680 



FARMERS' REGISTER— ON THE POTATO. 



besides, may be considered a perennial plant, as it 

 may continue to si)ring up lor many successive 

 years on the same spot. It belongs to the jjerms 

 of plants called Solamtm, many species of which, 

 such as the ni<j;h( shade, are extremely poisonous. 

 In Jamaica, the root of one species is a violent 

 purgative, and a spoonful or two is used by the 

 nal ives as a do.=e. It might startle a person at first 

 to find the pi-incipal food of a large portion of 

 mankind, particularly our own countrymen, drawn 

 from a vegetable belonging to so poisonous a 

 group. Two circumstances also would seem to 

 prove that a portion of deleterious matter does ac- 

 tually exist m the potato. One is, that potatoes, 

 Avhetherin their parent bed or in the pit in which 

 they were preserved after being dug up, if they 

 are uncovered, lake, t/ieioind (as it is called,) and 

 become unwholesome food lor nieji, occasioning 

 sickness, and greatly disordering the body. Thej' 

 arc easily known by being of a, diii'erent color fi-om 

 those of' the same crop which lie at a greater 

 depth. These surfiice potatoes, however, maybe 

 used as seed, and besides are not unwholesome 

 for pigs. The other circumstance is, that the 

 liquid contained in itiw potatoes nmst contain some 

 inatter hostile to animal life, as cattle and hogs 

 have been greatly injured by drinking of the wa- 

 ter in which they have been boiled. To counter- 

 balance this, on the other hand, a distinguished 

 agriculturist maintains that substances noxious to 

 animal life are generally beneficial iovegctableWCe; 

 and with regard to the juices of the potato in par- 

 ticular, that they contain various substances favor- 

 able to vegetation, which maybe rendered of great 

 use in the irrigation of grass lands.* These two 

 facts are the only ones which the experience of two 

 hundred years has discovered to furnish an objec- 

 tion to the use of the potato; and when I shall 

 have laid before you the long catalogue of advan- 

 tages derived from its introduction among us, I 

 am persuaded they will be considered as mere 

 Irilles. The danger is obviated simply by being 

 known. In different quarters of the globe, whole 

 nations subsist on roots which are deadly poison in 

 their unprepared state, but which become safe and 

 nutritious wlien cooked by fire. The most re- 

 markable examples of this are found in the natives 

 of the JVl olucca and Society Islands, and the In- 

 dians of South America. In the island of Hayti, 

 the juice of the very root Avhich is used when 

 dressed in the same way as we employ the potato, 

 has been often swallowed by some of^ the misera- 

 ble natives to put an end to their existence. 

 Oviedo relates, as an eye witness, that these un- 

 hajipy wretches, who, like many African tribes, 

 preferred death to slavery, united together bj' 

 fiflies to swallow at once the poisonous juice of the 

 Jatropha.f 



All vegetable jjroductions affording food are 

 f^iund to contain, in some proportion or other, a 

 fiirinaccous or granular substance devoid of fibre, 

 which, when tlried, may be ground or pounded 

 into flour or meal; and which, if boilr-d in water, 

 Avill form \vith it a pulpy matter. The vegetable 

 substances which contain most of this matter are 

 seeds and tubers, these parts of the plant being 

 intended by nature to contain a store of" food, as it 

 were, for the young germ, suflicient to nourish it 



* Sir John Sinclair, 

 t Humboldt. 



until the production of members or instruments 

 capable of collecting nutriment for it aftei- its ex- 

 clusion, precisely analogous to the jirovision of 

 yolk laid up in the egg of a bird for the young be- 

 ing enclosed in it. From accurate chemical ex- 

 amination, it has been found that in every 100 

 parts of the potato, there are about 70 parts of 

 water and 30 of potato-meal, which is a powder 

 of a grayish color, having the taste of" the raw 

 root. This meal being submitted to further analy- 

 sis, is found to be composed of" three difierent sub- 

 stances. 1st, starch or fecula, 16 parts; 2d, leafy 

 or fibrous matter, 9 parts; and 3rd, soluble muci- 

 lage, 5 parts. The potato also contains a very 

 small portion of" potash, and a few other sub- 

 stances, such as oxides of iron and manganese, 

 common salt, &c., but in such minute (luantitics 

 as not to affect the general statement I have made. 

 An essential oil likewise exists in the potato, 

 wliich gives its taste, but this is also very trifling. 

 The composition of" the potato root is exircmcly 

 similar to that of" the seeds of wheat and maize, 

 though, from the dissimilarity in taste and external 

 appearance, this would not be at first suspected; 

 and hence arises the corresponding fitness of all 

 three for food. Tlie principal difference between 

 Vv'heat and potatoes consists in the presence of a 

 substance called gluten in wheat, which strongly 

 resembles animal glue, and which is the cause 

 that wheat, rye, and barley are the only kinds of" 

 grain ol' which loaf bread can be made; this 

 gluten giving tenacity and firmness, vdiile it at the 

 same time promotes the fermentation in the 

 making of bread, as well as gives it its taste. In 

 potatoes, oats, beans, peas, rice, maize, buck- 

 wheat. &c., this is entirely wanting, and thercfire 

 they must be mixed whh a certain quantity of 

 flour before they can be made into bread. 



There is perhaps no species of food that can [»: 

 consumed in a greater variety of ways than tin- 

 potato. Among us the only modes in use are 

 three or four, such as boiling, roasting, or hying; 

 but our French neighbors, who surpass us and all 

 the world in ever}^ thing relating to cooker}', at 

 least so far as infinite variety is concerned, have 

 several other Avays of preparing this root. A 

 French gentleman invited to dinner thirt^'-two of 

 his friends, promising to each a difl'ereni dish, and 

 yet all composed of the same material. They 

 assembled, found before each seat a cover, and, 

 upon taking their scats, discovered that each guest 

 had really a different dish, though all foinied of 

 egc'sl One of the company immediately repeat- 

 ed the invitation to all the persons present for next 

 day, when he promised to regale them in a simi- 

 lar manner, on anctlicr single substance metamor- 

 phosed into thirty-two different forms. They 

 came and dined very comfortably on thirty-two 

 distinct and palatable dishes all composed of po- 

 tatoes! Boiling is the smiplcst, cheapest, and 

 perhaps most nutritious mode of cooking the po- 

 tato. When boiled, the nourishing substances 

 contained in it are taken into the stomach, more 

 intimately diffused through about three times their 

 weight of water, than is the case with any artifi- 

 cial mixture of the]iotato-meal and water. Hence 

 the easiness of digestion and lightness of this root 

 above almost all other farinaceous substances 

 equally nutritive; while its cheapness, and the 

 ease with which it can be cooked, arc great argu- 

 ments in its favor with the great body of the [xio- 



