288 Chemical Preparations. 
has been ineffectually tried. Crystals of muscovado and loaf sugar 
have been thrown into it, and have lain in it for months without ac- 
quiring any accession of size and unless the sugar be contaminated 
with lead, I suspect it will be made to crystallize with difficulty, if at all. 
A bushel of potatoes weighs about sixty pounds, and gives eight 
pounds of pure, fine, dry starch. ‘This amount of starch will make 
five pints of sugar, of the weight of nearly twelve pounds to the 
gallon, equal to seven pounds and a half to the bushel of potatoes, or 
~ a little less than a pound of sugar to the pound of starch. The 
sugar is not as sweet as the muscovado sugar, nor is it actually as 
sweet as its taste would indicate. 
This sugar may be used for all kinds of domestic purposes. It 
ferments with great liveliness and spirit, when made into beer, yield- 
ing a healthful and delicious beverage, and on distillation, a fine-cider 
brandy flavored spirit. It would however be most useful in making 
sweetmeats, and may be used upon the table in lieu of honey, for which 
it is a good substitute. It has already become a favorite with most 
people who have become acquainted with it. Its taste is that of a deli- 
cious sweet, and as an article of diet is unquestionably more health- 
ful, and less oppressive to the stomach than any other sweet ever used.* 
Sacket’s Harbor, July, 1831. 
Art. VI.—Remarks on various Chemical Preparations; in a letter 
from S. Gururisr to the Editor, dated Sacket’s Harbor, N.Y» 
Sept. 12, 1831. 
1. Fotminatinc PREPARATIONS. 
Dear Sir—I have delayed sending the chlorate of potash I prom- 
ised you, together with some other things, that I might be ena < 
to add a sample of nitrated sulphuret of potash, or a modification of 
fused “fulminating powder” of the old books, and likewise complete 
some experiments I have been making on the action of caustic potas 
on fulminating mercury. 
I send to day the promised box. It contains one pound of chlorat? 
of potash. It is contained in two papers—the lesser on® has ei 
fine crystals of larger size than usual, but the whole is remarkably 
fine’and pure. 
ath: 
_* The use of a bottle (one fifth of a gallon) in my family, fully supports Mr.G 
rie’s statements. 
