ON THE USE OF THE POTATO. 3 J 



slightly after steaming, dried on a malt kiln, and ground 

 in a common corn mill, no alteration whatever having been 

 made in the set of the stones, from what they were as used 

 for • mding wheat; it may reasonably be supposed however, 

 that a miller, accustomed to grind this article, would make 

 better work and finer flour. x 



" Nothing was taken from the flour except some large 

 pieces that were not ground, and a little large bran in the 

 proportion of the sample sent herewith. 



" The potatoes of which this flour was made were cer- The potatoes 

 tainly over dried; and having lain in a heap after steaming should bedried 

 i \ i n , , , ., without delay 



upwards of two days before they were put upon the kiln, after boiling, & 



some degree of fermentation had begun to take place, but not over dried, 

 which was thought so little as to have been perfectly cor- 

 rected by the drying. In the bread, however, it is certainly 

 distinguishable. The baker considers, that it is from this 

 cause that the bread is not so light as it otherwise would 

 have been. It rose well in the oven, but fell when the door 

 was opened. He thinks that w r hen mixed with the flour of 

 dry wheat, the potato-meal will have exactly the same effect 

 as the mixture of a certain portion of cone wheat flour, and Similar to con« 

 that it will answer as well in about the same proportion. wheat flolir * 

 He has no doubt, but that even with this flour he shall 

 succeed better in the second attempt. With potato meal 

 well made, he believes that bread of the best quality may 

 be produced. 



" The chief precautions necessary in making potato flour Precautions, 

 seem to be, to prevent any fermentation taking place in 

 the boiled potatoes, previously to their being dried, and to 

 avoid giving them too great a heat in drying. With this 

 view it seems advisable to construct the apparatus for pre- 

 paring it, so as that the steaming tubs and kiln should be 

 heated by the same lire, without loss of time or labour; the 

 potatoes may then be immediately removed from the steam 

 to the kiln, and means should be used to regulate the heat 

 of the kiln, so that it should not much exceed 90°. 



" For the common purposes of bread, it seems evident, Peeling not . 

 from the samples, x 'that taking off the rind or skin is by no neces s^ r }'- 

 means necessary; to wash the potatoes carefully before boil- 

 ing seems, therefore, the only precaution required. 



" From 



