Charles II. Frazler essayed tho dell
cato task of tightening up the valve
of his heart nnd reinforcing tho entire
structure.
Examination disclosed tho fact that
.the aorta was about to rupture. Thlj
would inevitably havo resulted in
death.
Dr. Frazler opened the aorta ns
near to the heart as possible and
deftly inserted a hollow needle which
had been electrically insulated.
Through this needle Dr. Frazler push
ed and arranged In evenly distributed
colls more than six feet of solid gold
wire. This thread of wire whs guided
by tho Burgeon through the pulsing
blood vessel by tho sense of touch
alone, nnd It was built up In the
norta. nt tho point of Its weakest dila
tion, just as a weakened building wall
would be strengthened at Its most
perilous point. Thus the heart was
bound round, on tho Inside, with n
coll of strong but fine wire, caught
nnd held In place bjr the surgeon's
trained fingers. Then the problem of
preventing hemorhage arose.
Coagulation of tho blood was the
great, tho vital nd Bought. It was
decided to employ electricity to obtain
this purpose. Coagulation takes place
nt both ends of tho galvanic current
that at tho positive polo being small,
black and hnrd, nnd thnt tho tho nega
tive being larger, softer and of yel
lowish color. It hnppens that tho
blood Ib tho very best agency In the
body for tho conducting of electricity,
and when, as In this case, both poles
are Inside tho sac and near to each
other, a mild current of electricity
will cnuso vigorous electrolysis. In
applying the current to Braden a
rheostat was used to control tho flow
nnd to prevent Bhock when It should
be cut off.
Thus by coagulation the reinforce
ment of the heart was accomplished
over the gold wire framework and
nature Ib building a new wall within
the valve, stopping all leakago and
giving John Braden a new lease of
life
CAT FOSTERS STRANGE BABES
Mother Pussy, Having Lost All but
One of Her Babies, Adopts Three
Squirrels.
Knoxvllle, Tenn. A squirrel Is about
the last thing one would expect a cat
to adopt. Yet a motherly, gray pussy,
having lost all but one of her own ba
bies, took charge of three gray squir
rels in their stead, and brought them
up as carefully and tenderly as she did
her own remaining kitten.
They played about her, with ono an
other and with tho kitten as uncon-
A Happy Family.
rcrnedljrtas though they had never had
any other mother.
This happy little family was kept
on exhibition in a show-window in
Lawrenceburg, Tenn., for a long tlmo
indeed, until they were so well
grown that they needed no further
care.
Lizard in Stomach a Year.
Milton, N. D. Lcbb of flesh at the
rate of a pound a day has been sue
cessfully combated by Joseph Schnel
der of Wales since ho coughed up a
live lizard about an Inch and a half
long. Tho lizard hnd evidently got
into his stomach laBt Bummer while
he was drinking water from a Blough
where ho was hunting.
Ban Mince Pie.
Boston. Simmons college, follow.
Ing the action of Mount Holyoke, will
allow girl students to oat mince plo
only twice n year. It makes them
Irowgy, tho pedagogue say
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