96 



Convet'sion into Meal. — Potatoos, however care- 

 fully stored up, have a tendency to sprout in sprinji^, 

 and thus lose a considerahle proportion of their nu- 

 tritive properties. In July and Augtist they hecome 

 disgusting- and nauseous, and quite unfit for food ; 

 if the growing- crop is resorted to, it produces nothing 

 hut soft and green potatoes, which furnish not only 

 a weak, liut a very unwholesome diet ; besides, by 

 using them before they are ripe, the entire weight of 

 the new crop is greatly lessened. Nothing indeed 

 can })e more injurious than to keep potatoes too late, 

 or to consume them too early. Potatoes which in 

 November and December, tchen they are most valua- 

 ble, sell for 4 and 3 shillings per barrel on an average 

 of seasons, will often bring 7 or 8 shillings per barrel 

 in April, May, and June, when they are intrinsically 

 less valuable ; is it not advisable, therefore, to pre- 

 serve them when they are cheap and valuable, rather 

 than to consume them ivhen they are comparatively 

 dear and worthless 9 



In order then to preserve them, the following pro- 

 cess is recommended : 



As soon as the potatoes are ripe, wash them tho- 

 roughly ; next pare them or scrape off the skin, 

 which contains a dark coloured substance which is 

 noxious, and take out the eyes in which particles of 

 earth or sand are often imbedded ; then cut the po- 

 tato into slices of about a quarter of an inch thick, 

 so that the water may have free power of purifying ; 

 put the slices then into a tub, for extracting the dark 

 coloiired substance bv repeated washings.* After 

 being thoroughly cleared of that substance, the slices 

 should be put into a sieve or strainer, or on an in- 



• On a great scale, barrels should be used with two bot- 

 toms, about 5 inches apart ; the upper one to keep up the 

 potatoes, but full of holes, so that the discoloured water may 

 pass through them, and thence through a hole at the lower 

 bottom kept plugged, until tlie noxious matter is completely 

 carried down. 



