THE COUNTRY HOME [chapter 



small your homestead. It is not once in five times 

 that I can buy potatoes without they bring the 

 flavor that comes from having been left too long in 

 the sun, or the flavor of rancid soil. Potatoes even 

 slightly sun-burned are bitter and poisonous. You 

 will find it one of your country luxuries to be able 

 to dig a pailful every morning, fresh from the soil ; 

 nor will you be long in discovering that, as with 

 peas and beans, so with potatoes there is a vast 

 dissimilarity in the value of different varieties. You 

 will soon become a vegetable connoisseur. You 

 will taste and compare potatoes as you do pears 

 and plums, and after that you will learn also that 

 some varieties are much more digestible than others. 

 From this you will learn how to cook them cor- 

 rectly — always in their jackets. Potatoes, like 

 apples, soon absorb bad odors, and you will learn 

 that your potato cellar must be clean and sweet as 

 your dining-room. There are many such things to 

 be found out about a country home. I will not 

 undertake a list of potatoes for you to experiment 

 with, because new ones are sent out each year 

 and we are liable to have at any time an im- 

 provement. I confess to a liking for a strong- 

 flavored potato, and I do not choose them for 



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