320 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



visioning ships, armies in the field, etc. About 1000 pounds 

 of fresh potatoes will make 100 pounds of the dry article, 

 which, when properly prepared, will have precisely the flavor 

 and appearance of freshly-boiled potatoes. 6 C, August 31, 

 247. 



GIANT MAEMONT POTATO. 



A potato known as the Giant Marmont is much praised by 

 late German writers as occupying the very first rank among 

 potatoes, in consequence of various excellent peculiarities. 

 A single tuber was said to have produced a weight of twen- 

 ty pounds. 10 C, January 14,11. 



NEW VARIETIES OF POTATOES IN GERMANY. 



German agriculturists speak quite favorably of some of the 

 new varieties of potatoes recently brought to their notice. 

 Dr. Rauch says of the early rose potato that, among a thou- 

 sand varieties, none can be found like it. It is the earliest, 

 as well as the most prolific of all early potatoes, ripening 

 within six weeks, and keeping well until the following spring, 

 and even improving in taste by being thus kept. It is pro- 

 nounced excellent for table use, very valuable for stock-feed- 

 ing, and the richest in starch for manufacturing purposes. 

 The bovinia, or stock-feeding potato, is of gigantic size and 

 astonishing in its yield. Its quality is also quite satisfactory 

 to the housekeeper. The new ash-leaved kidney potato 

 ash top fluke is a very fine table variety, quite early, keeps 

 well, and has very few and shallow eyes. It is highly recom- 

 mended as a garden vegetable. 9 (J, 1871,17. 



SPECIFIC GRAVITY TEST FOR POTATOES. 



It is generally understood that the value of potatoes de- 

 pends upon their specific gravity, and that the heavier the 

 potato the greater the amount of nitrogenous matter it con- 

 tains. This has suggested the idea of a convenient test by 

 which the excellence of different varieties can be readily de- 

 termined, and which consists in the use of saline solutions of 

 different degrees of strength. If, assuming one variety as a 

 standard, we make a solution of such strength that the po- 

 tato will float at about the middle of the mass, neither falling 

 to the bottom nor rising to the surface, and apply the same 



