Larry Zuckerman - The Potato: How the Humble Spud Rescued the Western World

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Table of Contents

Throughout my researching, writing, and preparing this book for publication, many people have put their knowledge and resources at my disposal for the asking. First on the list are the librarians at the University of Washington, who graciously granted me access to the materials I wanted, no matter how rare, and helped me get the most from them. They have earned my undying gratitude. Without them, this book would never have been written.

Whatever other sources I needed, the interlibrary loan staff of the Seattle Public Library hunted down, and so reliably that I came to see them as magicians who knew how to pull hard-to-find rabbits out of hats. To these untiring searchers, and to the many libraries unknown to me that loaned me books, go my thanks.

Dr. J. G. Hawkes, Professor Emeritus of the University of Birmingham, generously shared his expertise on the South American potato. William H. McNeill, Professor Emeritus of the University of Chicago, kindly read the manuscript and offered valuable suggestions. So did Professor Joseph Amato of Southwest State University,Minnesota, whose enthusiasm and advice warmed me deeply. To these three, whose comments have gone far to improve this bookbut who are not responsible for any errors or interpretations I have madeI owe a large debt.

My editor at Faber and Faber, Claire Kelleher, has shown such wizardry with my words that I could swear she was watching me when I wrote them. To her, and to the staff at Faber and Faber, go my thanks.

Finally, I must thank Ed Knappman, my agent, who decided to take a chance on an unknown author. Without him, these pages would not now be in print; and without his wisdom and patience, the task of putting them there would have been much harder.

ABBREVIATIONS

IN Irish Nation

LH Leicester Herald

LT Times (London)

BPP/HCSP British Parliamentary Papers, House of Commons Sessional Papers

BOARD OF AGRICULTURE SERIES

In the mid-1790s Britains Board of Agriculture and Internal Improvement commissioned county-by-county agricultural surveys. I have drawn on sixteen: Bedford, Berkshire, Buckingham, Chester, Cumberland, Durham, Gloucester, Lincoln, Middlesex, Norfolk, Nottingham, Rutland, Shropshire, Somerset, Worcester, and Yorkshire (North Riding). All had virtually the same title: General View of the Agriculture of the County of: With Observations on the Means of Its Improvement. All were published in London in 1794, except for the Lincoln study, which appeared in 1799. All have named authors, except for Lincoln, attributed to the board. The Notes cite them by the author and the county: Foot, Middlesex. The Bibliography does not list them.

INTRODUCTION

I have always thought: Parmentier, 2.

Change of heart in a generation: Roze, 191.

So banal a subject: Salaman, ix.

CHAPTER 1:

TREASURE OF THE ANDES

Plowing at La Raya: Bingham, 121-22.

Potatos age: wild: Hawkes, Potato , 19; cultivated: Hawkes and Francisco-Ortega, 86.

Plowing: woodcut: reproduced in Hawkes, Potato , 23; Cobos description: Cobo, Religion, 214.

Spanish see potatoes in 1537: Hawkes, Potato , 10.

Altiplano environment: Paul T. Baker and Michael A. Little, eds., Man in the Andes: A Multidisciplinary Study of High-Altitude Quecha, United States/International Biological Program Synthesis Series (Stroudsburg, PA, 1976), I, 25-31; Bingham, 102-3; Salaman, 37.

Potatos advantages: drought resistance: J. G. Hawkes et al., eds., Solanaceae III: Taxonomy, Chemistry, Evolution (London, 1991), 350; 230 species: letter from J. G. Hawkes to the author, Aug. 6, 1993; choosing species: Hawkes, Potato, 60-61; Salaman, 10.

Scarcity of fuel: Bingham, 51, 103, 145; J. J. von Tschudi, Travels in Peru, trans. Thomasina Ross (New York, 1865), 213; Clements R. Markham, Travels in Peru and India (London. 1862), 104.

Chuo: Cieza, 164, 271; Vasquez de Espinosa, 613; Salaman, 40-41.

Seville hospital: Hawkes and Francisco-Ortega, 97.

Potato a richer haul: Donovan S. Correll, The Potato and Its Wild Relatives (Renner, TX, 1962), 7.

Spanish praise the potato: good food: Cieza, 44; boiled chestnuts: ibid., 317; floury roots: q. Hawkes, Potato , 22; repulsive vermin: Cobo, History, 27; delicious fritters: q. Salaman, 103.

Chuo and the miners: Cieza, 271.

Dainty dish: q. Hawkes, Potato, 22; similar remark: Vasquez de Espinosa, 368.

Sweet potato: Columbus: Salaman, 71; Henry VIII: Waverly Root and Richard de Rochemont, Eating in America: A History (New York, 1976), 62; venerous roots: Harrison, 92; Let the sky: William Shakespeare, The Merry Wives of Windsor, act 5, scene 5.

Altiplanos barrenness: Jos de Acosta, The Natural and Moral History of the Indies [1591], trans. Edward Grimston [1604], ed. Clements R. Markham (London, 1880), III, 132, 161; Cieza, 270; Cobo, History, 5; Vasquez de Espinosa, 493, 606.

Taste for sweet flavors: the most delicate root: q. Safford, 512; vanilla, chocolate: Gottschalk, 11, 12; confections: Harrison, 92; sweet pie: Woolley, 288.

French expressions: Desnoues, 16.

Botanists description of the potato: q. Roze, 86-93.

Mandrake: Rachel, Leah: Genesis 30:14-16; herbalists: Boorde, 281; Coles, 35, 72; Culpeper, 223; Lovell, 262; Parkinson, Theatrum, 345; Salmon, 678; Westmacott, 108; drowsy syrups: Shakespeare, Othello, act 3, scene 3.

Henbane: smoking it: Lovell, 204; warnings: Coles, 36; Culpeper, 239; Parkinson, Theatrum, 364; Salmon, 515.

Warnings about deadly nightshade:Coles, 97; Culpeper, 128; Parkinson, Theatrum, 349; Salmon, 781.

Belladonna like the potato: Parkinson, Theatrum, 347.

Steroidal alkaloids: William G. DArcy, ed., Solanaceae (New York, 1986), 85, 202-3.

Solanine: ibid., 204; bitter potatoes: Thouvenot, 50.

Recommendations on use: University of California, Berkeley, The Great Potato Skin Debate, Berkeley Wellness Letter 9, 8 (May 1993), 2-3.

Tobacco: and belladonna: Parkinson, Paradisi, 516; Natures Extreams: Tryon, 124; medical uses: Culpeper 177-78; Lovell, 424; Parkinson, Theatrum, 712.

Scarcely innocent: John Ruskin, Queen of the Air (London, 1869), 106; natural curse: ibid.

Roots powers: Boorde, 279; Culpeper 130, 132, 224, 225; G. Markham, 131; Lovell, 18, 445; Parkinson, Paradisi, 506, Theatrum, 873-74; Salmon, 794, 906.

Health hazards: onion and leek: Coles, 75; Culpeper, 220, 225; poisoned blood: Boorde, 287; Culpeper, 218; Westmacott, 79.

Theory of infection: G. Markham, 10.

Leprosy: reported of France: q. Roze, 122; in England: John Gerard, The Herball; or Generall Historie of Plantes, ed. Thomas Johnson [1633](New York, 1975), 928; Lovell, 347.

Appearance and disease: Coles 94, 95; Lovell, 16; G. Markham, 27.

CHAPTER 2:

THE SOLACE OF MISERABLE MORTALS

The sauce of the poor man: McKay, 92.

The meanest cottager: Luckombe, xxi.

The most inattentive observer: Young, Ireland, I, 79.

A large population: Malthus, 47.

Raleigh: McIntosh, 12; Plumtre, 368; Wakefield, I, 442.

Romantic tale: untrue: Safford, 516; Newsweek gaffe: Newsweek, Fall/Winter 1991, 60.

Unknown Spanish sailor: William H. McNeill, The Introduction of the Potato into Ireland, Journal of Modern History 21, 3 (1949), 218. I am indebted to Professor McNeill for bringing this to my attention.

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