THE POTATO AT HOME 307 



Other memories connected with the potato 

 come back to me. I had a small brother, and one 

 day we were discussing that most important subject 

 to small boys, the things we liked best to eat, when 

 it occurred to us as very strange that certain 

 articles of food were only eaten in combination 

 with certain other things ; some with salt, and 

 others with sugar, and so on, and we agreed to try 

 and discover a new and better way of combining 

 different flavours. We started on our boiled eggs 

 and ate them with sugar or treacle and cinnamon 

 instead of salt, and found that it wasn't very nice. 

 By and by we found that peaches cut up and eaten 

 with cream and sugar tasted delicious. And after 

 that we broke the peach-stones and made a mash 

 of the kernels in a mortar and ate that with cream 

 and sugar, and agreed that it was a great success. 

 By and by one of our elders told us that the peculiar 

 flavour of the peach-stone pip which delighted us 

 and was so good with cream and sugar was due 

 to the presence of prussic acid, and that if we went 

 on with this dish it would certainly kill us all in a 

 little while. That frightened us, and we started 

 experimenting with the harmless potato. And here 

 we met with our greatest success ; let all gourmets 

 make a note of it. Select a good-sized egg-shaped 

 baked potato and place it in a small cup and treat 

 it as you would an egg, cutting off the top. Then 

 with your spoon break it up inside, pour in oil and 

 vinegar, and add pepper and salt. A delightful 

 combination ! We tried to improve on it by 



