POTATOE. 89 



until 1764, when a Royal edict was published 

 to encourage their general cultivation : and 

 yet we find their value was fully known in 

 that country at an earlier period; for in the 

 Memoirs of the Royal Academy of Sciences 

 in Sweden, in 1747, Mr. Charles Skytes pro- 

 posed to distil brandy from them, in order to 

 save corn, which in that country is often very 

 dear. This person states, that an acre of po- 

 tatoes compared to an acre of barley, will 

 yield a spirit in the proportion of 566 to 156, 

 even admitting the potatoe to be planted on 

 the worst kind of ground, and the barley on 

 the best. 



Dr. Anderson distilled from 72 pounds of 

 potatoes that had been properly fermented, 

 (with no addition except yeast) an English 

 gallon of pure spirit, considerably above 

 proof; and about a quart more, below proof. 

 It was the finest and most agreeably vinous 

 spirit he ever tasted.* 



The consumption of potatoes, even at the 

 present time, on the Continent, is but small, 

 when compared to that of England and 

 Ireland. 



In the Highlands of Scotland, (where fa- 



* Bath Society, vol. iv. page 50. 



