454 Transactions of the American Institute. 



Desiccating the Sweet Potato. 



Mr. Jackson Warner, late of Natchez, Miss., was introduced and 

 showed specimens of dried sweet potato, reraarkaljly wliite and liand- 

 some. They may be dried by hot air or snper-heated steam. They 

 dry up to one-third, one bushel of dry coming out from three of green 

 potatoes put in. The roots are peeled and sliced before going into 

 the kiln. The cost, he thinks, would not be over two cents a bushel ; 

 and may be landed in the ISTew York market for five dollars, and 

 allow the planter a fair profit on his crop. The cost of a kiln is from 

 fifty dollars to $200, according to size. A fifty dollar kiln will 

 dry twelve bushels a day. The temperature necessary is from 150 to 

 175 degrees, Fxihrenheit. Cool air is admitted at intervals to repel 

 the moisture. This also keeps the color clear and good. Cotton is 

 no longer king ; btit the potato may be when the planters learn how 

 to prepare them for distant markets. 



Mr. James A. Whitney. — Mr. Chairman, I consider this one of the 

 most important subjects that has been brought to the notice of tliis 

 club for a long time past. The desiccation of vegetables has been a 

 subject of experiment for a number of years, especially in England, 

 and for army and na\'y supply. One of the most efiicient processes 

 was employed in preparing turnips, carrots, cabbages, and similar 

 perishable vegetables. In this the substances were fixst deprived, by 

 drying, of about seven or eight per cent of natural moisture, and then 

 subjected to enormous pressure by hydraulic power. By this means 

 many hundred weight could be brought within the space of a cubic 

 yard ; but the method was very expensive, owing to the great cost of 

 the apparatus required. The sweet potato can be dried by the action of 

 hot air in kilns that need but little care ; and if the immense quanti- 

 ties grown in the South can be converted into a cheap substitute for 

 flour it will prove a blessing to the thousands who inhabit our tene- 

 ment houses, for no greater benefit can be conferred on the commu- 

 nity than to make bread cheap. I think it quite possible that other 

 vegetables might be prepared in the same manner with good results. 

 People have tried to desiccate the common potato, but it is difticult to 

 keep it from turning black in drying. I hope the subject of preparing 

 the sweet ]3otato in this way will receive the attention it so much 

 deserves. 



Mr. Solon Eobinson. — This process is evidently of great value to 

 the farmer ; the other, as clearly, is of little or no use to him. Will 



