Today, potatoes are successfully grown by many gardeners. Delicious and nutritious dishes are prepared from it. The history of the vegetable is truly amazing. Let's remember where the homeland of potatoes is, and how the culture appeared in European countries and Russia.
Every educated citizen should know that the homeland of the potato is South America. Its history began over ten thousand years ago on the territory that adjoins Lake Titicaca. The Indians tried to grow wild-growing potatoes and spent a lot of time and energy on it.
The plant became an agricultural crop only five thousand years later. Thus, the homeland of potatoes is Chile, Bolivia and Peru.
In ancient times, the Peruvians idolized the plant and even made sacrifices to it. The reason for this veneration has never been established.
Today, more than 1000 varieties of potatoes can be found on the trading market in Peru. Among them are green tubers the size of a walnut, raspberry specimens. Dishes from them are prepared directly on the market.
For the first time, Europeans tasted potatoes, whose homeland was South America, in the 16th century. In 1551, the geographer Pedro Cieza da Leon brought it to Spain, and later described its nutritional properties and taste. Each state met the product differently:
For a long time, Europeans undeservedly called potatoes "the devil's berry" and destroyed them due to massive poisoning. Over time, the product became a frequent guest on the table and gained universal acceptance.
The French believed that potato tubers were the food of the lowest stratum of the general population. The vegetable was not cultivated in this country until the second half of the 18th century. Queen Marie Antoinette weaved plant flowers into her hair, and Louis the 16th appeared at the ball, pinning them to the ceremonial uniform.
Soon, every nobility began to grow potatoes in flower beds.
A special role in the development of potato production was played by the royal pharmacist Parmentier, who planted a plot of arable land with vegetables and sent a company of soldiers to guard the plantings. The doctor announced that everyone who steals a valuable culture will die.
When the soldiers left at night to the barracks, the peasants dug up the ground and stole the tubers. Parmentier wrote a work on the benefits of the plant and went down in history as a "benefactor of mankind."
Potatoes appeared in our country thanks to Tsar Peter the Great. The emperor brought from Europe new products, clothes, household items. So, at the beginning of the 18th century, potatoes appeared in Russia, which peasants began to grow by order of the tsar.
People did not value tubers the way they did in his homeland. The peasants considered them tasteless and were wary.
During the wars, this vegetable saved people from hunger and already in the middle of the 18th century became "the second bread". The product was widely distributed thanks to Catherine II. In 1765, the government recognized its usefulness and ordered the peasants to grow "earth apples".
In 1860, famine broke out in the country, forcing people to eat potatoes, which, to their surprise, turned out to be quite tasty and nutritious.
Over time, the earthen apple was cultivated throughout the country. Even the poor could afford it, because culture is able to adapt to climatic conditions.
Today, the benefits and chemical composition of the product have been sufficiently studied by specialists. Agricultural producers have learned to properly care for the crop, to protect it from diseases and pests.
Nowadays, potatoes are a staple food and a must-have in many recipes. There is no need to idolize potatoes, as the Peruvians, the inhabitants of the homeland of the potato, did. You should respect this root crop, know where it came from, and how it is useful.
More than 99% of today's seed potatoes share common genes. All cultivated varieties, one way or another, belong to two related species.
This is S. Tuberosum that has settled around the world and S. Andigenum, better known in its homeland, has been cultivated in the upper Andes for several millennia. According to botanists and historians, it is thanks to artificial selection that began 6-8 thousand years ago that modern potatoes bear little resemblance to their wild ancestors in both appearance and taste.
Today, numerous varieties of Solanum tuberosum or Nightshade tuberosum are grown in most regions of the world. became the main food and industrial crop for billions of people who sometimes do not know the origin of the potato.
Nevertheless, in the homeland of the culture, between 120 and 200 species of wild varieties still grow. These are exclusively endemic to the American continent, and most are not only not edible, but even poisonous due to the glycoalkaloids contained in the tubers.
The discovery of the potato dates back to the era of the great geographical discoveries and conquests. The first descriptions of tubers belonged to Europeans, members of military expeditions in 1536-1538.
One of the companions of the conquistador Gonzalo de Quesada in the Peruvian village of Sorokota saw tubers similar to truffles known in the Old World or, as they were called "tartuffoli". Probably, this word became the prototype of the modern pronunciation of the German and Russian names. But the English-language version of "potato" is the result of a confusion between the tubers of a similar appearance to ordinary and sweet potatoes, which the Incas called "sweet potato".
The second chronicler in the history of potatoes was the naturalist and botanist-researcher Pedro Ciesa de Leon, who found fleshy tubers in the headwaters of the Cauca River that, when boiled, reminded him of chestnuts. Most likely, both travelers painted Andean potatoes.
Europeans, having heard about extraordinary countries and their riches, were able to see the overseas plant with their own eyes only thirty years later. Moreover, the tubers that arrived in Spain and Italy were not from the mountainous regions of Peru, but from Chile, and belonged to a different type of plant. The new vegetable did not suit the taste of the European nobility and, as a curiosity, was settled in greenhouses and gardens.
An important role in the history of potatoes was played by Karl Clusius, who at the end of the 16th century founded the planting of this plant in Austria and then in Germany. 20 years later, potato bushes adorned the parks and gardens of Frankfurt am Main and other cities, but it was not soon to become a garden culture.
Only in Ireland, the potato introduced in 1587 quickly took root and began to play a significant role in the economy and life of the country, where the main sown area was always given to cereals. At the slightest crop failure, the population was threatened with a terrible famine. The unpretentious fruitful potatoes were very useful here. Already in the next century, the country's potato plantations could feed 500 thousand Irish.
And in France and in the 17th century, potatoes had serious enemies, who considered tubers suitable for food only for the poor or even poisonous. In 1630, by parliamentary decree, the cultivation of potatoes in the country was prohibited, and Diderot and other enlightened people were on the side of the legislators. But still a man appeared in France who dared to intervene on the plant. Apothecary A.O. Parmentier brought the tubers that saved him from hunger to Paris and decided to demonstrate their dignity to the French. He arranged a magnificent potato dinner for the color of the capital's society and the learned world.
Only the Seven Years' War, devastation and famine forced to change the attitude towards the culture of the Old World. And this happened only in the middle of the 18th century. Thanks to the pressure and cunning of the Prussian king Frederick the Great, potato fields began to appear in Germany. The British, French and other previously irreconcilable Europeans recognized the potatoes.
It was during these years that the Russian Count Sheremetyev received the first bag of precious tubers and a strict order to start growing. But such an imperial decree did not arouse enthusiasm in Russia.
It would seem that the history of potatoes in this part of the world will not be smooth. Catherine II also promoted a new culture for the Russians and even started a plantation in the Pharmaceutical Garden, but ordinary peasants in every possible way resisted the plant planted from above. Until the 40s of the XIX century, potato riots thundered across the country, the reason for which turned out to be simple. The farmers who grew the potatoes left the crop to be kept in the light. As a result, the tubers turned green and became unusable. The work of the whole season went down the drain, and the peasants were ripe with discontent. A serious campaign was adopted by the government to explain agricultural techniques and potato consumption. In Russia, with the development of industry, potatoes quickly became truly "second bread". Tubers were used not only for their own consumption and animal feed, they were used to produce alcohol, molasses, starch. 
And in Ireland, the potato has become not only a popular crop, but also a factor influencing the birth rate. The opportunity to feed families cheaply and satisfyingly has led to a sharp increase in the population of Ireland. Unfortunately, the addiction that arose in the first half of the 19th century led to disaster. An unexpected epidemic of phytophthora, which destroyed potato plantings in many regions of Europe, caused a terrible famine in Ireland, which halved the country's population.
Some people died, and many were forced to go overseas in search of a better life. Together with the settlers, potato tubers also came to the shores of North America, giving rise to the first cultivated plantations on these lands and the history of potatoes in the USA and Canada. In Western Europe, phytophthora was defeated only in 1883, when an effective fungicide was found.
At the same time, European countries are beginning to actively expand potato cultivation to their colonies and protectorates. This culture came to Egypt and other countries of northern Africa at the beginning of the 19th century, but became widespread thanks to the British on the eve of the First World War. Egyptian potatoes were used to feed the army, but at that time the local peasants had neither experience nor sufficient knowledge to get serious. Only in the last century, with the advent of the possibility of irrigating plantations and new varieties, potatoes began to give bountiful harvests in Egypt and other countries.
Indeed, modern tubers bear little resemblance to those that were once brought from South America. They are much larger, have a rounded shape and excellent taste.
Today, potatoes are taken for granted in the diet of many peoples. People do not think or even do not know that the real acquaintance of mankind with this culture took place less than five hundred years ago. They don't know the origin of the potatoes on the plate. But until now, scientists are showing serious interest precisely in wild species that are not afraid of many diseases and pests of cultivated varieties. To preserve and study the still unexplored possibilities of the plant, specialized scientific institutes are working all over the world. In the homeland of culture, in Peru, the International Potato Center has created a repository of 13 thousand samples of seeds and tubers, which has become a gold fund for breeders around the world.
Potatoes were brought to Russia quite late, at the very beginning of the 18th century. This was done by Peter I, who was the first to taste various potato dishes in Holland. Having approved the gastronomic and taste qualities of the product, he ordered the delivery of a bag of tubers to Russia for planting and growing.
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In Russia, potatoes took root very well, but Russian peasants were afraid of an unknown plant and often refused to grow it. Here begins a very funny story connected with the solution to the problem, which Peter I resorted to. The Tsar ordered to sow the fields with potatoes and put armed guards on them, who were supposed to guard the fields all day long, and went to sleep at night. The temptation was great, peasants from nearby villages could not resist and stole potatoes, which became for them a sweet forbidden fruit, from the sown fields for planting on their plots.
At first, cases of potato poisoning were often recorded, but this was, as a rule, due to the inability of the peasants to properly use potatoes. The peasants ate the fruits of potatoes, berries that resemble small tomatoes, which are known to be unsuitable for food and even poisonous.
Of course, this did not become an obstacle to the spread of potatoes in Russia, where it gained immense popularity and many times saved a significant part of the population from starvation during crop failures. It is not for nothing that in Russia the potato was called the second bread. And, of course, the name of the potato speaks very eloquently about its nutritional properties: it comes from the German words "craft teffel", which means "devilish strength".
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“Potatoes - has a weak, unbalanced, uncertain energy, an energy of doubt. The body becomes lethargic, lazy, sour. The solid energy of potatoes is called starch, which in the body does not lend itself to alkaline-acid processing, is poorly excreted from the body, sharply reduces the speed of thought, and blocks the immune system. Potatoes are not compatible with any products. If there is, then separately, it is advisable to cook in a uniform. In and just below the peel, there is a substance that helps break down starch.
In Russia there has never been a potato, it was brought in by the "dark" and cultivated by force. Gradually, they brought it out and designated it in people's minds as the main vegetable, which greatly harmed the human body. Today it is the most important vegetable product on the table, it is considered the second bread, and healthy vegetables have been transferred to the category of secondary ones.
We ask you not to eat potatoes for students of the School "Happiness", where everything is aimed at increasing the speed of thought, because potatoes will reduce everything to zero.
Potatoes can be eaten young for two months, then they become poisonous. Substitute turnips for potatoes. It is no coincidence that they try to completely remove turnips from food. ”
(from the book “Knowledge stored by dolmens”, A. Savrasov)
Also, everyone who is interested in healthy eating knows that potatoes are a very mucus-forming product, and mucus is practically not excreted from the body, but is deposited, causing many diseases ("traditional" medicine, of course, knows nothing about this)).
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There was a time when Russian Old Believers considered potatoes to be a devilish temptation. Indeed, this foreign root crop was forcibly introduced into the Russian land! The clergy, anathematizing, christened him “the devil’s apple”. To say a good word about potatoes, and even in print, was very risky. But today, many of our fellow citizens are sure that potatoes are from Russia, or, at worst, Belarus, and America gave the world only fries.
The potato was first brought to Europe after the conquest of Peru by the Spaniards, who spread it across the Netherlands, Burgundy and Italy.
There is no exact information about the appearance of potatoes in Russia, but it is associated with the Petrine era. At the end of the 17th century, Peter I (and again Peter I), while in the Netherlands on ship business, became interested in this plant, and “for brood” sent a bag of tubers from Rotterdam to Count Sheremetyev. To accelerate the spread of potatoes, the Senate only in 1755-66 considered the introduction of potatoes 23 TIMES!
In the first half of the 18th century. potatoes were cultivated in significant numbers by “particular people” (probably foreigners and people of the upper class). Measures for the widespread cultivation of potatoes were first adopted under Catherine II, on the initiative of the Medical College, of which Baron Alexander Cherkasov was president at that time. Initially, it was a question of finding funds to help the starving peasants of Finland “without a big dependency”. On this occasion, the medical board reported to the Senate in 1765 that the best way to prevent this scourge "consists in those earth apples, which in England are called potetes, and in other places, earth pears, tartuffs and potatoes."
At the same time, at the behest of the empress, the Senate sent seeds to all places of the empire and instructions on the development of potatoes and care about this were entrusted to the governors. Under Paul I, it was also prescribed to grow potatoes not only in vegetable gardens, but also on field land. In 1811, three colonists were sent to the Arkhangelsk province with the order to plant a certain number of tithes of potatoes. All of these measures were sketchy; the mass of the population greeted potatoes with distrust, and their culture was not grafted.
Only in the reign of Nicholas I in view of the former in 1839 and 1840. with a poor harvest of grain in some provinces, the government took the most energetic measures to spread the crops of potatoes. By the highest orders that followed in 1840 and 1842, it was decided:
1) to establish public crops of potatoes in all state-owned villages to supply these latter to the peasants for future crops.
2) publish an instruction on the cultivation, storage and use of potatoes.
3) to encourage with prizes and other awards the owners, differing in potato breeding.
The implementation of these measures was met in many places with stubborn resistance from the population.
So, in the Irbit and neighboring districts of the Perm province of states, the peasants somehow connected the idea of selling them to landowners with the prescription of public sowing of potatoes. A potato riot broke out (1842), which was expressed in the beating of the village authorities and demanded to pacify their assistance military commands, which in one volost were even forced to use canister;
In terms of the number of peasants who participated in it and the vastness of the region it covered, this was the largest of the Russian unrest of the 19th century, which entailed reprisals, which were usually distinguished by cruelty at that time.
Interesting fact:
The owner of the estate, General R.O. Gerngros, growing tubers since 1817, gave them for seeds and peasants. However, the crops on the peasant plots turned out to be sparse. It turned out that the peasants, having planted tubers, dug up and sold “damned earth apples” for vodka in the nearest tavern at night. Then the general went for a trick: he gave out not whole, but cut tubers for seeds. Their peasants did not choose from the land and reaped a good harvest, and after making sure of the convenience of potatoes, they themselves began to plant it.
In general, those who needed it and it was profitable for the Russian people to degrade, achieve their goal and potatoes become our second bread.
The potato originates from South America, where you can still find this plant in the wild. It was on the territory of South America that potatoes began to be cultivated as a cultivated plant. The Indians used it for food, in addition, the potato was considered a living being, the local population worshiped it. The spread of potatoes around the world began with the Spanish conquest of new territories. In their reports, the Spaniards described the local population, as well as the plants that were used for food. Among them was potatoes, which at that time had not yet received the familiar name to us, then it was called a truffle.
Historian Pedro Cieza de Leon made a significant contribution to the spread of potatoes in European countries. In 1551 he brought this vegetable to Spain, and in 1553 he wrote an essay in which he described the history of the discovery of potatoes, its taste and nutritional properties, the rules of preparation and its storage.
From Spain, potatoes spread to Italy, Germany, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Great Britain and other European countries. Potatoes began to be valued as an ornamental plant, they practically did not eat it, considering it poisonous. Later, the nutritional and flavoring properties of the potato were confirmed and it became widely known as a food product.
❧ The most expensive potato in the world is the LaBonnotte variety, which is grown on the island of Noirmoutier. Its yield is only 100 tons per year. The tuber is extremely delicate, so it is harvested only by hand.
To Russia the potatoes came in thanks to Peter I. At the end of the 17th century. he sent a sack of potato tubers from Holland and ordered them to be distributed throughout the provinces to be grown there. Potatoes became widespread only under Catherine II.
The peasants did not know how to properly grow and consume potatoes. Due to its many poisonings, it was considered a poisonous plant. As a result, the peasants refused to plant this crop, and this was the reason for several "potato riots". By a royal decree in 1840-1842 a massive planting of potatoes was carried out throughout the country. Its cultivation was strictly controlled. As a result, by the end of the 19th century. planting of potatoes began to occupy large areas. It got the name "second bread" as it became one of the main food products.
❧ Belgium has a museum dedicated to potatoes. There you can find many exhibits depicting this plant - these are postage stamps, and paintings by famous artists, for example, "The Potato Eaters" by Van Gogh.
Potatoes contain a large amount of potassium, which helps to eliminate salt and excess water from the body. Due to this, potatoes are often used in dietary meals. But it is worth considering that potatoes contain a high amount of carbohydrates, so they should not be carried away by people who are prone to overweight. Potatoes are an irreplaceable assistant in the fight against gastritis, gastric ulcer and duodenal ulcers, it has an alkalizing effect, which is indisputably important for people suffering from high acidity. In addition to starch, potatoes contain ascorbic acid, various vitamins and proteins.
It is difficult to find a person who would not like potatoes. Even those who do not eat it for the sake of maintaining harmony, speak of this as a feat. It is not surprising that the vegetable itself was nicknamed "the second bread": it is equally appropriate on a festive table, in a working dining room and on a long-distance tourist trip. It’s hard to believe that even three hundred years ago, most of the population of Europe did not even know about the existence of potatoes. The history of the emergence of potatoes in Europe and Russia is worthy of an adventure novel.
In the 16th century, Spain conquered vast lands in South America. The conquistadors and the learned monks who came with them left interesting information about the life and lifestyle of the indigenous people of Peru and New Granada, which included the territory of what is now Colombia, Ecuador, Panama and Venezuela.
The staple diet of South American Indians was maize, beans and strange tubers called "papa". Gonzalo Jimenez de Quesada, conqueror and first governor of New Granada, described the "pope" as a cross between truffles and turnips.
Wild potatoes grew throughout most of Peru and New Granada. But its tubers were too small and bitter in taste. More than a thousand years before the arrival of the conquistadors, the Incas learned how to cultivate this culture and bred several varieties. The Indians prized potatoes so much that they even worshiped him as a deity. And the unit of time was the interval required for boiling potatoes (approximately one hour).
The Indians of Peru worshiped potatoes, they measured the duration of their preparation. Potatoes were eaten boiled in uniforms. In the foothills of the Andes, the climate is harsher than on the coast. Due to the frequent frosts, it was difficult to store the “daddy” (potatoes). Therefore, the Indians learned how to harvest "chuno" - dried potatoes for future use. For this, the tubers were specially frozen so that the bitterness would go away from them. After thawing, the “daddy” was stamped on with their feet to separate the flesh from the rind. The peeled tubers were either immediately dried in the sun, or first soaked in running water for two weeks, and then laid out to dry.
Chunyo could be stored for several years, it was convenient to take it with you on a long journey. This advantage was appreciated by the Spaniards, who set off from the territory of New Granada in search of the legendary Eldorado. Cheap, nourishing, and well preserved, chugno was the staple food of slaves in the Peruvian silver mines.
In the countries of South America, many dishes are still prepared on the basis of chuno: from basic to desserts.
Already in the first half of the 16th century, along with gold and silver from overseas colonies, potato tubers came to Spain. Here they were called the same as in their homeland: "papa".
The Spaniards appreciated not only the taste, but also the beauty of the overseas guest, and therefore often potatoes grew in flower beds, where they delighted the eye with their flowers. Physicians widely used its diuretic and wound healing properties. In addition, it turned out to be a very effective cure for scurvy, which in those days was a real scourge of sailors. There is even a known case when Emperor Charles V presented a potato as a gift to a sick Pope.
At first, the Spaniards fell in love with potatoes for their beautiful flowering, they liked the taste later. Potatoes became very popular in Flanders, then a colony of Spain. At the end of the 16th century, the chef of the bishop of Liege included several recipes for its preparation in his culinary treatise.
The benefits of potatoes were quickly recognized in Italy and Switzerland as well. By the way, it is the Italians that we owe this name: they called the truffle-like root vegetable "tartuffoli".
But further across Europe, potatoes literally spread with fire and sword. In the German principalities, the peasants did not trust the authorities and refused to plant a new vegetable. The trouble is that the berries of the potato are poisonous, and at first people who did not know that they should eat the root vegetable were simply poisoned.
The "popularizer" of potatoes, Friedrich Wilhelm I of Prussia, got down to business. In 1651, the king issued a decree according to which those who refused to plant potatoes had to chop off their noses and ears. Since the words of the august botanist never diverged from deeds, significant areas in Prussia were planted with potatoes already in the second half of the 17th century.
In France, it has long been believed that root crops are the food of the lower classes. The nobility preferred green vegetables. Potatoes were not grown in this country until the second half of the 18th century: the peasants did not want any innovations, and the gentlemen were not interested in the overseas root crop.
The history of potatoes in France is associated with the name of the pharmacist Antoine-Auguste Parmentier. It rarely happens that in one person disinterested love for people, a sharp mind, remarkable practical acumen and an adventurous streak are combined.
Parmentier began his career as a military doctor. During the Seven Years War, he was captured by the Germans, where he tasted potatoes. Being an educated man, Monsieur Parmentier immediately realized that potatoes can save the peasants from hunger, which was inevitable in the event of a wheat crop failure. It only remained to convince those whom the master was going to save.
Parmentier began to solve the problem in stages. Since the pharmacist was entering the palace, he persuaded King Louis XVI to go to the ball, pinning a bouquet of potato flowers to his ceremonial uniform. Queen Marie Antoinette, a former trendsetter, weaved the same flowers into her hair.
Less than a year later, every self-respecting noble family acquired its own flower bed of potatoes, where the Queen's favorite flowers grew. Here are just a flower bed - not a garden bed. In order to transplant potatoes into French beds, Parmentier used an even more original technique. He hosted a dinner to which he invited the most famous scientists of his time (many of them considered potatoes, to say the least, inedible).
The Royal Pharmacist treated his guests to a fine dinner, and then announced that the dishes were made from the same dubious root vegetable.
But you can't invite all the French peasants to dinner. In 1787, Parmentier asked the king for a plot of arable land in the vicinity of Paris and a company of soldiers to guard the potato plantations. At the same time, the master announced that anyone who steals a valuable plant will be executed.
For days the soldiers guarded the potato field, and at night they went to the barracks. Needless to say, all the potatoes were dug up and stolen in no time?
Parmentier went down in history as the author of a book on the benefits of potatoes. In France, Maitre Parmentier erected two monuments: in Mondidier (in the homeland of the scientist) and near Paris, on the site of the first potato field. On the pedestal of the monument in Mondidier is carved: "To the Benefactor of Humanity."
Monument to Parmentier in Mondidier In the 16th century, England was still only challenging the decrepit, but still powerful Spain for the crown of the "Lady of the Seas". The famous corsair of Queen Elizabeth I, Sir Francis Drake, became famous not only for his trip around the world, but also for raids on the Spanish silver mines in the New World. In 1585, returning from one such raid, he took on board the British, who had tried unsuccessfully to establish a colony in what is now North Carolina. They brought with them the tubers "papa" or "potato".
Francis Drake - the pirate who made the potatoes known in England The territory of the British Isles is small, and there is little fertile land, and therefore hunger was a frequent guest in the homes of farmers and townspeople. The situation was even worse in Ireland, which was mercilessly plundered by the English masters.
The potato has become a real salvation for the common people in England and Ireland. In Ireland, it is still one of the main cultures. Local residents even have a proverb: "Love and potatoes are two things that are not joking with."
Emperor Peter I, having visited Holland, brought from there a sack of potatoes. The tsar was firmly convinced that this root crop in Russia had a great future. The overseas vegetable was planted in the Pharmaceutical Garden, but things did not go further: the tsar had no time for botanical studies, and the peasants in Russia were not much different from the foreign ones in their mindset and character.
After the death of Peter I, the rulers of the state had no time to popularize the potato. Although it is known that already under Elizabeth, potatoes were a frequent guest both on the royal table and on the tables of nobles. Vorontsov, Hannibal, Bruce grew potatoes on their estates.
The common people, however, were not inflamed with love for potatoes. As in Germany, there were rumors about the toxicity of the vegetable. Besides, in German, "kraft tufel" means "damn power". In an Orthodox country, a root crop with this name aroused hostility.
The famous botanist and breeder A.T. Bolotov. At his experimental site, he received record harvests even for the present times. A.T. Bolotov wrote several works on the properties of potatoes, and he published the first of his articles in 1770, much earlier than Parmentier.
In 1839, during the reign of Nicholas I, there was a severe crop failure in the country, followed by famine. The government has taken decisive measures to prevent such incidents from occurring in the future. As usual, fortunately the people were driven with a club. The emperor ordered that potatoes be planted in all provinces.
In the Moscow province, the state peasants were ordered to grow potatoes at the rate of 4 measures (105 liters) per person, and they had to work for free. In the Krasnoyarsk province, those who did not want to plant potatoes were sent to hard labor to build the Bobruisk fortress. "Potato riots" broke out in the country, which were brutally suppressed. Nevertheless, since then, potatoes have truly become the "second bread".
The peasants resisted the new vegetable as best they could, potato riots were commonplace In the middle of the 19th century, many Russian scientists were engaged in potato selection, in particular, E.A. Grachev. It is to him that we should be grateful for the "Early Rose" ("American") variety known to most gardeners.
In the 1920s, Academician N.I. Vavilov became interested in the history of the origin of potatoes. The government of the state, which had not yet recovered from the horrors of the Civil War, found the funds to send an expedition to Peru in search of wild potatoes. As a result, completely new species of this plant were found, and Soviet breeders were able to breed very productive and disease-resistant varieties. Thus, the famous breeder A.G. Lorkh created the variety "Lorkh", the yield of which, subject to a certain cultivation technology, is more than a ton per one hundred square meters.
