Volume 3 - Electric Scotland

FOOD OF THE HIGHLANDS. '363
it continues to be a tender and an exotic plant still.
When it is raised from seed, that is only done for the
purpose of procuring' new varieties; and, these once
obtained, no further sowing takes place, but the new
variety continues to be propagated in the usual manner.
There can be little question that this plant might be ren-
dered perfectly hardy by the system which I have thus
described ; and though it would require some years of an
experimental cultivation, which would not produce the
same profits as the ordinary method, from the time which
the seedlings require to arrive at maturity, the benefits
would, in the end, amply repay the sacrifices. To ren-
der the potatoe, in the Highlands, what it is in England,
would be one of the greatest gifts which could now be
bestowed on that country. If this is not to be expected
from farmers or gardeners, who must look at every thing
with a view to immediate profit, it is surely not too much
to expect from an opulent Highland proprietor, or from
those Societies whose labours are so apt to begin where
they end, in publishing useless transactions and empty
debates. The Society which shall confer this benefit on
its country, will have greater reason to congratulate itself
on the act, inglorious as it may seem, than if it had suc-
ceeded in re-establishing the Gaelic language, the songs
of Ossian, and the agonistics of dismembered cattle.
Thus much for the advantages to be derived from the
potatoe, and from the improvements of which it is yet
susceptible. But it must now not be forgotten, that
these advantages are to be balanced against an evil which,
if remote, is nevertheless certain. This is that state of
things, of which Ireland has become so fearful an example.
It is creeping on in the Highlands in many
places ; and, in some, with rapid strides. Nor can it be
avoided, as long as the eternal subdivision of farms con-
tinues, and as long as the people are either unable to
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