Ch. XXIII.] ON CAPvROTS. 28^ 



not wanted in the straw-yard, a certain quaniitv will always be found useful 

 when steamed, as aft'ording a most hearty food to })igs, working horses, 

 and stall-fed cattle*, on which some further remarks will occur under the 

 head of " Soiling." 



It is perhaps not generally known, that the meal made from polaioes, if 

 mixed with that of wheat, renders bread more light, palatable and digestible, 

 than when manufactured from wheaten flour alone. Most bakers, there- 

 fore, use a small portion of it, with a view to improve the quality; and it is 

 for that purpose largely manufactured in the neighbourhood of Paris, 

 where the excellence of the bread is very remarkable. To obtain the powder, 

 the potatoes should be washed clean, accurately peeled, grated with a 

 coarse grater, and the pulp washed repeatedly through a hair sieve, after 

 being each time allowed to settle ; after which, when the water is found to 

 pass quite pure, and without sediment, the pulp should be spread upon a 

 cloth to dry very gradually, and then pounded or ground down into flour. 

 AVhen manufactured upon a large scale, the trouble of peeling may be 

 avoided. The dried pwlp may be ground and boulted in a common corn- 

 mill. 



It is thus obtained in different proportions, according to the goodness of 

 the potato, from one-fourth to one-fifth of the weight of the rootf. and in 

 nowise difterent from the starch made from grain. It indeed answers 

 many domestic purposes, for it makes all sorts of pastry of a superior qua- 

 lity than when formed from wheat alone. It also possesses the advantage 

 of retaining its qualities for a great number of years, without the least dete- 

 rioration ; and if the flour be not used, bread can be made with a mixture of 

 potatoes, by choosing the most mealy, which, when boiled and peeled, are 

 beaten and rolled smooth on a table with a rolling-pin, then kneaded with 

 one-fourth, or one-third, of wheaten floui-. 



Chapter XXIII. 

 ON CARROTS AND PARSNIPS. 



TuE cultivation of these roots — which are both tap-rooted plants of about 

 the same size, and almost similar properties— is conducted in nearly the 

 same manner, but they require a very different soil. 



THE CARROT 



appears to have been brought into this island before turnips ; and though 

 thought to be indigenous to our soil, there is yet reason to suppose that 

 we are indebted for its introduction as a garden-plant to some Flemings 

 who settled about Sandwich, in Kent, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth ; 

 though, so little was its culture attended to, that we find it imported 

 from Holland in the latter end of the sixteenth century X. The original 

 object was the supply of the London market ; but the husbandry having 

 spread into other districts, a greater quantity was raised than could be 

 used for famil)^ consumption, and trials having been made upon it as food 

 for cattle, the result proved its utility to be very apparent when given to 



* See the Article on Steam, vol i. ch. vii. p. 129. 



■j- It was found', by experiments made for the Society of Arts at Geneva, that 1000 lbs. 

 of one quality yielded 2 14 lbs. of flour, while the same quantity of another species, better 

 chosen, produced 270 lbs. — Rapports de Prof, de Caudolle, p. 12 and 13, and de M. 

 Andre de Beaumont, p. 10. 



I See the IntroducUuu to this work, p. 3, and Slevtugou's Survey of Surrey, p. 279, 



