684 FARMERS' R^JGISTER— NUTRITIVE PROPERTIES OF THE POTATO. 



of Irelamrs misery; that must be looked for else- 

 where. But that it has been one great cause of 

 inuhiplyino; our population to a surprising extent, 

 is very evident. Let us h.ar tlie remarks of a 

 writerin one of ourmost distinguished periodicals. 

 "Potatoes enter for a great deal into the present 

 condition of Ireland. They are much cheaper 

 than wheat, and it is so easy to rear a fomily on 

 them, that there is no check to population li-om the 

 iViU. u'ty of procuring Ibod. The population, 

 therefore, now goes on with a rapidity approach- 

 ing almost to that of new countries, and in a 

 much greater ratio than the improving agriculture 

 and manufactures can find employment ibr it. All 

 degrees of nations begin with living in pig-styes. 

 The king or the priest first gets out of them, then 

 the noble, then the pauper, in proportion as each 

 class becomes more and more opulent; better 

 tastes arise fi'om better circumstances, and the 

 luxury of one period is the wretchedness and po- 

 verty of another. English peasants, in the time 

 of Henry VII. were lodged as badly as Irish pea- 

 sants now are; but the population was limited by 

 tlie difficulty of procuring a corn subsistence. The 

 improvements of England were more rapid, the 

 price of labor rose, and with it the comfort and 

 luxtrry of the peasant, who is now decently lodged 

 and clothed, and who wouKl think himself in the 

 last stage of^ wretchedness, if he had nothing but 

 an iron pot in a mud house, and plenty of potatoes 

 in it. The use of the potato was introduced into 

 Ireland when the wretched accommodation of her 

 peasantry bore some proportion to the state of the 

 accommodation of that class all over Europe. 

 But they have increased their population so fast, 

 and, in conjunction with diflerent causes retarding 

 im])rovement, have kept the price of labor so lov/, 

 that the Irish poor have never been able to emerge 

 from their mud cabins, or acquire any taste for 

 cleanliness or decency of apjicarance."* 



Cobbett's assertion that wheat produces more 

 nutritious matter per acre than potatoes, is now 

 completely disproved. Later experiments have 

 shown that it is very near the truth to estimate the 

 proportion of the nutritive power of wheat to 

 that of potatoes, as about seven to two; or, in 

 other words, that two pounds of wheat afford as 

 nmch sustenance as seven pounds of potatoes, 

 though it may be douhtfld whether it affords as 

 much nourishment. Then, by calculating the 

 produce of each of the two crops, it has been de- 

 termined that one acre of wheat will produce sus- 

 tenance lor three persons, as long as an acre of 

 potatoes affords it to six and five-sixths. This is 

 upon the supposition that the power of nutrition 

 of a plant is only in proportion to the quantity of 

 farinaceous and glutinous matter contained in it. 

 But this is by no means certain. We have not 

 yet been able to discover what it is that renders 

 one substance more proper for lood than another. 

 We have only approximated to the truth; for, al- 

 though we can, by artificial moans, condense the 

 nourishing principle into small bounds, as in the 

 case of essences, concentrated soups, &c.; yet we 

 find that no animal can long continue to live on 

 such substances undiluted. The stomach seems 

 to require that the nutritious matter should be in- 

 corporated with, and enveloped, in a considerable 

 quantity of some other substance, possessing no 



• Edinburgh Review, vol. xxxiv. p. ?>?,0. 



nourishing power, in order that its functions may 

 not be stimulated to excess. Sugar, oil, and but- 

 ter are substances possessed of A'ery high nour- 

 ishing [)ropertics; a less quantity of them sufficing 

 to sustain life than of most other malteis: yet we 

 find that if an animal (a dog, for example,) be fed 

 entirely on any of them, he will not survive many 

 days. Nature, stimulated by continual super- 

 abundant nourishment, is exhausted, and sinks 

 under disease. In estimating, therefore, the 

 amount of aliment afforded by potatoes and grain, 

 we sliould rather calculate according to the mass 

 of vegetable matter capable of satisfying a llill 

 grown person. This subject is exceedingly cu- 

 rious, and might be illustrated at great length. 

 I cannot, however, pursue it farther at present. I 

 may merely add, in connection with what has been 

 remarked, that potatoes, from some peculiarity in 

 the mixture or degree of condensation in their nu- 

 tritive matter, seem to possess an advantage over 

 all grains as constant food. It is well known that 

 potatoes and water alone, with common salt, can 

 nourish men completely; we have hundreds of 

 instances, in many parts of Ireland, where the 

 people have lived constantly on this diet, from ne- 

 cessity; and yet have been as robust, healthy, and 

 long-lived as persons fed plentilully on animal 

 food. Now, I know of no meah' substance used 

 as the general food of a nation, without being 

 mixed with other kinds of alimentary matter, such 

 as oil, fruits, whey, or milk. JMacCulloch, in his 

 work on the Western Islands of Scotland, makes 

 some remarks Vv'hich bear on this subject. "I 

 have hinted," says he, "at the deficiency of food 

 among the Highlanders. The introduction of the 

 potato has done so much to remove this once pre- 

 valent cause of misery and depopulation, that 

 such a want is scarcely suspected. It is, however, 

 still apparent. At present, it is true, the High- 

 lander rears a fair proportion of children, the aver- 

 age number varj-ing between three and four. The 

 children are also universally strong, ruddy, and 

 handsome, yielding nothing in that respect to their 

 better clothed and better lodged neighbors of the 

 low country, or of England. This air of health 

 and good feeding continues till the age of labor, 

 and for some space beyond it. But, at twenty, or 

 shortly after, an evident change takes place. The 

 skin shrivels, the bones of the face project," and 

 the marks of age, already perceptible, increase 

 rapidly to that period in which it becomes sensible 

 in the laboring part of the community every 

 where. Afier that there is perhaps no further 

 com|)arative difference; and the limit of the High- 

 land laborer's life stands on a fair average with 

 that of the Lowlander or Englishman. This 

 change is most sensible in women. Instances of 

 beauty are by no means uncommon in the female 

 children: but it vanishes at seventeen; and, short- 

 ly after, the marks of age hasten on so rapidly, 

 that (with deference to "the Highland fair be it 

 said,) they acquire the aspect so dreaded by Queen 

 Elizabeth, or the ancient fiurone recorded in the 

 well known epigram of Plato. This effect seems 

 to proceed from the insufficiency of the food com- 

 pared to the labor; and, to those who have seen 

 the country, I need hardly say, that an equal, if 

 not the greater share of that labor, is often the lot 

 of the females. There is reason to suspect, from 

 the greater durability of the lower classes of the 

 Irish, where potatoes form the sole food, that this 



