WEW ENGL.AND FAKMER, 



AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL. 



PUBLISHED BY GEORGE C. BARRETT, NO. 52, NORTH MARKET STUEET, (Agricultural Warehouse.) — T. G. FESSENDEN, EDITOR. 



VOL. XIII. 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, MAY 20, 183.5. 



NO. 45. 



A •© Si 3£ <g W a I£"iS? 3& 52 a 



USES OP THE POTATO. 



In the December number of the Edinburgh 

 Quarterly Journal of Agriculture, Mr II. McAdam 

 gives an article on the history and uses of the po- 

 tato. Although this vegetable was known to 

 Europeans soon after the discoveiy of America, 

 yet, for more than one hundred years, its merits 

 were unknown to the public. Not until about the 

 middle of the 18th century, was it cultivated as a 

 field crop in Great Britain. It has since been rap- 

 idly spreading over the world. Now, millions and 

 millions of bushels are annually cultivated. In a 

 comparatively few years, it will be cultivated in 

 other vast and populous portions of the globe ; and 

 thus, even the present immense quantity will be 

 many times quadrupled. We make a few ex- 

 tracts on the uses of the tuber. — JV. Y. Fanner. 



Cooking potatoes in various ways. — There is 

 perhaps no species of food that can be consumed 

 in a greater variety of ways, than the potato. 

 Among us, the only modes in use are three or four, 

 such as boiling, roasting, or frying ; but our French 

 neighbors, who surpass us, and all the world, in 

 everything relating to cookery, at least so far as 

 infinite variety is concerned, have several other 

 ways of preparing this root. A French gentle- 

 man invited to dinner thirtytwo of his frl^uds, 

 promising to each a different dish, and yet all com- 

 posed of the same material. They assembled, 

 found before each dish a cover, and, upon taking 

 their seats, discovered that each guest had really 

 a different dish, though all formed of eggs! One 

 of the company immediately repeated the invita- 

 tion to all the persons present for the next day, 

 when he promised to regale them in a similar man- 

 ner, on another single substance, metamorphosed 

 into tliirtytwo different form.«. They came and 

 dined very comfortably on thirtytwo distinct and 

 palatable dishes, all composed of potatoes. 



Frosted Potatoes. — It is a very remarkable cir- 

 cumstance, that in frosted potatoes, it is only the 

 juice, or liquid part of the root, that is affected, 

 and not at all^the farina or flour which may be 

 equally well extracted, and will be found as white 

 as if it had not been frozen, provided the root is 

 not quite rotted, which in the process of time it 

 will become. The following singular illustration 

 of this took place in 1794 : A field of potatoes at 

 Camstradden, Dumbartonshire, was laid under 

 water, by a sudden rise of Lochlomond. A quantity 

 of these was got up, and in part brought home. 

 Being wet, they were laid on the floors of out- 

 houses to dry ! but iu a few days they were so 

 spoiled as to be unfit for feeding cattle. A heap 

 of the potatoes was left on the ground ; when 

 turned over over next spring, some starch was 

 found at the bottom, which excited a suspicion, 

 that though the root had been affected by the frost, 

 yet that the flour had remained uninjured. This 

 was found to be the case ; and a quantity of the fa- 

 rina was collected from the heap, part of which 



was distributed in Dumbartonshire, and the remain- 

 der was brought to Stirling, in 1804. As arrow- 

 root had become fashionable about that time it was 

 often used as a substitute, and many ate of it with- 

 out knowing the difti?rcnce. In 1825, a dish of it 

 was made with milk, and two gentlemen who sup- 

 ped on it declared that they would not have known 

 it from arrow root. A specimen of this same flour 

 of 1794 was sent to Sir John Sinclair in 1826, smdit 

 seemed as good as any produced from the potatoes 

 of that year, after having been kept for above thirty 

 years. 



Potato starch in Bread. — It is well known that 

 the manufacture of bread, even when conducted 

 by the most skilful and experienced bakers, is 

 sometimes very difiicult. From the various casu- 

 alties to which wheaten flour has been liable, 

 from disease in the crop, or bad management in the 

 keeping or grinding of the grain, it frequently 

 loses some of its most essential qualities, and causes 

 the bread, in defiance of the liakcr's srt, to contract 

 a sourness, which is both disagreeable to the taste 

 and prejudicial to the health. Fortunately a rem- 

 edy has been discovered of late years ; that of 

 mixing with the flour a small quantity of potato 

 starch, previously converted into a jelly. This kind 

 of bread is remarkably light, and keejis longer 

 moist than any other bread. It toasts niuch better, 

 and makes better bread puddings. 



Potato Flour for Children. — Anotherniost im- 

 poilantuse to which potato flour can be applied is 

 to give it, boiled in milk, in the proportion of too 

 spoonfuls of flour to one pint of milk, to young 

 children, brought up liy hand, and not at the breast 

 or after they are weaned from the breast. 



Potato Starch for Weavers. — Until of late this 

 was entirely made from v,'heat, and still a great 

 proportion of it is so. But if ])otato starch were 

 universally adopted for the purjjose, as is the case 

 now throughout France, a very great consumption 

 of wheat would be saved. This substance is also 

 put to another use, namely, the making of size, 

 which for some purposes, such as whitewashing, is 

 greatly superior to the common size, as it has no 

 ofl'ensive smell, and has a more durable whiteness. 



Potato Cheese. — The manufacture of this is 

 carried on in Thuringia and Saxony, and it has 

 the advantage of retaining its freshness for several 

 years, provided it be kept iiv close vessels. It is 

 prepared by boiling the potatoes, and reducing 

 them, when cold, to a piilp, rejecting skins. Sour 

 milk is added, or else sweet curd with the whey 

 pressed out, in the proportion of a pint to 5 pound 

 of pulp. It is kneaded several times, drained in 

 small baskets, and simply dried in the shade. 



Coffee from Potatoes. — A mode has been sug- 

 gested by a French chemist for converting pota- 

 toes into a substance resembling coffee. He mixes 

 some best olive oil with a certain portion of dried 

 potato flour, and then adds a small quantity of 

 coffee powder. He asserts that this will produce 

 a liquor more agreeable than coffee. 



Potatoes used for Dyeing and Cleansing. — A 



chemist in Copenhagen has discovered that the 

 flowers of the ])lant may be used in dyeing. By 

 this means a beautiful yellow collor maybe obtain- 

 ed, which is solid and durable. By plunging the 

 color into blue, it becomes a perfect green. It has 

 likewise been found, that the juice contained in the 

 potato will produce a gray color of great beauty. 

 The liquor drawti off in the process of making 

 starch, will clean silks, woollens, or cottons, with- 

 out dairir.ge to tlie texture or color. It is also 

 good for cleaning wainscoats. ^ 



Potatoes prevent Incrustations in Steam Boilers. 

 — Potatoes are used with excellent effect in the 

 boilers of steam engines, for preventing the gath- 

 ering of a calcareous incrustation on the bottom, 

 which is gradually deposited from the water em- 

 ployed. The potatoes give out a glutinous sub- 

 stance which entangles the particles iu the water, 

 and prevents them from incrustingthe iron of the 

 boiler. 



Potatoes a cure for the Scurry. — A medical use 

 of the potato has been lately suggested in a valua- 

 ble French publication ; namely, as a preventive 

 of, and even cure for, the scur\-y. Roasted pota- 

 toes were administered with perfect success to 

 sailors afflicted with the disorder, after other ap- 

 proved medicines had be^n given in vain. As 

 roasted potatoes arc the nao^st effectual, it seems 

 probable that the remcdj' Ji'pends on soirie of the 

 substanci , .untained in the black liquid w'hich 

 boils out of potatoes, and which is retained in 

 roastincr. 



ICE AND ICE HOUSES. 



It is quite warm enough at this present writing 

 to discourse of ice, but whether it will be when 

 the types are giving publicity to the labors of the 

 pen, depends entirely upon the future, which may 

 be noted as a very wise remark. We intend, how- 

 ever, to say a few words of ice and ice houses, 

 that may interest the reader. There are persons 

 younger than ourself who can remember when 

 the only ice sold in Boston, was brought to the city 

 in parcels of ten or fifteen pounds in the box of a 

 market gardener's cart, and sold as a very great 

 luxury at a corresponding price. There were then 

 no ice-houses in the vicinity, except a few gentle- 

 men's country seats, and they were built under 

 ground, and were of small capacity. Within the 

 last twenty years the consumption has become so 

 general, and the cost is so small, that ice is no 

 longer deemed a luxurj', but one of the necessaries 

 of life. The amount exported also from Boston 

 to southern climates is incredible. The art of pre- 

 serving the ice is very simple, and in well con- 

 structed houses, there is scarcely any loss from 

 dissolution, and it may be presened for years. 

 We rode out last winter, with Col. Metcalf, of 

 Cambridge, to witness the process of filling one 

 of his ice houses, on the borders of Mystic Pond 

 in Mcdford, about six miles from the city. The 

 ice house is built entirely above the ground, as 

 is now the well approved custom, even in tropical 

 climates. It is 85 feet long, 50 feet wide, and 25 



