302 On the Preparation of Potatoes hi Digesters. 



" 1st, The digesters, or other vessels containing the pota- 

 toes, must not be in contact with the fire. 2d, The said 

 vessels, even placed on cast iron, must have legs, so that 

 the bottoms of them do not touch the cast iron. 3d, The 

 lids must be steam-tight, in order to prevent its escaping 

 before the potatoes are nearly done, with valves, if not the 

 same, something similar to those of the digester. And, 

 4th, The external air is to be excluded from them ; and the 

 more effectually that is done, the better ; both for saving 

 fiiel and time, as well as to prevent their burning. I have 

 • never had occasion for more than six bakings in a dayj 

 which six bakings, that is, six sacks or eighteen bushels, 

 at sixty pounds the bushel, were done within twelve hours. 

 The father and his son had 12 s. per week for getting from 

 the heap, washing and baking the potatoes, cleaving the 

 wood for ditto, and feeding stock: lOSOlbs. of potatoes 

 are baked for little more than six parts out of ninety of the 

 cord, or stack of wood, above described. My opinion is, 

 that two ovens of six or eight digesters each (according to 

 the quantity of potatoes wanted) would answer the best pur- 

 pose ; particularly where coals would be used, or the wood 

 is ready cut ; for then the same person could attend both, 

 and one would be baking whilst the other was emptying 

 and filling, and this whether for a great or small quantity. 

 Perhaps two ovens erected together, \\ ith a single brick laid 

 flat to divide them, w ith two fires at the end, so that each 

 flue would go the whole length of the plate, mounting at 

 the other end, and so over the top into the chimney, and 

 the two doors of them at the two fronts, would answer 

 very well in point of ceconomy, 8cc. Perhaps also an ori- 

 fice just above the mouth of the oven, or in the door, with 

 a moveable valve fixed to it, would prove useful, so that 

 the steam which issues from the valves of the digesters 

 about ten or fifteen minutes before the potatoes are done, 

 and which smells like that from roasted potatoes, might 

 escape by it, instead of by the mouth of the oven. The 

 above steam is attended bv a his^iing noise, and a kind of 

 boiling commotion in the digesters, which the person at- 

 tending them will very plainly hear on opening the door a 

 little. When he j)erceives that noise, &:c, ijegins to inter- 

 mit, the digesters must be taken out, or the potatoes will 

 burn at the bottom, and that in proportion to the degree of 

 heat under them. A very little observation will soon make 

 a person acquainted with the proper time of drawing them. 

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