FARMERS' REGISTER— USES OF THE POTATO. 



681 



pie. Every one knows that, simple as the process 

 of" boiling a potato appears, there is really a pecu- 

 liar art or dexterity required; and it is ofien re- 

 marked, "that good potatoes are less frequently to 

 be seen at the tables of those who keep j^rofessed 

 cooks than in the wooden howl of the ])easant." 

 But the liict is, that in the one case there is only 

 one dish to attend to, whereas in tiie other there 

 are many, and that the polatoes of the cottager are 

 coasumecl hi from the fire, as soon as they are 

 ready, whicli is not the case in the other instance. 

 Next to boiling, roasiing the potato is the mode 

 most cmj;lo}'ed; but this is exceptionable, as the 

 root retains ii»r it nuich of" that black unwiiolesome 

 li(]uid whicli I have already mentioned. This re- 

 sides principally in the skin, and hence those per- 

 sons who have been tem|)ted to eat the roasted 

 skin, have been o("ten seriously disordered by it. 

 Custom, however, is found to render the stomach 

 callous to its effects, as is evident from the prac- 

 tice of" the children of our Irish peasantry. 

 Throughout all the country it is usual, as everj' 

 person must have observed, to allow the litde chil- 

 dren in every cottage to raast pcintaes for their own 

 use, as often as they please, in the turf ashes. As 

 you ride by a cabin, you l"requcntly see a group of 

 children run to the door, each holding in his hand 

 a roasted potato. 



The limits of a paper such as the present, Avill 

 not permit me to enter into many interestingtopics 

 connected with my subject. I must omit entirely 

 giving any details res;;ecting the culture of the 

 potato, its varieties, or the various diseases to 

 which the plant is liable, though on all these a 

 vast number of curious and ingenious experiments 

 have been made, and, I may add, whole libraries 

 written. I shall pass over the various advantages 

 derived from the use of it in f"eeding the difierent 

 kinds of domestic animals, one remarkable conse- 

 quence of which is the vast increase of the Irish 

 pork trade. I shall likewise omit all mention of 

 the beneficial effects produced on the lands of this 

 country by the cultivation of the plant, merely re- 

 minding you that it is one of the great instruments 

 by which our bogs are reclaimed; and I shall now 

 proceed to lay before you some of its uses which 

 are less obvious and more seldom described. 



The first manufactured ingredient derived from 

 the potato was starch. This substance, formerly 

 obtained f"rom wheat alone, was first discovered in 

 the island of" Chios, in the Grecian Archipelago, 

 and was in common use among the Romans. The 

 potato starch is made by the simple process of 

 grating the roots into clear spring water, when it 

 separates from the other particles, and sinks to the 

 bottoiTi. It is a very remarkable circumstance, 

 that in frosted potatoes, it is only the juice, or li- 

 quid part of the root that is affected, and not at all 

 the farina or flour, which may be equally well ex- 

 tracted, and will be found as white and good as if 

 it had not been frozen, provided the root is not 

 quite rotted, which in process of time it will be- 

 come. The following singular illustration of this 

 took place in 1794: a field of potatoes at Cam- 

 straddcn, in Dumbartonshire, was laid under wa- 

 ter, by a sudden rise of Lochlomond. A quantity 

 of these was got up, and in part brought home. 

 Being wet, they were laid on the floors of out- 

 houses to dry; but in a few days they were so 

 spoiled as to be unfit for feeding cattle. A heap of 

 the potatoes was left on the ground; when turned 



VcL. 11—51 



over next spring, some starch was found at the 

 bottom, which excited a suspicion, that though the 

 root had been aficcted by the frost, yet that the 

 flour li;ul remained uninjured. This was found to 

 be the case; and a quantity of the liirina was col- 

 lected from the heap, part of which was distri- 

 buted in Dumbartonshire, and the remainder was 

 brought to Stirling, in 1804. As arrow-root liad 

 become fashionable about that time, it was often 

 used as a substitute; and many eat of it without 

 knowing the difference. In 1825 a dish of it was 

 made with nnlk, and two gentlemen who supped 

 on it, declared that they would not have known it 

 f"rom arrow-root. A specimen of this same flour 

 of 1794 was sent to Sir John Sinclair in 1820, and 

 it seemed as good as any produced from the pota- 

 toes of that year, afler having been kept lor above 

 thirty years.* Potato-flour is very easily convert- 

 ed into jelly, in the same way as arrow-root, by 

 gradually pouring into it some boiling water, and 

 stirring' the mixture about; and in this shape it is 

 strongly recommended as food for invalids, some- 

 times being taken with a little milk and sugar. 

 Willi the addition and thorough mixture of a little 

 wheaten flour, or ground rice, while it is lioiling, 

 it forms a pleasant and nourishing diet either vv'ith 

 or without milk. It is well known that the manu- 

 facture of bread, even when conducted by tlie 

 most skilful and experienced bakers, is sometimes 

 very difficult. From the various casualties to 

 which wheaten flour has been liable, from disease 

 in th.e crop, or bad management in the keeping or 

 grinding of the grain, it f"requent!y loses some of 

 its most essential qualities, and causes the bread, 

 in defiance of the bakers art, to contract a sour- 

 ness, which is both disagreeable to the taste, and 

 prejud'cial to health. Fortunately a remedy has 

 been discovered of late years; tliatof mixing with 

 the flour a small quantity o? potatc-starch, pre- 

 viously converted into a jeily. This kind of bread 

 is remarkably lio'ht, and keeps longer moist than 

 other bread. It toasts much better, and makes 

 better bread puddings. Another most important 

 use to which jiotato-flourcan be applied, is to give 

 it, boiled in milk, in the proportion of two spoon- 

 fuls of flour to one pint of milk, to young children, 

 brought up by hand, and not at the breast, or atfer 

 they are weaned from the breast. In this country 

 a great quantity of starch is consumed in making 

 what is called the dressing for weaver's webs. 

 Until of late, this was entirely made from wheat, 

 and still a great proportion of it is so. But if po- 

 tato starch were universally adopted for the pur- 

 pose, as is the case now throughout France, a very 

 great consumption of wheat would be saved. 

 This substance is also put to another use, namely, 

 the making of size, which, for some purposes, 

 such as white-washing, is greatly superior to 

 common size, as it has no offensive smell, and has 

 a more durable whiteness. 



The next useful product derivable from the po- 

 tato is one which, before the days of chemical 

 knowledge, might justly have been considered aa 

 wonderful as the conversion of lead into gold, 

 promised by the alchymists: I mean sugar. The 

 discovery by chemical analysis, that the potato, 

 though far different in form, taste, and all external 

 qualities, was perfectly similar in component parts 

 to the different kinds of o-rain used for the food of 



* Sir John Sinclair. 



