POTATOES 



at a birthday dinner given to the foreign ambassadors, used not a 

 morsel of bread, but, instead of it, little potatoe cakes, though he 

 had, I dard say, a plenty of lamb, poultry, pig, &c. All of which 

 had been fatted upon corn or meal, in whole or in part. Yes, 

 Sir, potatoes will do very well along with plenty of animal food, 

 which has been fatted on something better than potatoes. But, 

 when you and I talk of the use of them, we must consider them in 

 a very different light. 



.274. The notion is, that potatoes are cheaper than wheat flour ? 

 This word cheap is not quite expressive enough, but it will do for 

 our present purpose. I shall consider the cost of potatoes, in a 

 family, compared with that of flour. It will be best to take the 

 simple case of the labouring man. 



275. The price of a bushel of fine flour, at Botley, is, at this time, 

 i os. The weight is 56 Ibs. The price of a bushel of potatoes 

 is 25. 6d. They are just now dug up, and are at the cheapest. 

 A bushel of potatoes which are measured by a large bushel, 

 weighs about 60 Ibs. dirt and all, for they are sold unwashed, 

 Allow 4 Ibs. for dirt, and the weights are equal. Well, then, here 

 is toiling Dick with his four bushels of potatoes, and John with 

 his bushel of flour. But, to be fair, I must allow, that the relative 

 price is not always so much in favour of flour. Yet, I think you 

 will agree with me, that upon an average, five bushels of potatoes 

 do cost as much as one bushel of flour. You know very well, 

 that potatoes in London, sell for id. and sometimes for zd. a 

 pound ; that is to say, sometimes for il. 75. 6d. and sometimes for 

 2,1. 155. the five bushels. This is notorious. Every reader knows 

 it. And did you ever hear of a bushel of flour selling for 2/. 155. 

 Monstrous to think of ! And yet the tradesman s wife, looking 

 narrowly to every halfpenny, trudges away to the potatoe shop 

 to get five or six pounds of this wretched root for the purpose of 

 saving flour ! She goes and gives lod. for ten pounds of potatoes, 

 when she might buy five pounds of flour with the same money ! 

 Before her potatoes come to the table, they are, even in bulk, 

 less than 5 Ibs. or even 3 Ibs. of flour made into a pudding. Try 

 the experiment yourself, Sir, and you will soon be able to appreciate 

 the economy of this dame. 



276. But, to return to Dick and John ; the former has got his 

 five bushels of potatoes, and the latter his bushel of flour. I 

 shall, by and by, have to observe upon the stock that Dick must 

 lay in, and upon the stowage that he must have ; but, at present, 

 we will trace these two commodities in their way to the mouth 

 and in their effects upon those who eat them. Dick has got five 

 bushels at once, because he could have them a little cheaper. 

 John may have his Peck or Gallon of flour : for that has a fixed 

 and indiscriminating price. It requires no trick in dealing, no 

 judgment, as in the case of the roots, which may be wet , or hollow, 

 or hot : flour may be sent for by any child able to carry the 

 quantity wanted. However, reckoning Dick s trouble and time 



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