NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Fi.l.li.hecl by JoHv H. Rcssel.. at ll,o cormr oiC.mo rcss and Li.ula ll Streets, (enlrance .Vu„. Liudall Stroet).-T„oMAS U. l^^s^Eyvl^^TEdh^ 



VOL. V. 



BOSTON, FRIDAY, DECEiVHU^R 22, i82(). 



No. 22. 



ORIGINAL 1»AIM:RS. 



OnE OF EXTRACTING THH FECULA, 

 OR FLOUR, FROM THE i'OTATOE. 

 i Blink;/ Plnct; 

 \ lioib-Sry, Die. 13, 189(>. 

 Dear Sir — The enclosed treatise, on the mode 

 ' e.\tractin<r the fecula, or flour, from the potaloe, 

 as recently transmitted to me, by G. G. Bau- 

 ELL, Esq. Consul of the United States at Mala- 

 i, who says, " it was drawn up by a most intelli- 

 gent and worthy man," and he desires " that it 

 may be published for the public good." 

 Air B.ihRF.LL is of opinion that appropriating the 

 atatoc, both of the northern and southern states, 

 > this use, cannot fail of becoming of vast inipor- 

 ;nce to the country, not only as a substitute for 

 igo, arrou'-root and other delicate aliments, but 

 ir liour in pastry, and •\s starch, of which great 

 aactities are imported into all the West India 

 dands, South America, Mexico and the Italian 

 tates, at an enormous expense. 

 Mt Babrell has before evinced his solicitude 

 DC the advancement of agriculture, by forwarding 

 9veral kinds of grain, and valuable information on 

 le method of cultivating them, to one of oar So- 

 (eties. Such instances of patriotic zeal and gen- 

 rous devotion to the prosperity of his native land, 

 lerit the grateful acknowledgements of his fellow 

 tiicns. 



It is by such contributions to our fund of intelli- 

 •ence, upon all the branches of national industrv, 

 lat Americans who reside in, or vi.«it foreign 

 ountries, can best subserve the republic : aH'l it 

 ! pleasing to find, that many of them cheerfully 

 ■vail of the advantages of their situation, while it 

 most desirable, that all our public agents, should 

 iiake it a point, to collect and transmit to the 

 Tnited States, whatever may tend to increase the 

 umber and variety of our products of agriculture, 

 oanufactures and the arts. 

 Very respectfully, 



Your most obedient serv't, 



H. A. S. DEARBORN. 

 T. G. Fessende:*, Esq. 



•lEORGE W. BaRRELL, EsQ. i 



Consul of (he United States. ) 



Dear Sir — Permit me to communicate to you 

 he result of an essay I made some days ago on 

 he sweet potatoe, a native of the free and happy 

 ;ountry you so worthily represent, and where I 

 hink that the use to which this excellent vegeta- 

 ble is generally applied may be improved to great 

 advantage. You no doubt have heard of the vast 

 consumption which has lately taken place in 

 France, of the fecula or flour proceeding from the 

 common potatoe, wliere in consequence of t!is re- 

 peated certificates given by the Proto medicate of 

 Paris, it has been introduced into almost all the 

 apothecaries' shops, and hospitals, in the south of 

 France, and is found to produce a variety of most 

 delicate and nutriinental .iliments for people of 

 weak digestion and relaxed intestines; sucli as 

 excellent gruel, porridge, and all kinds of pastry, 

 far superior to that made with flour, as well as 

 starch of the very first quality and which nothing 

 apparently could exceed in whiteness. A consid- 



eration of thes<! facts, first induced mo to turn my 

 attention to tlie sweet potatoe, and suggested the 

 idea that it might be applicable in some degree to 

 (lie same purposes, and having accordingly resort- 

 ed to the process usually adopted for extractiiio- 

 the fecula of tlie common potatoe, I found to my 

 no small surprise and satisfaction tiiat it produced 

 that substance in vastly greater quantity and if 

 possible in superior quality, particularly in white- 

 ness ; besides possessing in a much greater de 



which means, wbich is attended with a very trifl- 

 ing cipcnsc, uiimense quantitios of potatoes may 

 be ground in a day, without a greater impulse than 

 that of a single man or even a turnspit dog. In a 

 country iiowever where the powers of ma° hinery 

 and steam are so well known as in America, it 

 would be useless and impertinent to make farther 

 observations on that subject. I shall therefore 

 conclude witii a few observations on the wasliing 

 of tlie potatoes previous to grinding them for the 

 extraction of tlie fecula. Tliis operation is of the 



groe the saccharine qualities inherent in the plant „ ,^ .. ^ ... 



These circumstances will no doubt suggest an j greatest consequence, and in fact isTlie "only "labo 

 idea to a person of your active and penetrating rious part of the process, as it is usually conduct, 

 inind of the immense advantages that would un- ed, as great care must be taken, to have the pota- 

 qucstionably accrue to the southern states of toes well washed, in order to prevent the earth ac- 



America from applying this admirable vegetabl, 

 to the many purposes of which it is susceptible. 

 I shall therefore proceed to describe to yo'i the 

 simple method which may be used tor the extrac- 

 ijon of the fecula. It is as follows — A wooden 

 cylinder is required of about three feet in circum- 

 ference and four in length, covered with tin per- 

 forated like a grater, which on wearing out may 

 be taken ofl' and renewed ; on the top is placed a 

 wooden box or hopper, containing five or six bush- 

 els, in such a manner as to embrace about a quar- 

 ter of the circumference of the cylinder, and so 

 adjusted to it as only to let the fibres of the pota 

 toes pass in the operation of grinding. This cy- 

 linder w ith its box is placed over a tub of an oval 

 shape and filled with water in such a manner as 

 that it should dip in that element at each rotation 

 which is performed by means of a crank like that 

 of a grind-stone ; by which means the paste and 

 fibrous substance is washed aw.ay and tlio instru- 

 ments kept clear, and falling together with the 

 fecula into the water, a separation immediately 

 takes place, the latter by its specific gravity pre- 

 cipitating itself to the bottom of the tub, where in 

 a few minutes after pouring off the water with the 

 fibres, it appears white, and in a solid compact 

 mass. In order to complete the operation, nothing 

 further is requisite than to stir it up with clean 

 water and percolate it once or twice through a 

 seive, when it becomes of a whiteness far surpass- 

 ing common flour or starch ; and of a more gluti- 

 nous and tenacious quality than the latter. Accord- 

 ing to the experiment I have made with respect to 

 the quantity of fecila produced by the sweet pota- 

 toe, I find that 4 J bushels of that vegetable when 

 at maturity, will produce one bushel of fecula 

 which is at least 5'! per cent more than the pro- 

 duce of the common potatoe, in this country ; it 

 has besides the grand advantage of being fit for 

 use all the year round if properly preserved, not 

 being subject to germination, but in a very small 

 degree, whereas the common potatoe on beginning 

 to sprout, produces very little fecula, and is only 

 in a state for grin'ling, about 5 months in tlie year. 

 The fibres of both kinds of potatoes make excel- 

 lent food for pigs, black cattle, sheep, fowls, &c. 

 The fecula when extracted is dried in the sun on 

 thin plates, either of earthen ware glazed, or tin ; 

 and may be formed into any shape or made fine 

 like flour. In order to facilitate the operation on 

 a grand scale a fly wheel may be applied to two 

 or more cylinders at the same time, by placing 



companying them, from mixing with the fecula ; 

 and it appears to me that a more expeditious meth- 

 od might be invented than the common one, by 

 suspending horizontally a long barrel which may 

 be turned like tlie above rtientioned cylinders by a 

 fly wheel ; this might be filled about two thirds 

 full of potatoes, and afterwards filled nearly full 

 with water ; it should be garnished in the inside 

 with strong bristles, in the form of a hard brush, 

 and here and there long wooden pins rounded at 

 the bottom, to prevent their bruising them too 

 much in the act of rotation, which would be very 

 violent ; it should likewise have a cock or plug at 

 the bottom for draining off the water when soiled, 

 which may be renewed till they arc thoroughly 

 cleansed ; the w hole of this operation may be per- 

 formed in a very few minutes. 



Your infinitely obliged, and 



very faithful friend and servant. 

 MjU-^,2SthS-ept. le2G. 



TREES. 



Mr Fessesden — The following report of Mr 

 Macleay, one of the first naturalists of the age, is 

 highly, interesting, and de?erviiig of republication. 

 The general observations it cont-jins serve to throw 

 some light on the question which has lately been 

 agitated here respecting the premature decay of 

 the pear tree ; and (unless you think the subject 

 exhausted) you will please give the remarks, which 

 close this communication, a place in your paper. 



Milton, December 14, 182G. 



Abstract of a report on thf, state of the 



El.m trees in St. James' and Hyde Parks. 



Drawn up at the request of Lord Sidney, the 

 Ranger, for the Treasury, by William Sharp 

 Macleat, Esq, A. M. &c. &c. (Communicated 

 to Professor Jameson, for the Edinburgh Philo- 

 sophical Journal, vol. xi. 1824.) 



" So little attention has hitherto been paid to the 

 causes of disease in trees, that few persons ever 

 think of attributing it to any other origin than one 

 entirely vegetable, or, in other words, to the consti- 

 tution of the plant itself. Yet, in. every case, per- 

 haps, wliere the disease is infectious, and particu- 

 larly where it is confined in a' plantation or forest 

 to the individuals of one species of tree, we may 

 ■eckon with certainty on its proceeding from the at- 

 lacks of some insect. Every tree, nay, indeed, ■ 

 every plant seems to have one or more species of 

 nsect destined by nature to feed on it ; and when 

 from the combination of various causes, (such for 



. - J - T f t . ii^iii v"^ v^v^iuuiiitvuuij ui vtinuuH causes, laucji lur 



them within about 3 or 4 inches of one another by I ■„„,„,,,.„ „„ ti„ ,„„ i,„„ „<. „ _. ,• ■ 



■' 1 instance, as the weakness of vegetation in a par- 



