THE POTATO. 151 



wheat afford as much subsistence as 7lbs of pota- 

 toes, though it may be doubtful if it affords so much 

 nourishment. We have seen before, that the mean 

 weight of the two kinds of food, from the same ex- 

 tent of land, is nearly as one to eight; and now as- 

 sume that the consumption of an individual is yearly 

 one quarter, or 4801bs of wheat, or an equivalent 

 quantity of potatoes, being 16801bs, then one acre of 

 wheat will produce sustenance for three persons, or 

 one acre of potatoes will afford it to six and five- 

 sixths.'* 



The productiveness and other circumstances at- 

 tendant on the culture of this root certainly point it 

 out as one of the cheapest articles of substantive food 

 that a population can use; and therefore we may con- 

 clude that in those countries where the labouring class- 

 es are forced to subsist on this nourishment, they are 

 in a stale of indigence in which the healthy industry 

 of a fertile land should not be placed. 



Potatoes may be made to yield a spirit of a very 

 pure quality. It is supposed that they are a cheaper 

 material than barley from which to extract alcohol. 

 But attempts in this country profitably to distil from 

 potatoes have always failed. At present, however, 

 in a distillery at Guernsey a spirit is made from them 

 with success. 



In the eastern part of Prussia, as stated by Mr 

 Jacob in his Reports, potatoes are applied to many 

 useful purposes. They are cultivated to a great ex- 

 tent, and by converting them into starch and treacle 

 that land is made to jield a profit which might 

 otherwise have produced a loss. Sugar did not 

 answer so well; ' but the treacle,' says Mr Jacob, l ap- 

 peared to me as sweet as any from the tropics, the 

 only perceptible difference between them was that it 

 had less consistence.' 



* Jacob's Tracts on the Corn-Trade, p. 169. 



