Potato Culture 



according to different authorities, as 

 follows : 



Water 75.2 



Casein 1.4 



Starch 15.5 



Dextrine 0.4 



Sugar 3.2 



Fat 0.2 



Fibre 3.2 



Mineral matter 0.9 



Or economically : 



Water 75.2 



Flesh-formers 1.4. 



Fat-formers 18.9 



Accessories 3.6 



Mineral matter 0.9 



Of the high value of potatoes, 

 when used in connection with other 

 food, there is not a shadow of doubt. 

 All experimenters and observers in 

 the economy of food agree in saying 

 that they are of the highest utility ; 

 but they must be used with other 

 food whose constituents are different 

 from those of the root. 



The analysis shows that potatoes 

 surpass in the fat-producing princi- 

 ples the nutritious or flesh-forming in 

 such proportions that they could not 

 alone sustain the composition of the 

 blood; for an animal fed alone on 

 these tubers would be obliged to con- 

 sume such quantities to provide the 

 blood with the requisite proportion 

 of albumen that, even if the process 

 of digestion were not discontinued, 

 there would be a superabundance of 

 fat accumulated beyond the power 

 of the oxygen to consume, which 

 would successively absorb from the 

 albuminous substance a part of its 

 vital elements, and thus a check would 

 be caused in the endless change of 

 matter in the tissues in the nutritive 

 and regressive transformations. 



Potatoes, then, to be of most value 

 as food for cattle, should be fed in 

 connection with grain, or with other 

 roots in which the flesh-forming ele- 

 ment predominates. There seems to 

 be no doubt that the tubers are of 

 most value when cooked, although 

 some authors affirm to the contrary. 

 It seems possible to prove this on 

 philosophical principles ; for it is well 

 known that the starch contained in 

 the potato is incapable of affording 

 nourishment until the containing glo- 



bules are broken, and one of the most 

 efficient means of doing this seems 

 to be by heat. 



Boussingault, in speaking of the 

 economy of cooking potatoes, says, 

 " The potato is frequently steamed or 

 boiled first; yet I can say positively 

 that horned cattle do extremely well 

 upon raw potatoes, and at Bechelbrunn 

 our cows never have them otherwise 

 than raw. They are never boiled, 

 save for horses and hogs. The best 

 mode of dealing with them is to steam 

 them; they need never be so tho- 

 roughly boiled as when they are to 

 serve for the food of man. The 

 steamed or boiled potatoes are crush- 

 ed between two rollers, or simply 

 broken with a wooden spade, and 

 mixed with cut hay or straw or chaff, 

 before being served out. It may no* 

 be unnecessary to observe that by 

 steaming potatoes lose no weight ; 

 hence we conclude that the nutritive 

 equivalent for the boiled is the same 

 as that of the raw tuber. 



" Nevertheless, it is possible that the 

 amylaceous principle is rendered more 

 easily assimilable by boiling, and that 

 by this means the tubers actually be- 

 come more nutritious. Some have 

 proposed to roast potatoes in the oven, 

 and there can be little question that 

 heated in this way they answer admi- 

 rably for fattening hogs, and even 

 oxen. Done in the oven, potatoes 

 may be brought to a state in which 

 they may perfectly supply the place 

 of corn in feeding horses and other 

 cattle." 



The apparent contradiction in the 

 remarks will be observed; but the evi- 

 dent leaning in favor of cooked po- 

 tatoes shows that Boussingault, al- 

 though paying some attention to the 

 theory that cooked food is not gene- 

 rally attended with the same benefit 

 to ruminating as to other animals, 

 was evidently almost convinced that 

 those which contained an abundance 



