i 60 On ike Preparation, Culture, and Use 



England, v/here labour bears a high value, at about 8d. or 

 lod. per lb. And It might be sold still cheaper, if the 

 orchis were to be cured without separating from it the brown 

 skin which covers it; a troublesome part of the process, 

 and which does not contribute to render the root either 

 more palatable or salutary. Wliereas the foreign salep is 

 now sold at 5s. or 6s. per lb. 



The culture of the orchis, therefore, is an object highlv 

 deserving of encouragement from all the lovers of agricul- 

 ture. And as the root, if introduced into common use, 

 would furnish a cheap, wholesome, aud most nutritious 

 article of diet, the growth of it would be sufficiently pro- 

 fitable to the farmer. 



Salep is said to contain the greatest quantity of vegetable 

 nourishment in the smallest bulk. Hence a very judicious 

 writer, to prevent the dreadful calamity of famine at sea, 

 has lately proposed that the powder of it should constitute 

 part of the provisions of every ship's company. This pow- 

 der and portable soup, dissolved in boiling water, form a 

 rich thick jelly, capable of supporting life for a considerable 

 length of time. An ounce of each of these articles, with 

 two quarts of boiling water, will be sufficient subsistence 

 for a man a day * ; and, as being a mixture of animal and 

 vegetable food, must prove more nourishing than double 

 the quantity of rice cake, made by boiling rice in water. 

 This last, however, sailors are often obliged solely to sub- 

 sist upon for several months, especially in voyages to 

 Guinea, when the bread and flour are exhausted, and the 

 beef and pork, having been salted in hot countries, arc be- 

 come uniit for use f. 



But, as a wholesome nourishment, rice is much inferior 

 to salep. I digested several alimentary mixtures prepared of 

 mutton and water, beat up with bread, sea-biscuit, salep, 

 rice flour, sago powder, potatoe, old cheese, &c. in a heat 

 equal tO' that of the human body. In forty-eight hours 

 they had all acquired a vinous smell, and were in brisk fer- 

 mentation, except the mixture with rice, vvhich did not 

 emit many air bubbles, and was but little changed. The 

 third day several of the mixtures were sweet, and continued 

 to ferment ; others had lost their intestine motion, and were 

 sour; but the one which contained the rice was become 



* Portable soup is sold at as, Gd. per lb. ; salep, if cultivated in our 

 ovv;i country, might he aiVorclcd at lod". per lb.: the day's subsistenc- 

 v'oil:! ftiercfore amount only to twopcuce-lulfpennv. 



f Vide Dr. Liud's .Appendix to his Essay ou the Diseases of Hot 

 Cliuiatcs. 



putrid.- 



