42 MAKING BREAD. [No. 



dence, glad to find, that Mr. EDWARD WAKEFIELD, 

 the best informed and most candid of all the wit- 

 nesses, gave it as his opinion, that the increase which 

 had taken place in the cultivation of potatoes was 

 "injurious to the country /' an opinion which must, I 

 think, be adopted by every one who takes the trouble 

 to reflect a little upon the subject. For leaving out of 

 the question the slovenly and beastly habits engen- 

 dered amongst the labouring classes by constantly lift- 

 ing their principal food at once out of the earth to 

 their mouths, by eating without the necessity of any 

 implements other than the hands and the teeth, and 

 by dispensing with everything requiring skill in the 

 preparation of the food, and requiring cleanliness in 

 its consumption or preservation ; leaving these out of 

 the question, though they are all matters of great mo- 

 ment, when we consider their effects in the rearing of 

 a family, we shall find, that, in mere quantity of food, 

 that is to say of nourishment, bread is the preferable diet. 

 79. An acre of land that will produce 300 bushels 

 of potatoes, will produce 32 bushels of wheat. I state 

 this as an average fact, and am not at all afraid of 

 being contradicted by any one well acquainted with 

 husbandry. The potatoes are supposed to be of a good 

 sort, as it is called, and the wheat may be supposed to 

 weigh 60 pounds a bushel. It is a fact clearly estab- 

 lished, that, after the water, the stringy substance, and 

 the earth, are taken from the potatoe, there remains 

 only one tenth of the rough raw weight of nutritious 

 matter, or matter which is deemed equally nutritious 

 with bread, and, as the raw potatoes weigh 561b. a 

 bushel, the acre will yield l,8301b. of nutritious mat- 

 ter. Now mind, a bushel of wheat, weighing 601b. 

 will make of household bread (that is to say, taking 

 out only the bran) 651b. Thus, the acre yields 

 2,0801b. of bread. As to the expenses, the seed and 

 act of planting are about equal in the two cases. But, 

 while the potatoes must have cultivation during their 

 growth, the wheat needs none ; and while the wheat 

 straw is worth from three to five pounds an acre, the 

 haulm of the potatoes is not worth one single truss 



