NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



it a temporary reputation, and seemed to insure 

 it a durable existence, though there was still 

 something wanting to fix its character as a whole- 

 some article of food — which was reserved for 

 Parmentier, who, in 1778, brought forth a spe- 

 cimen of bread from the farina of the potatoe 

 alone, in Germany its fortune was not so pre- 

 carious. It appears readily to have paved its 

 way, and to have been cultivated as early as the 

 year 1601 — since, Clusius says, ea plerisque Gcr- 

 ■manio: kortis satis vulgurio diiduri facia. In Italy 

 its fate was nearly allied to that experienced in 

 Franco : so great, indeed, were the prejudices 

 which it had to encounter, that, we are told, a 

 sliip load of the roots having been sent from 

 England to Naples, to relieve the inhabitants of 

 that place, who were then the victims of famine 

 and disease, the mere name of potatoe, as food, 

 carried with it such dread, that they chose ra- 

 ther to bear the horrors of their situation, than 

 purchase the article. But happily for that por- 

 tion of country, those prejudices gave way to 

 the magic wand of science, and the potatoe now 

 supjjlies the food of those wrc;tched vagrants, 

 who were before doomed to subsist on the wa- 

 tery gourd. 



in Scotland, Sweden, and Burgundy, it had to 

 contend alike with the obstacles which had so 

 long opposed it. But it is gratifying to learn, 

 (hat the potatoe is ultimatety finding its way in- 

 to the i'emolest corners of the earth, and is now, 

 nearly every where, cultivated fur the b.enefil 

 of mankind. 



Escitlcnl Properties. 



The reputation of the potatoe, as an esculent, 

 wholesome vegetable, is too well established, 

 as has been already intimated, to require any 

 I'urthcr attention from me. Its use for food ap- 

 })ears to liave been co-existent with its discov- 

 ery : we can find at least, in its early history, 

 no trace of its application to any other purpose. [ 

 Especial objections, however, were formed 

 against it on account of its place among the so- j 

 lana. In Burgundj', we are told, its culture was i 

 interdicted in consequence of its supposed mis- 1 

 chievous properties. Among the fancied eflecls 

 produced by it, were leprosy and dysenterj'. 

 Those prejudices, no doubt, originated from its 

 exposure to the sun ami weather, by whicii its! 

 natural qualities were destroyed, as the means, 

 of preserving it were, at that time, very little \ 

 understood. Many accounts of injurious effects ', 

 are to be met with. But such representations 

 do not prove the unwholesomeness of the root, 

 since it has constituted the chief article of food 

 to vast numbers of people for upwards of a cen- 

 tury. The dependence of England and Ireland 

 Tipon it for food, is such, indeed, that it is em- 

 phatically styled the "bread root" of those coun- 

 tries. Nor js it much less extensively raised in 

 the highlands of Scotland, where scarcity or fa- 

 roine was too frequent an occurrence before its 

 introduction. It is said that many of the inhab- 

 itants of Banff, a small district in that country, 

 in the year 170.5, must have fallen victims to 

 famine, had not the jiotatoe been stjpplied. In 

 Wal 'S, its cultivation has become general, as 

 we are told, that potatoes and barley bread form 

 •the chief sustenance of the poor — and what at 

 this time occasions the calamitous situation of 

 Ireland, save the failure of this ifli[>ortant crop? 

 Two millions of people are by this circumstance 

 deprived of the very sustenance of lil'e, and des- 

 tined to drag out an existence, at best intolera- 



ble. Even in the early history of this vegeta- 

 ble, we find the attachment of the Irish to it 

 strongly marked, and the fancy of the poet in- 

 spired to celebrate its praises. 



"Leeic to the Welsh — to Dutchmen butter's dear, 

 Of Irish swains potatoe is the cheer." 



The success which now attends the rearing 

 of this vegetable could not have been anticipat- 

 ed, even by the most sanguine, from the many 

 formidable obstacles over which it had to tri- 

 umph. 



Having its origin in a warm climate, it was 

 supposed to be intolerant of cold, and upon that 

 account, incapable of cultivation in more north- 

 ern climes. But experience has shewn the con- 

 trary, and the potatoe is naturalized almost in 

 every region. With the lower classes of peo- 

 ple, it is one of the greatest blessings that the 

 soil produces, forming -'flour without a mill, and 

 bread without an oven," and at all seasons of 

 the year, an agreeable, wholesome dish, unaid- 

 ed by expensive or injurious condiments. What 

 resources does the potatoe present to us ? Its 

 stalk, considered as a texilc |ilant, furnishes in 

 An tria a sort of flax — when burned it yields 

 much potash — its apples when ripe and crushed, 

 ferment and give spirits by distillation — its tu- 

 bercles made into a pulp, are a substitute for 

 soap, in bleaching. Cooked by steam, the pota- 

 toe is most heallhy food. By different manipu- 

 lations it furnishes two kinds of flour — a gruel 

 and a parench3ma, wliich may be applied to in- 

 crease the bulk of bread made from grain. 

 Treated chemically, it is converted into beer, 

 vinegar, spirits, &.c. 



It will be perceived, that the potatoe is sus- 

 ceptible of a very wide and diversified applica- 

 cation, and highly deserving the attention of the 

 agriculturist. Numerous experiments have al- 

 ready been commenced, and considerably ex- 

 tended on the farina of this vegetable, and by 

 whicli it appears to be equal in nutritions pro- 

 perties to that of any other article. From some 

 comparative, experiments by Mr. Whalely, of 

 Cork, it is plainly shown, that the same quanti- 

 ty of land cultivated in potatoes, will produce 

 one half more farina, than the same land n\)p\i- 

 ed to the ]>ro:luction of larina from wheat. He 

 also appropriated the farina of this root to the 

 making of bread, buscuit, and pastry, with dif- 

 ferent proportions cf i!onr, and found that they 

 resisteil better the effect of climate, than when 

 made wholly of whcaten flour. It seems, in- 

 deed, to have a remarkable power of preserva- 

 tion, as Mr. Whately states, he has known the 

 flour to keep good seventeen j'cars. The fari- 

 na possessing :.ll the nutritious parts of the po- 

 tatoe, and being perfectly bland and digestible in 

 its nature, may be supposed to form an excellent 

 article of diet for the sick. In the shops of Eu- 

 rope, a composition vended under the title of 

 sotnolina, and recommended as a nutritious diet 

 for children and sick persons, is said to be es- 

 sentially, the farina of potatoes. 



It is obvious, from what has been stated above, 

 that the potatoe does not hold its reputation ex- 

 clusively, as an article of diet. The potash in 

 such quantities has been obtained from the com- 

 bustion of its leaves, that it is supposed from the 

 facility with which the process is effected, that 

 France will be released in a great degree from 

 the heavy sum she pays this country, in the 

 ptirchase of th.it article. It also appears liy the 



experiments of Dr. Anderson, that ardent spirits 

 in considerable quantity may be obtained from 

 the distillation of the potatoe. From seventy 

 pounds of the bruised roots, he obtained one 

 gallon of pure spirits, considerably above proof 

 and about a quart below proof The potatoe 

 has also been made the subject of analysis, hy 

 several distinguished chemists, among whom is 

 Vauquelin, who, from a careful investigation, 

 drew as a conclusion, that the potatoe was com- 

 posed of starch, of parenchyma, of a peculiar ani 

 mal matter, and of certain salts. The existence 

 of these principles does not explain the cause o 

 the spiritous fermentation which they undergc 

 when exposed in the ordinary manner to a re 

 quisile temperature. It became then a deside 

 ratum to discover the substance which, in the 

 potatoe, supplies the place of saccharine matter 

 to which alone this peculiar process is conceiv 

 ed to be owing. By a well regulated set of ex 

 periments, made by Dr. Reshier, it is shown tc 

 contain sugar and gum, in the proportion of sixty- 

 four grains of mucous sugar, to two hundred am 

 twenty grains of gum in the pound. It also ap- 

 pears from the experiments of Vauquelin, tha' 

 resin and animalized matter are the only sapic 

 ingredients of the potatoe, and give it the supe- 

 rior flavour, perceived when the article is eat 

 en roasted, and which is necessarily lost by boil- 

 ing. 



[The remainder of this article consists of state- 

 ments of experiments for ascertaining the '■'■inedi 

 en/ /lyojicrUrs" of the potatoe plant, which can be 

 interesting only to physicians. It concludes a; 

 t'ollows: 



"The extract of potalne on the whole, must. 

 I conceive, be now regarded, if not wholly inert, 

 at least far inferior to cic<jta, or any other arti- 

 cle of the same class, retained in the Materir 

 Medica. \^'hy then should we endeavour tc 

 store onr Materia Medica with useless lumber, 

 and add uncertainty to a set of remedies, that 

 already begin to decline in the confidence o 

 physicians?"] 



We are not able to say v/hether the kind of whea 

 described in the following; article preserves its reputa- 

 tion for being impregnable to the attacks of the Fly 

 The subject, however, is worthy of further inquiry, and 

 we would thank our fjionds and correspondents lor anj 

 iaforuiatiou they may be in possession of relating to it 



From the National Intelligencer. 



BucklanJ, Fa. May 10, 1C17. 



The ravages of the Hessian Fly, of which we 

 have so general accounts this season, are cer- 

 tainly a subject of melancholy concern. As far 

 as I have been able to Icain, in all the counties 

 of \ irginia where (he growth of wheat is sutli- 

 ciently advanced to produce the discovery of the 

 visitation of this insect, it has invariably appear- 

 ed. And I now very much lament that some of 

 my neighbors, or myself, did not, last j'ear, give 

 publicity to the facts on the subject, which for 

 several years have been known to us, and of 

 which the present year aflords additional evi- 

 dence. 



About five years ago, a kind of wheat was in- 

 troduced into this neighborhood, which has been 

 found, by invariable experience, to resist the tly. 

 It was brought here by James Lawler, in a small 

 quantity in his saddle bags, from Chester county, 

 Pennsylvania, where he had been on a visit to 

 his friends. He stated, that it was there called 

 Jones's While Wheat, snd h?.d never been in- 



