Uses of the Potatoe. 41 



starch can be readily converted into grape sugar, and that 

 the syrup obtained from it is largely employed for the manu- 

 facture of brandy in the north of Europe, and even of the 

 best brandy which comes from France. In the more north- 

 ern of the French wine-growing provinces it is also mixed 

 with the less sweet varieties of grape juice, so as to give an 

 additional strength and richness to the wine. One of the 

 methods by which the potatoe starch is converted into grape 

 sugar, is to mix it with one tenth of its weight of ground malt 

 diffused in water, and to keep the mixture for some hours at 

 a moderate temperature. The starch dissolves, and the liquid 

 becomes sweet from its conversion into grape sugar. This 

 is the method which M. Bb'ggild, of Copenhagen, proposes 

 to apply to the whole potatoe, in order to bring it into 

 a soluble state, to make it more easy of digestion, and thus to 

 increase its feeding properties. He washes his potatoes well, 

 steams them thoroughly, and then, without 'allowing them to 

 cool, he cuts them in a cylinder furnished internally with 

 revolving knives, or crushes them in a mill, and mixes them 

 with a small quantity of water and three pounds of ground 

 malt to every one hundred pounds of the raw potatoes. This 

 mixture is kept in motion, and at a temperature of one hun- 

 dred and forty degrees to one hundred and eighty degrees 

 Fahrenheit, for from one to five hours, when the thick gruel 

 has acquired a sweet taste and is ready for use. Given in 

 this state, the results of experimental trials are said to be 



"1. That it is a richer and better food for milk cows than 

 twice the quantity of potatoes in a raw state. 



" 2. That it is excellent for fattening cattle and sheep, and 

 for winter food : that it goes much farther than potatoes when 

 merely steamed ; and that it may be economically mixed up 

 with chopped hay and straw. 



" I have before me a pamphlet, published at Christiania, by 

 the Royal Society for Promoting the Improvement of Nor- 

 4* 



