Evening Republican, Volume 18, Number 236, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 October 1914 — Introduced Potato Into France. [ARTICLE]

Introduced Potato Into France.

Recently the hundredth anniversary of the death of Antoine Augustin Parmentler, who introduced potatoes Into France, was celebrated by the farmers of hie native land. He was the apothecary of the Invalides, when, following the famine of 1769, the Academle de Besancon announced a prize for discovering a vegetable which could be need In time of famine. Parmen tier won the prize with the indication of the nutritive starch of certain plants. The potato was then unknown in France. It had been brought from Peru, but was the object of warnings by doctors, who attributed. to its use various fevers and even leprous affections. Parmentler persuaded the government In 1778 to give him a farm for his experiments. From the first flowering of the plants he sent a bouquet to Louis XVI, which gave the vegetable its first popularity.