152 



that " the potato is a plant of indolence, and polltlcallj injurious to 

 the community, when extensively employed. In Ireland it has 

 begotten millions of paupers." * 



Still every one knows that, in ordinary circumstances, potatoes are 

 a profitable crop, and that they contahi all the materials requisite for 

 nutrition. Let two acres of land of the same quality be cultivated, 

 one with potatoes, the other with wheat. Suppose the potatoes to 

 yield two hundred bushels, weighing ten thousand pounds — of this 

 weight one quarter is solid matter. We may admit the wheat to 

 yield twenty-five bushels, weighing fifteen hundred pounds — of this 

 twelve hundred pounds will be solid matter. How far these two 

 portions of solid matter will go towards supporting animal life is not 

 so easily settled. The potato has nearly as much of nutritious starch 

 as wheat. It has carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, and lime, for the 

 development and support of the lungs, muscles, blood, and bones. 

 In gluten it is deficient, and cannot, therefore, undergo panary fer- 

 mentation and form a light loaf. In this respect wheat flour stands 

 before all other articles of vegetable food ; yet wheat alone does not 

 appear to be capable of supporting prolonged human existence in the 

 best health. Perhaps we should be safe in asserting that, if one man 

 was kept on bread made of pure, fine wheat flour, and another on 

 good boiled potatoes and salt, the latter would live longer, and enjoy 

 better health. The bread is favorable to the increase of strength, 

 and probably, for a short time, the bread-eater could do the most 

 work, while the other would have better health, and last longer. 

 Indeed the best wheat bread is improved by the addition of potatoes, 

 to the amount of one quarter of its weight — a fact well known to 

 bakers. 



Repeated experiments show that good potatoes, cooked by boiling, 

 form a nutritive article of food ; and that baked potatoes are less 

 nourishing than boiled ones. I will mention two, out of many ex- 

 periments made in Glasgow prison: — First Breakfast, one-half 

 pound oatmeal in porridge, with one-half pint of buttermilk ; dinner, 

 three pounds boiled potatoes, with salt ; supper, five ounces of oat- 

 meal and one-half pint of buttermilk. Ten prisoners were put upon 

 this diet; they were confined for two months, employed in light 



Smee, on the Potato Plant, p. 160. 



