POTATOES. '179 



namely, ware, middlings, and chats. In the 

 first class are put the very best, as to size, 

 shape, and quality. They must not be the 

 very largest, which do not sell well ; not those 

 of double form, or covered with protuberances, 

 which are also rejected ; and not any that are 

 cut, or green, or hollow. The middlings are 

 those of which the size is less than that 

 esteemed the best. The chats are the small- 

 est, the damaged, the discoloured ; in fact, the 

 refuse, designed for cows arid hogs. These sell 

 at about a third of the price of the best. The 

 grow r er is obliged to give many pounds weight 

 extra, into every hundred weight, to compen 

 sate the buyer for the w r eight of soil and sack 

 in the scales. The profit of green-grocers in 

 London and the suburbs, who sell potatoes 

 retail by the pound to families, is enormous. 

 They purchase them at the markets for three 



