FARINACEOUS PRODUCTS OF THE POTATOR. 42] 
The following quotation (Dickson’s Vegetable 
Kingdom) is so appropriate, that it will serve as 
an introduction, better than any farther remarks 
of my own :— 
“The potatoe is not only the source of the 
purest starch of all, but has many interesting 
points connected with its history and habitudes. 
No plant has contributed more to banish those 
famines which formerly were of frequent occur- 
rence in Europe, and all the dire train of suffering 
and disease consequent upon them. Yet did it, 
in many instances, require royal edicts to induce 
some nations to cultivate what is now regarded 
as one of the prime blessings of Providence, 
from nearly one end of the earth to the other ; 
the potatoe being raised from Hammerfest, in 
Lapland, latitude 71. north, through all Europe, 
the plains of India, in China, Japan, the South 
Sea Islands, New Holland, even to New Zealand. 
What renders it so peculiarly valuable is, that in 
the seasons when the corn crop fails, that of 
potatoes is generally more abundant, thus fur- 
nishing a substitute for the other, which proves 
defective from atmospheric considerations, which 
have little influence over the potatoe, placed as it 
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