Note 32 — PETER KALM’s TRAVELS. (continued 3)

That species of Convolvulus which is commonly called Batatas, has here the name of Bermudian potatoes. The common people, and the gentry without distinction planted them in their gardens. This is done in the same manner as with the common potatoes. Some people made little hillocks, into which they put these potatoes; but others only planted them in flat beds. The soil must be a mixture of sand and earth, and neither too rich, nor too poor. When they are going to plant them, they cut them, as the common potatoes, taking care however that a bud or two be left upon each piece which is intended to be planted. Their colour is commonly red without, and yellow within. They are bigger than the common sort, and have a sweet and very agreeable taste, which I cannot find in the other potatoes, in artichokes or in any other root, and they almost melt in the mouth. It is not long since they have been planted here. They are dressed in the same manner as common potatoes, and eaten either along with them, or by themselves. They grow very fast and very well here; but the greatest difficulty consists in keeping them over winter, for they will bear neither cold, nor a great heat, nor wet. They must therefore be kept during winter in a box with sand in a warm room. In Pensylvania where they have no valves in their chimnies, they are put in such a box with sand, at some distance from the fire, and there they are secured both against frost and against over great heat. It will not answer the purpose to put them into dry sand in a cellar, as is commonly done with the common sort of potatoes. For the moisture which is always in cellars, penetrates the sand, and makes them putrefy. It would probably be very easy to keep them in Sweden in warm rooms, during the cold season. But the difficulty lies wholly in bringing them over to Sweden. I carried a considerable number of them with me on leaving America, and took all possible care in preserving them. But we had a very violent storm at sea, by which the ship was so greatly damaged, that the water got in every where, and wetted our cloaths, beds and other moveables so much, that we could wring the water out of them. It is therefore no wonder that my Bermuda potatoes were rotten; but as they are now cultivated in Portugal and Spain, nay even in England, it will be easy to bring them into Sweden. The drink which the Spaniards prepare from these potatoes in their American possessions is not usual in Pensylvania.32