HISTORY OF THE POTATO. 97- 



As an article of food, the potato possesses great value as it 

 contains hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, sulphur, iron and 

 lime ; all elements of nutrition. 



It is also valuable for medicine. It is of great eflBcacy — either 

 cooked or raw — when used for scurvy. An extract of its leaves 

 is a powerful narcotic, serviceable in chronic rheumatism, and 

 painful affections of the stomach and uterus. 



The starch of the potato is extensively employed in the arts. 

 It is much used in the -preparation of calicoes. It is often sold 

 under the name of English arrow-root. Sometimes it is used as a 

 substitute for flour in thickening soups and sauces. By heat 

 starch may be converted into dexti-ine, or British gum. This 

 substance is largely used as a substitute for gum-arabic. Postage 

 stamps are gummed with potato dextrine. Potato starch acted 

 upon by sulphuric acid with water, affords grape sugar. Cheap 

 sugars are often adulterated with it. Alcohol may be made from 

 potatoes, A. French writer says 100 lbs. of potatoes will afford 

 30 lbs. of spirit. Even frosted potatoes are employed for the 

 production of ardent spirits. Three and one-half bushels afford the 

 same quantity of spirit as one of malt. The refuse of potatoes 

 from starch making is employed for cleansing woollen cloths 

 without injuring their color, and the liquor decanted from the 

 starch is excellent for cleansing silk. 



The Mexicans and the Peruvians are said to preserve potatoes 

 for years by exposing them to the frost and drying them in the 

 sun. In some sections of Michigan the potato has become a 

 naturalized weed from living in the ground over winter. Some 

 farmers say it the worst weed they have. 



A French writer says : " The use of potatoes as the sole aliment 

 of certain populations, is one great cause of the decrease in stature 

 of the human species. For instance, in France the height of 

 soldiers in 1789 was 5 feet 6 inches ; in 1823 it was 5 feet 3 inches, 

 and now is only 5 feet." In Germany, says Liebig, where the 

 people feed almost exclusively upon potatoes, the diminution of' 

 height is still more marked. We incline to believe that the custom 

 among civilized nations of selecting the tallest men for the army, 

 leaving those of low stature to procreate, is a more potent cause 

 of diminution of height. 



The custom, almost universal with American farmers of repro- 

 ducing from "sets" or segments of the tuber, is one of t\& 

 borrowed mal-practices of the Old World, 

 7 



