Almost every one knows the fact of the introduction of the potato into England, yet very few know the odd accident which prevented it from being totally lost to sight. It was not, as popularly supposed, first introduced by Sir Walter Raleigh. John Hawkins first introduced them into England in 1565; next, Walter Raleigh, in 1584, finally, Admiral Drake, in 1586. It is a little curious that the potato was introduced into Germany just one hundred years ago; and the year 1874 is to the Germans their great potato centennial, which they propose to honor with befitting celebrity.

When the Spaniards conquered Peru, in the sixteenth century, they carried some potatoes to Europe and sent them to the Pope. The raw plant was cultivated a little in Spain, Italy, Burgundy and the Netherlands, and from a certain resemblance to the truffle, an esculent fungus growing in the earth, the Italians gave them the name of tartufi, or tara-tufoli, whence the Germans derive their word kartoffel. The French called them " apples of the earth," pommes de terre, while in Austria and portions of Germany, the equivalent expression erd-apfel is used.

Admiral Drake, in 1586, in England, sent some to. a friend to plant, with the remark that the fruit was excellent and nutritious, so that it would be very useful in Europe. His friend actually planted the tubers and they grew nicely; but, when the seed-balls were ripe, he took these instead of the tubers, and fried them in butter, and sprinkling sugar and cinnamon over them, placed them before some company as a great rarity. Of course, these balls tasted disgustingly, and the assembly concluded that the fruit would not ripen in Europe. The gardener pulled up the plants and burned them. A gentleman, who chanced to be present, stepped on one of the baked potatoes as it lay in the ashes, when it broke open, and he noticed that it was white as snow, and mealy, and had such an agreeable smell that he tasted it and found it very palatable. The new vegetable was thus rescued; but for a century after it was only cultivated in his garden, and in 1600 the Queen of England made the remark in her house-book that a pound of potatoes cost two shillings - about fifty cents!